Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Chatham House –

John Kerry says US under Trump becoming ‘denier, delayer and divider’ on climate change; criticizes ‘ineptitude’ in China policy
News release
jon.wallace
25 November 2025

During an event at Chatham House the former secretary of state and climate envoy condemned Trump administration climate policy saying that ‘no one can bend the laws of physics.’

68th United States Secretary of State John Kerry visited Chatham House on 25 November, following the COP 30 summit in Brazil, to discuss global action on climate change and the effect of US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement under President Donald Trump – who has repeatedly called climate change a ‘hoax’.  

During the event Kerry, the former US secretary of state and special presidential envoy for climate, expressed his concern about the effect of Trump administration policies on global climate action – and on China.

Climate change ‘is real,’ he said. ‘It is happening. The only hoax is in pretending otherwise…I’ve learned that, in an election for a time, you can bend the laws of politics. But believe me, no one, no president, monarch, no one can bend the laws of physics.’

In his remarks, Kerry said that under President Trump the US is turning ‘from leader to denier, delayer and divider,’ adding that: ‘When the United States walks away, old excuses find new life… China enjoys newfound freedom from scrutiny’.

Kerry called for the US and the world to return to the UAE consensus on climate and work to achieve net zero by 2050.  

In discussion with Chatham House Director Bronwen Maddox, Kerry also outlined the need for better relations with China.

‘We have to talk to China more…We can’t be categorical in these relationships,’ he said. ‘And we need to understand, you know, to look at other countries through their eyes, not just our own.’ Calling on his own experience he said:

‘China’s overpowering raison d’etre is continuing to exist as a regime in power…Everything they do, even the coal fired power plants they’ve designed and built, are there because they’re scared of a downturn in the economy that comes with that. And then they have brownouts or blackouts, and all of a sudden they think they have a revolution on their hands. That’s at the core of governance there. Now it’s grown somewhat, partly because of the ineptitude of the United States’.

Watch the event in full.

Source: Amnesty International –

28 survivors tell of killings, beatings, rape and sexual assault

‘The RSF were killing people as if they were flies. It was a massacre. None of the people killed that I have seen were armed soldiers’ – Khalil, survivor

UK military equipment has recently been used by Rapid Support Forces accused of genocide in Sudan

Survivors who escaped El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur State have detailed to Amnesty International how fighters with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) executed scores of unarmed men and raped dozens of women and girls as they captured the city.

Amnesty researchers interviewed survivors who described witnessing groups of men shot or beaten, and taken hostages for ransom. Female survivors described how they were subjected to sexual violence by RSF fighters, as were some of their daughters. Many interviewees described seeing hundreds of dead bodies left lying in El Fasher’s streets and on the main roads out of the city.

The harrowing testimonies are some of the first from eyewitnesses who fled El Fasher after the fall of the city. Amnesty interviewed 28 survivors who managed to reach safety in the towns of Tawila, to the west of El Fasher, and Tina, on the border with Chad, after fleeing as the RSF surrounded and then entered El Fasher on 26 October. Three interviews were conducted in-person in Chad, and the rest remotely by mobile devices.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said:

“The world must not look away as more details emerge about the RSF’s brutal attack on El Fasher. The survivors we interviewed told of the unimaginable horrors they faced as they escaped the city.

“In the coming weeks, more evidence will emerge of the violence committed by RSF fighters in El Fasher. This persistent, widespread violence against civilians constitutes war crimes and may also constitute other crimes under international law. All those responsible must be held accountable for their actions.

“These atrocities were facilitated by the United Arab Emirates’ support for the RSF. The UAE’s ongoing backing of the RSF is fuelling the relentless cycle of violence against civilians in Sudan. The international community and the UN Security Council must demand that the UAE disengages from supporting the RSF.

“It is imperative that the UN Human Rights Council’s Sudan Fact-Finding Mission has the resources required to meaningfully fulfil its mandate, and to investigate violations and abuses in Sudan, including those taking place in El Fasher. The UN Security Council, which had referred the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court, must now imperatively extend the referral to the rest of Sudan.

“Amnesty also urges all external actors to take necessary measures to end the sale or supply of arms and related materials to all parties to the conflict, as per the arms embargo established by the UN Security Council; an embargo which must be extended to the whole country.

“As the conflict continues, the survivors’ stories provide further proof of the failure of the international community in Sudan. It must step up efforts to ensure accountability, protect those at risk, and demand that all states that are either directly backing or enabling the RSF change course immediately.”

