Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Amnesty International –

The prosecution of Amnesty International Türkiye’s former Chair Kerem Dikmen and ten other members of the executive and supervisory boards of Genç LGBTI+ (Young LGBTI+) Association, is part of an orchestrated strategy of harassment of LGBTI+ organizations and their supporters, Amnesty International said ahead of a hearing which starts tomorrow.  

In December, a court ruled to dissolve the Izmir-based Genç LGBTI+ Association on the grounds of ‘obscenity’ for five illustrations posted on their social media accounts between 2019 and 2022, based on an audit report in 2024. In October 2025, a related criminal prosecution was launched against eleven people in the leadership position of the association for violating the Law on Associations. If found guilty, they could face a jail sentence of up to three years. 

Despite a finding that the social media posts were not obscene, the authorities closed a vibrant LGBTI+ rights organization and are now threatening the liberty of its board

“It is shocking that this baseless case has been brought against these human rights defenders in the first place. Despite an initial finding by İzmir’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Cybercrime Bureau in August 2025 that the social media posts were not obscene, the authorities have first closed a vibrant LGBTI+ rights organization and they are now threatening the liberty of its board,” said Esther Major, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Research in Europe. 

This case is part of an increasingly anti-LGBTI agenda being implemented by Turkish authorities in the ongoing crackdown on Türkiye’s LGBTI+ community

“This case is part of an increasingly anti-LGBTI agenda being implemented by Turkish authorities in the ongoing crackdown onTürkiye’s LGBTI+ community. Under their claimed pretext of ‘protecting family values’, the authorities are using the justice system to attack the people’s freedom of association and to criminalize LGBTI+ rights defenders. The absurd charges against Kerem Dikmen and the other board members must be dropped.” 

Background

The illustrations posted on Facebook and Instagram, were drawings showing figures kissing, three colourful paintings depicting some level of nudity including one depicting four people together. 

On 11 December 2025, the İzmir Civil Court of First Instance No. 3 ruled that five images posted on social by the organization in 2019, 2020 and 2022 were ‘obscene’ and ‘encourage and incite individuals in society to engage in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite, or transsexual behaviour.’ The Court found that the organization could neither be considered ‘in line with the moral values of the society’ nor ‘Article 41 of the Constitution which stipulates that the family is the foundation of the Turkish society.’ Genç LGBTI+ Association is appealing this decision. 

In parallel with these civil proceedings, the İzmir Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office Cybercrime Bureau is prosecuting Emirhan Şaşmaz, Kerem Dikmen and nine other members of the executive and supervisory boards of Genç LGBTI+ association for violating the Law on Associations. 

Amnesty International Türkiye spokespeople will be at the hearing and available for interview. Follow @aforgutu for updates.

See Urgent Action launched in March 2026 here 

For more information contact [email protected] 

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to the news that parliamentarians loyal to former Senior General Min Aung Hlaing voted him in as the next president of Myanmar on 3 April, Amnesty International Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman said: 

“If Min Aung Hlaing thinks that an official civilian title will shield him from prosecution for the many grave violations of international law that he is accused of overseeing as head of the military, that is not how international justice works. He may exchange his military fatigues for civilian attire, but this changes nothing with respect to his suspected responsibility for serious crimes under international law in Myanmar.  

“For the many Myanmar people who have been victims of Min Aung Hlaing’s violently unfettered military in the aftermath of the 2021 coup and beforehand, seeing their oppressor formally elevated instead of prosecuted will be deeply painful. They may also fear that this will entrench impunity across the country.  

“No individual should have immunity from prosecution for crimes under international law, no matter their position. There is an existing arrest warrant request for Min Aung Hlaing at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Should that be granted, ICC member states have a duty to enforce it if he travels to their territory, and the whole international community should ensure he is denied safe haven and immediately arrested if he leaves Myanmar, rather than use this political development as an excuse to ignore their international legal obligations. 

“Until Min Aung Hlaing, his alleged co-perpetrators in the military and others are prosecuted fairly in independent courts for the crimes they are accused of being responsible for, Myanmar’s cycle of impunity will continue, and a Myanmar where human rights are protected, promoted and fulfilled will recede ever further into the distance.  