Amnesty is also calling on the international and regional actors – including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UN Security Council, the EU and its member states, the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the United Kingdom, United States, Russia, China – to put urgent diplomatic pressure on the RSF leadership to end their attacks on civilians including sexual violence against women and girls.

“The RSF were killing people as if they were flies”

On 26 October, the day El Fasher fell, an estimated 260,000 civilians were still trapped in the city. Ahmed*, 21, attempted to escape with his wife, two young children and his older brother by following a group of Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) soldiers who had abandoned their posts.

After his wife was killed by shrapnel from a nearby explosion and he became separated from his children, Ahmed* was forced to continue moving north with his brother. Along the way they picked up two girls, aged three and four, whose parents had apparently been killed. When the group reached Golo, on the outskirts of the city, together with three other men and an older woman, they were ambushed by RSF fighters.

Ahmed* said:

“They asked us, ‘Are you soldiers, or are you civilians?’, and we told them we are civilians. They said, ‘In El Fasher, there are no civilians, everybody is a soldier’.” The RSF fighters then ordered his brother and the other three men to lie down. He said: “When they lied down, they executed them.”

The fighters let Ahmed*, the two young girls and the older woman go, for reasons that remain unclear to them. Three days later, Ahmed* reached Tawila, approximately 60km away, with the two girls. However, the older woman died on the journey, likely from dehydration.

Daoud*, 19, fled El Fasher with seven neighbourhood friends. He said they all were killed after RSF fighters captured them at the berm that surrounded the city:

“They shot at us from all directions… I watched my friends die in front of me.”

Khalil*, 34, escaped El Fasher on 27 October. He described how after initially managing to get past the berm, he and approximately 20 others were soon caught by RSF fighters in cars:

“The RSF fighters… asked us to lie down on the ground… Two RSF fighters opened fire on us… They killed 17 of the 20 men I was fleeing with.”

Khalil* said he only survived after pretending to be dead:

“The RSF were killing people as if they were flies. It was a massacre. None of the people killed that I have seen were armed soldiers.”

“They were enjoying it, they were laughing”

Badr*, 26, had remained in El Fasher until 26 October with his uncle, who had been recovering in the Saudi Hospital from a gunshot wound to the leg. On 27 October, he organised a donkey cart to transport his uncle, two other older patients and their relatives out of the city at around 1am. When they reached the village of Shagara, approximately 20km west of El Fasher, they were encircled by RSF vehicles.

Badr* told Amnesty that RSF fighters bound their hands and told the younger, uninjured men to get into the back of their pickup truck. They demanded that the three older men, all aged over 50 and suffering from serious injuries, also get in.

Badr* said:

“They could see that these people are elderly, that they will need to be picked up and put in the pickup… They thought that they were wasting their time… One of them who had an automatic machine gun, he got down [from the truck] and… opened fire. He killed them, and then he killed the donkeys… They were enjoying it, they were laughing.”

Badr* was then blindfolded and taken along with five other remaining captives to a nearby village. After three days they were moved to another location about a four-hour drive away. Badr* was allowed to call his relatives, and the RSF demanded they pay more than 20 million Sudanese pounds (approximately $8,880 USD) for his release.

Whilst captive, Badr* witnessed an RSF soldier filming the execution of one man during a call with relatives. The man was one of three detained brothers whose family had not yet paid a ransom for their release. Badr* said:

“They shot one in the head on camera, and told them [his relatives]: ‘Look, if you don’t send the money as soon as possible, the other two will be killed and you won’t even be told that they have been killed’.”

Sexual violence against women and girls

Ibtisam* left the Abu Shouk neighbourhood of El Fasher with her five children on the morning of 27 October. Along with a group of neighbours, they headed west towards Golo, where they were stopped by three RSF fighters.

Ibtisam* said:

“One of them forced me to go with them, cut my Jalabiya [a traditional robe], and raped me. When they left, my 14-year-old daughter came to me. I found that her clothes had blood and were cut into pieces. Her hair at the back of her head was full of dust.”

Ibtisam* told Amnesty that her daughter remained silent for the next few hours until she saw her mother crying:

“She came to me and said, ‘Mum, they raped me too, but do not tell anyone.’ After the rape, my daughter really became sick… When we reached Tawila, her health deteriorated, and she died at the clinic.”

Khaltoum*, 29, attempted to escape El Fasher in the afternoon of 26 October with her 12-year-old daughter. Together with more than 150 others, they reached the “Babul Amal” gate on the western side of the city. They were stopped by RSF fighters who separated the men from the women, and killed five men.

Khaltoum* was then taken with her daughter and around 20 other women to Zamzam internally displaced camp – more than 10km away – on foot. There, RSF fighters separated the younger women and told them to queue to be searched.

Khaltoum* told Amnesty:

“They selected about eleven of us… I was taken to a Rakuba [makeshift shelter], and an armed RSF fighter and another who was not armed accompanied me. They searched me and then the unarmed man raped me while the other one watched. He kept me there the whole day. He raped me three times. My daughter was not raped, but the other 10 women they selected for the search were all raped.”

British-linked weapons used in Sudan

Amnesty International UK responded to reports that UK military equipment have recently been used by Rapid Support Forces accused of genocide in Sudan by arguing that the UK’s arms licensing system cannot be considered robust if UK-made components are appearing in weapons linked to widespread civilian killings. UK rules require stopping exports at clear risk of diversion or misuse, yet the UK continued approving arms sales to the UAE despite its long-established role as a hub for diversion to conflict zones such as Sudan and Libya. UK-made engines found in Sudanese military vehicles raise doubts about whether promised 2022 export-control reforms are being properly enforced. Amnesty International UK is calling on the UK government to suspend all arms exports to the UAE, investigate how the equipment reached Sudan, notify the relevant UK company under enhanced end-use controls, and take immediate steps to prevent further diversion.

Conflict in Sudan

The ongoing conflict between the RSF and the SAF in Sudan began in April 2023. It has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced over 12 million, making it the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Amnesty has documented war crimes by the RSF and allied Arab militias where they jointly carried out ethnically targeted attacks against the Masalit and other non-Arab communities in West Darfur. The organization has also documented widespread sexual violence by the RSF across the country that amounted to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

Amnesty has also previously documented how the conflict in Sudan is being fuelled by a constant flow of weapons into the country, in flagrant breach of the existing arms embargo on Darfur, with the UAE in particular supplying weapons and ammunition to the RSF.

Source: Amnesty International –

Egyptian authorities should amend the associations law to lift tight restrictions over independent civil society organizations, hindering the right to freedom of association and other rights and putting the future of the country’s civic space at risk, Amnesty International said in a new briefing published today.

The briefing, ‘Whatever security says must be done’: Independent NGOs’ freedom of association restricted in Egypt, details how the authorities are imposing undue restrictions and interfering in the work of independent NGOs through the repressive law No. 149 of 2019 (the associations law) and other tactics to bring them under near total state control.

Whilst the closure of Case 173 last year after 13 years of unfounded criminal investigations of the funding and activities of NGOs appeared to be a potential turning point, the associations law grants the authorities a stranglehold over independent NGOs undermining their right to freedom of association.

“Although the lifting of decade-long travel bans and asset freezes against NGO workers was a positive step, the authorities have not only ignored calls to amend the restrictive 2019 associations law but have used it to impose burdensome regulatory requirements on NGOs, while allowing security agencies to subject them to intrusive interference, and constant surveillance. These intimidation practices suffocate vital NGO work and contribute to a chilling climate of intimidation that erodes people’s capacity to organize and exercise their human rights,” said Sara Hashash, Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

The Egyptian authorities must amend the associations law to allow NGOs to register by notification instead of prior authorization, protect NGOs from NSA’s interference, intimidation and coercive practices against NGOs, and lift all undue restrictions on NGOs’ access to and use of funding.

Sara Hashash, Deputy Regional Director for MENA

“Under international human rights law, any restrictions on NGOs must be narrowly defined, strictly necessary to achieve a legitimate aim, proportionate and never a tool to silence critics. The Egyptian authorities must amend the associations law to allow NGOs to register by notification instead of prior authorization, protect NGOs from NSA’s interference, intimidation and coercive practices against NGOs, and lift all undue restrictions on NGOs’ access to and use of funding.”

The Associations and Civil Work Unit (ACWU) of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, which is responsible for registering and overseeing NGOs imposes a prior authorization process for NGO registration in contravention of international standards and Egypt’s own constitution which stipulates that NGOs should acquire legal personality upon notification. Through the ACWU, the state can refuse or delay registration of NGOs, dictate limitations on their work, block their funding, interfere in the composition of their boards, and even order the dismissal of their members. This stranglehold is reinforced by unlawful interference from the National Security Agency (NSA), which harasses and intimidates members of NGOs through phone calls, unlawful summons and coercive questioning. 