“We also urge the ICC to proceed with arrest warrants for Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar junta officials under the ICC’s investigation, and for the UN Security Council to refer the whole situation in Myanmar to the ICC.” 

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 2, 2026 ) — Despite its stated commitment to improving Americans’ health, the Trump administration has repeatedly favored the petrochemical sector while weakening basic safeguards that protect people from toxic chemicals, including weakening formaldehyde cancer standards, rolling back air pollution monitoring requirements, and reducing enforcement of environmental laws. 

In response to the Trump Administration’s announcement of its STOMP program to ‘systematically target’ microplastics, Sybil Bullock, Greenpeace USA Senior Oceans Campaigner, said: “Microplastics are polluting our bodies, damaging human cells and tissues. While we need microplastics out of our water, the Trump administration’s announcement of more research is not leadership, it’s more of the same—another gift to the very industries that are making Americans sick. The science is clear: plastics contain over 16,000 chemicals, many of which are harmful to human health. Adding microplastics to a list without committing to take action puts present and future generations at risk. The only way to Make America Healthy Again is to cut plastic production and eliminate hazardous chemicals from food packaging and everyday products. They cannot claim to prioritize health while expanding oil and gas—the same systems fueling plastic production and chemical exposure.

Bullock continued: “Every day, roughly 10,000 babies are born in the United States — already at risk of exposure to plastics and harmful chemicals before they even take their first breath. No one should have to live like this, exposed from the very start of life with no way to opt out. Health officials and advocates across the political spectrum know these exposures damage our health throughout childhood and every stage of life. Microplastics have been found in the air we breathe, the food we eat, in our organs, and in our blood. This is unacceptable — Americans should not be treated as collateral damage for the oil and gas industry’s profits.” 

Fenceline communities, those living next to oil, gas, and petrochemical facilities, bear a disproportionate burden of toxic pollution and related health risks. Yet they continue to face the threat of industry expansion, as recent federal actions have accelerated permitting, increased drilling approvals, and fast-tracked new oil and gas infrastructure projects. 

Jo Banner, Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Descendants Project, said: “Plastic is like a fire raging through a building. From its top floor, starting with extraction and production, to its bottom floor of waste management, addressing the issue of microplastics is like attempting to extinguish the flames while the structure collapses, burying the health of frontline communities, such as my community in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, in its ash and rubble.”

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Contacts:

Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected]

Greenpeace USA Press Desk: [email protected] 

Greenpeace USA (inc.) is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.

Source: Amnesty International –

As humanitarian and human rights organisations that have worked for years in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, we are appalled by the Israeli Knesset’s decision to approve a bill that makes death penalty effectively mandatory in the West Bank and which will de facto apply exclusively to Palestinians.

On 30 March, the Knesset approved a bill, introduced by the party of Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir, expanding the use of the death penalty in both military and civilian courts. Although Israeli law has long provided for the death penalty for cases of genocide and wartime espionage, Israel has not carried out executions nor imposed death sentences since 1962. This new legislation not only marks a significant regression: it also does so by imposing capital punishment on de facto ethnic or national grounds and by diluting basic legal safeguards.

In the West Bank – excluding East Jerusalem – the law imposes the death penalty as the default sentence for those convicted of intentional killings classified as acts of terrorism under Israeli legislation, allowing life imprisonment – and life imprisonment only – in “special circumstances” that are not specified in law. Military courts may impose capital punishment by a simple majority, even without a prosecutorial request. Sentences cannot be commuted or pardoned and must be carried out within 90 days. Notably, Israeli settlers in the West Bank are explicitly excluded from the scope of this provision.

Within Israel, civilian courts may impose the death penalty or life imprisonment for intentional killings, if they are committed with the aim of “negating the existence of the State of Israel.” 

Therefore, while the law does not explicitly reference ethnicity or nationality, it is effectively designed to target Palestinians exclusively. It also introduces an exceptional execution regime by hanging, characterised by secrecy, and limited access to legal counsel and external oversight.

The European Union has consistently held that capital punishment is cruel, inhuman, and incompatible with human dignity under all circumstances. But even beyond this principled stance, the new Israeli law breaches basic safeguards recognised by the international community to protect the rights of those facing the death penalty. Its discriminatory nature and lack of due process guarantee, violate the right to life and protections enshrined in international humanitarian and human rights law, such as the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention Against Torture.