The briefing draws on interviews with 19 individuals representing 12 independent Egyptian NGOs working in social development, media and human rights in Greater Cairo over the past five years. Amnesty International conducted the interviews between March and July 2025 and reviewed official documents issued by the administrative bodies overseeing NGOs.

Source: Amnesty International –

Four young digital rights activists from Ireland, Argentina and France will today deliver a petition at TikTok’s Dublin, Ireland, office demanding that the company address its toxic and addictive design which has exposed children and young people to harmful content.

The petition titled, “Make TikTok safer for children and young people,” has 170,260 signatures from around the world and will be handed over by Mary Kate Harten and Trinity Kendi from Ireland, Abril Perazzini from Argentina and Noe Hamon from France.

The petition highlights harms linked to platform features that prioritize engagement over user safety.

“These signatures represent a global demand for TikTok to replace its current business model of an app that is addictive by design with one that is safe by design. Its toxic design has caused harm to children in many parts of the world,

Zahra Asif Razvi, Campaigner at Amnesty International

“TikTok must make its platform safe for children and young people to socialize, learn and access information and not be harmed.”

Amnesty International’s research shows that TikTok’s business model prioritizes engagement to keep users hooked and drives extensive data collection targeting advertisers.

Amnesty International has also repeatedly found that TikTok’s ‘For You’ feed can push children and young people into a cycle of depression, self-harm and suicide-related content. Young people in France interviewed for recent research by Amnesty International reported streams of videos that normalized and encouraged self-harm and suicide after they engaged with mental health-related content. Parents of children who died by suicide described the horror of discovering the content TikTok had been pushing to their children. 

In 2023, Amnesty International published two reports documenting how TikTok’s recommender system and its invasive data collection practices amplified depressive and suicidal content putting young users of the platform with pre-existing mental health challenges at greater risk.Despite risk mitigation measures announced by TikTok since 2024, the platform continues to expose vulnerable users to content that normalizes self-harm, despair and suicidal thoughts. 

Source: Amnesty International –

Zahra Joya is an award-winning Afghan journalist and the founder of Rukhshana Media, an online news outlet reporting on the daily realities of women’s lives in Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, Afghanistan has been in a downward spiral of human rights violations. Women are banned from almost all aspects of public life. Abuses continue with absolute impunity and victims are left with no recourse to justice.

Below, Zahra recounts her story from growing up as a girl in Afghanistan, coming to terms with the scale of oppression and violence against women in the country and dedicating her life’s work to raising Afghan women’s voices.

Growing up in Afghanistan was very hard as a girl: we didn’t have the right to an education or freedom of movement. I grew up in a village in a remote area in Bamiyan Province. When I was a child, the Taliban ran the country, and they banned education for women and girls.

But I was lucky enough to have a supportive family. My father stood behind me and helped me to get an education. I dressed as a boy and walked two hours to school every day. If anyone called me a girl at that time I reacted very strongly. I told them “I’m not a girl, I am a boy”. I just wanted to be free, to get fresh air and an education.

Following the ousting of the Taliban from power in 2001, life changed for a lot for women and girls in Afghanistan. We started being able to live freely in society as women. I was allowed to go to school without any issues. I finished my school in Bamiyan, graduated from high school and then moved to Kabul and started my bachelor’s degree.

Source: Amnesty International –

Reacting to the German government’s decision to lift a suspension on the issuance of certain arms export licences to Israel for use in the occupied Gaza Strip effective today, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns said:

“Germany’s decision to lift its partial suspension of weapons shipments to Israel is reckless, unlawful and sends entirely the wrong message to Israel: that it can continue committing genocide, war crimes, and apartheid against Palestinians and unlawfully occupy the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza without fear of consequence.

“Germany is one of Israel’s major arms suppliers. The partial and long overdue suspension of arms transfers by Germany was one of the few forms of meaningful pressure applied by the international community to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

“Now is absolutely not the time to ease this pressure. On the contrary, this is the time to ensure that Israel stops its violations of international law, including its unlawful occupation as indicated by the International Court of Justice in July 2024 and agreed by the UN General Assembly. Regrettably, with this move, Germany is going down a dangerous path that must be immediately reversed and must not be followed by other states.