Diplomatic engagement by the EU and its Member States urging Israel to reverse course has so far proven ineffective. This appalling development occurs amid an ongoing manmade humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which a UN Commission of Inquiry, multiple Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations, and independent experts have characterised as constituting genocide, and against the backdrop of an accelerating de facto annexation of the West Bank, as acknowledged by the International Court of Justice in its Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024. The adoption of the death penalty law is thus part of a pattern of discriminatory policies and practices against Palestinians, which in the same Advisory Opinion the International Court of Justice has found to violate Article 3 CERD, which prohibits racial segregation and apartheid.

In furtherance of these policies, Israel has already crossed established EU red lines: the advancement of settlement construction in the E1 area, which breaks the territorial contiguity of the West Bank, with the intent to prevent a future Palestinian state; the ban on UNRWA and attacks on its facilities, including schools and clinics built and run with EU contributions; the expulsion of international NGOs through restrictive registration procedures; forced evictions of Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem; forced displacement of tens of thousands of Palestinians and widespread demolitions of Palestinian homes and infrastructure in the West Bank, including EU-funded projects; persistent impunity for abuses by Israeli security forces and state-backed settler violence; reports of widespread and systemic torture and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners; restrictions on religious freedoms; attacks on journalists; and denial of access to EU officials.

As also recalled by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kallas in her statement of 31 March, the EU-Israel Association Agreement establishes respect for democratic principles as an essential element of EU-Israel relations. A review conducted by the EU in June 2025 based on Article 2 of the Agreement found Israel in breach of its human rights obligations for serious abuses against Palestinians and violations of the laws of war, both in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Nine months on, the time for action is long overdue. The European Union must uphold its stated principles and legal obligations by finally suspending, as a minimum immediate measure, the trade component of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and adopting other measures, as proposed by President von der Leyen in September 2025.

Signatories:

1. 11.11.11
2. ACT Alliance EU
3. Act Church of Sweden 
4. ActionAid International
5. Amnesty International
6. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
7. Bystanders No More
8. Caritas Europa
9. Caritas MONA (Middle East and North Africa)
10. Child Rights International Network (CRIN)
11. Children Not Numbers
12. Christian Aid
13. CIDSE – International Family of Catholic Social Justice Organisations
14. CNCD-11.11.11
15. Cooperazione Internazionale Sud-Sud (CISS)
16. DanChurchAid
17. 80:20 Educating and Acting for a Better World
18. EuroMed Rights
19. Finn Church Aid
20. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
21. Human Rights Watch
22. Insecurity Insight
23. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
24. Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)
25. Norwegian Church Aid
26. Oxfam
27. Pax Christi International
28. Public Commitee Against Torture in Israel
29. Trócaire
30. United Against Inhumanity
31. Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) 

Source: Amnesty International –

Iranian authorities are trampling upon children’s rights and committing a grave violation of international humanitarian law amounting to a war crime by recruiting and mobilizing children as young as 12 into a military campaign led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Amnesty International said today. 

On 26 March 2026, a deputy of the IRGC Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, announced that a recruitment campaign called the “Homeland-Defending Combatants for Iran” is “open to volunteers” aged 12 and above, encouraging registrations at Basij bases in mosques across Tehran to join “combatants defending the homeland.” Eyewitness accounts and verified audiovisual evidence show child soldiers having been deployed at IRGC checkpoints and patrols, armed with weapons, including AK47pattern rifles.   

“The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military. Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. 

As US and Israeli strikes hit thousands of IRGC sites, including Basij facilities, across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the deployment of child soldiers alongside IRGC personnel or in their facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury.

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. 

“As US and Israeli strikes hit thousands of IRGC sites, including Basij facilities, across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the deployment of child soldiers alongside IRGC personnel or in their facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury. Iranian authorities must immediately stop their criminal assault on children’s rights and prohibit the recruitment of anyone under 18 by the armed forces.” 

According to official statements, under announced campaign, recruits are being assigned to a range of activities linked to the IRGC’s “operational and security” activities, including patrols, checkpoint duties, logistical support, distribution of equipment and supplies, and assisting with food, medical and relief tasks.  

Amnesty International has analysed 16 photos and videos that have appeared online since 21 March 2026, showing children wielding weapons such as AK-pattern assault rifles  or standing alongside IRGC and other forces at checkpoints, on patrols and during state-organized militarized rallies in Tehran, Mashad and Kermanshah. 

On 29 March, 11-year-old boy, Alireza Jafari, was killed, while accompanying his father, a member of the IRGC’s Basij, at a checkpoint in Tehran, laying bare the devastating consequences of the presence of children at military objectives. Authorities have confirmed that the child was killed “while serving” at a checkpoint following an Israeli drone attack. 

The boy’s mother told Hamshahri newspaper that on the night of the incident, her husband reported a “shortage of personnel” at checkpoints and took their sons, Alireza Jafari and his younger nine-year-old brother, with him. She added that her husband said Alireza “must get prepared for the days ahead” and that currently, children as young as 15 and 16 commonly take part in checkpoint duties. 

A Senior Reporter for BBC Persian Forensic, Ghoncheh Habibiazad, shared with Amnesty International screenshots of text messages received from four eyewitnesses in Tehran, Karaj, and Rasht who reported seeing children deployed at Basijrun checkpoints and armed with weapons, including AK47pattern rifles, in March 2026.  

One of the eyewitnesses from Tehran wrote: 

“[On 25 March], I saw a child at a checkpoint near our house… I think he was about 15. He just had the faint beginnings of a moustache. It seemed like he was struggling to breathe from the effort of lifting the gun. He was pointing the gun toward the cars.” 

Another eyewitness from Karaj wrote: 

“Today [on 27 March], I saw a child at a checkpoint. I think he was about 16. His facial hair hadn’t even grown. He was holding a Kalashnikov rifle.” 

An eyewitness from Rasht wrote on 30 March: 

“I have seen children wielding weapons. They wear masks to cover their faces, but it is obvious they are kids. They have not even grown in height… some appear to be 13 years old at most… I saw [several] children standing in front of mosques [where Basij bases are located], ahead of the actual forces. I keep thinking their brains aren’t developed like adults and they might actually fire randomly. I am both scared of them and feel sad for them.” 

In a video posted online on 30 March 2026, filmed in Mashhad at Shariati Square, two children, visibly identifiable from their height and stature, are seen wearing Basij camouflage uniforms and balaclavas and carrying AK‑pattern assault rifles while positioned on a white car during a state-organized rally. One child is visible standing through a side window, while the other appears positioned through the top window of the vehicle. The footage shows the children elevated above the crowd as the car moves through the square, with people around them cheering and waving flags. 

The recruitment announcement was circulated alongside a poster depicting a man in a uniform belonging to the Basij battalions of the IRGC, a woman in civilian dress, and two children, a boy and a girl. The poster promoted the campaign under the slogan “Basij with people, for people,” and featured a quote from the late Supreme Leader and commander-in-chief of the armed forces Ali Khamenei, stating that “Basijis must remain at the heart of the field for the main virtues of the Revolution to stay alive.” 

In an interview aired by state media, a deputy of the IRGC Mohammad Rasoul Allah Corps of Greater Tehran, Rahim Nadali, spoke of the “high enthusiasm” among teenagers to join “intelligence and operational patrols,” saying:  

“Teenagers and youth have repeatedly come forward saying they want to take part… Given the ages of those making these requests, we have set the minimum age at 12. There are now kids aged 12-13 who want to be present in this space.” 

Source: Amnesty International –

Reacting to Angolan authorities’ continued detention of Serrote Oliviera, also known as General Nila, the leader of the National Union for Total Revolution of Angola (UNTRA), Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa’s regional office Tigere Chagutah said;.

“250 days since General Nila’s shooting and subsequent arrest and detention, Angolan authorities have failed to present credible evidence against him while repeatedly obstructing his lawyers’ access to the case file, raising serious concerns about fair trial guarantees and due process.

“His case illustrates the Angolan authorities’ escalating repression of activists, punishing and silencing dissent with impunity.