“As Israel continues to attack Palestinians in Gaza and restrict humanitarian aid and essential supplies and services while most of the population remains displaced and without adequate shelter, for Germany to cite the “ceasefire” and “stabilization” in Gaza as the basis for its decision to resume arms exports is wholly disingenuous.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns

“As Israel continues to attack Palestinians in Gaza and restrict humanitarian aid and essential supplies and services while most of the population remains displaced and without adequate shelter, for Germany to cite the “ceasefire” and “stabilization” in Gaza as the basis for its decision to resume arms exports is wholly disingenuous.

“Amnesty International has long called for a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other armed groups participating in military activities in Gaza.  States must live up to their legal obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; Germany and other states parties must uphold their obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty. All states have also a duty to prevent and punish genocide, to refrain from contributing to genocide and to act to bring it to an end. Governments that continue to supply arms to Israel contravene their international legal obligations.”

Background

On 8 August 2025 German Chancellor Frederick Merz announced a partial arms embargo, suspending the issuance of weapons export licences to Israel for use in the Gaza Strip “until further notice”.

The announcement followed the Israeli Security Cabinet’s decision to approve Prime Minister’s Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to “take control” of Gaza City, where nearly one million Palestinians are currently trying to survive under inhumane conditions.

On 24 November, Germany brought an end to the partial suspension of arms transfers, announcing that it will “return to examining on a case-by-case basis the export of weapons” to Israel for use in the Occupied Gaza Strip.

Germany is Israel’s second-largest supplier of arms after the United States. According to the German government, it has issued export licences worth more than €485 million – from 7 October 2023 to 12 May 2025, including anti-tank weapons and gearboxes for Merkava tanks used in Gaza.

Source: Amnesty International –

Philippines police unlawfully targeted protesters with unnecessary and excessive force during anti-corruption marches in September, according to harrowing new testimony gathered by Amnesty International ahead of fresh protests planned across the country this weekend.

Ten people interviewed by Amnesty International detailed physical abuse – including violations that may amount to torture and other ill-treatment – by state forces following demonstrations in the capital Manila on 21 September 2025. The research comes as thousands prepare to return to the streets on 30 November in renewed protests against government corruption.

“The disturbing evidence we have gathered of unlawful force unleashed by the police against protesters and others on 21 September makes a mockery of the Philippine government’s repeated claim that it exercises ‘maximum tolerance’ during protests,” said Jerrie Abella, Amnesty International Regional Campaigner.

“Victims have described how police punched, kicked and hit people – including children – with batons as they were arrested, with appalling ill-treatment continuing in detention. The police must change course and respect people’s right to protest on 30 November and beyond.”

The Philippines’ biggest demonstrations in years took place on 21 September, as tens of thousands in Manila and elsewhere protested against corruption by government officials, high-level politicians and contractors in flood-control and infrastructure projects.

Isolated incidents of violence from some protesters, including setting vehicles on fire and throwing stones at the police, were reported in Manila. Manila police said they arrested and detained 216 people who were allegedly involved in the violence, including 91 children. Many are facing criminal charges.

However, Amnesty’s research indicates that peaceful protesters and bystanders were also violently targeted by the police.

Rey*, 20, recounted how three men in plain clothes – who he believes were police as they later handed him to uniformed officers – grabbed and punched him in the face as he tried to run away while holding a sign calling on people to take to the streets. The assault on Rey was captured in a video, by an unknown individual, which he found online and showed to Amnesty International.

“Police in uniform joined in to punch, kick and hit me with their batons. I briefly lost consciousness but woke up to pain as they dragged me by my hair,” Rey told Amnesty International. 

I told myself, I was done for. I’d never make it out of this tent alive.

He said police accused him of taking part in violence that killed two officers, despite the fact that no police were killed in the protests. Rey said the beating only stopped when one officer warned the others that members of the media were approaching. He also described how he and his friend were taken by uniformed police into an ambulance, where they were beaten further.

Omar*, 25, said he was watching the protests with relatives in Mendiola Street, Manila when he was arrested. Police accused him of being among those who caused violence, including attacking the police. While walking with the police who arrested him, Omar said they passed other officers who punched and hit him with batons. He said he was then held in a tent with around 14 other people, one of whom “had blood dripping from a head wound” which he said was from being hit with a gun by a police officer.

Ahmed*, 17, was arrested alongside his relatives Yusuf*, 18, and Ali*, 19, who all live and do construction work near the protest site. They said they went out to buy rice and were waiting for police to allow them to pass through a protest area on their way back to the construction site when they were arrested.

“The police took us to a tent where they hit us with their batons. They punched us in the face and kicked our torsos,” Ali told Amnesty International. He said they were accused of attacking the police and subsequently detained.