250 days since General Nila’s shooting and subsequent arrest and detention, Angolan authorities have failed to present credible evidence against him while repeatedly obstructing his lawyers’ access to the case file, raising serious concerns about fair trial guarantees and due process.

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for ESARO

“Pending his release, Amnesty International calls on authorities to ensure full respect for General Nila’s fair trial rights, in line with international standards, including promptly providing his lawyers with full access to all documents related to his case and continued detention.”

Background

In recent years, General Nila has been a prominent voice against injustice in Angola, organizing peaceful demonstrations and advocating for the release of arbitrarily detained activists. General Nila has been detained several times during peaceful demonstrations that had been notified to the authorities.

UNTRA was among the groups that organized protests in July 2025, in response to an increase in fuel prices and transportation costs.

General Nila was shot by security forces when he stopped to film/livestream the first day of a strike in Luanda while on his way to visit a relative in hospital. Since his arrest, his case has been characterized by a lack of transparency over the legal basis for his continued detention, undermining confidence in the justice process and raising concerns about his arbitrary detention.

Source: Amnesty International –

Last year, the European Commission launched a drive to simplify existing EU laws on artificial intelligence (AI) and data protection, arguing that this would “boost competitiveness” and “cut red tape”. In November 2025, it unveiled proposals for sweeping changes to major laws like the AI Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). 

At stake are the rules that protect us on and offline. Corporations work hard to give regulation a bad name, but regulations protect our rights from being steamrolled by states and governments. They protect our environment, our rights at work, our rights online, and so much more. 

Backed by powerful corporations, the Commission’s so-called “Digital Omnibus” threatens to weaken EU digital rules that were once seen as global benchmarks for privacy and AI. This plays on a false dichotomy between regulation and innovation, championed by Big Tech, who seek a rules-free environment that prioritizes profit at any cost. True innovation means finding ways to ensure that the benefits of new technologies are shared by society at large, and not serve only the interest of Big Tech oligarchs. 

The proposals presented under the guise of “simplification” amount to an unprecedented rollback of rights online at the EU level that protect us from corporate and state surveillance, discrimination at the hands of AI systems, and much more. 

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to the civil complaint  filed before France’s War Crimes Unit by French-Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) regarding a November 2024 Israeli military attack on a civilian building in central Beirut which killed seven civilians, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef said: 

Amnesty’s research into the attack found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity at the time of the attack and concluded the strike should be investigated as a war crime. 

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

“Amidst a longstanding pattern of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces in Lebanon, and as Israel once again steps up its attacks, if War Crimes Unit prosecutors open an investigation into this  complaint, this would offer a rare opportunity to examine Israel’s actions in a European court given the general impunity it usually enjoys. This case could offer some form of accountability and reparation to victims of this deadly attack. The strike on the residential building, killed at least seven civilians, destroyed several people’s homes. Amnesty’s research into the attack found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity at the time of the attack and concluded the strike should be investigated as a war crime. 

“Since October 2023, Amnesty International has documented serious and repeated violations of international humanitarian law by parties to the conflict in Lebanon, including numerous Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings that killed scores of civilians. More than a year later, none of the victims of these attacks have received justice or reparations and with the renewed intensification of hostilities, people in Lebanon are being forced again to witness their family members being killed, their homes destroyed, and their safety threatened. 

“Given Israel’s escalating attacks and longstanding impunity, states should urgently use universal or other extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate serious violations of international humanitarian law and, where evidence permits, prosecute those responsible for war crimes in national courts.  

The Lebanese government should cooperate with the proceedings and take other measures to seek accountability for Israeli’s serious violations of international humanitarian law in Lebanon, including by accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, to ensure credible investigations and meaningful redress for victims.” 

Source: Amnesty International –

• Regulators rubber-stamped casinos this year despite evidence of slavery and torture
• Survivors describe being trafficked to casino complexes and forced to scam
• Casinos linked to scamming compounds owned by major Cambodian companies

A new investigation by Amnesty International shows that a dozen casinos in Cambodia are directly linked to scamming compounds where torture, forced labour, child labour and human trafficking have taken place.

Analysis of official licensing documents issued by Cambodia’s Commercial Gambling Management Commission (CGMC) shows that casino owners are in direct control of buildings and sites where human rights abuses have been documented in at least 12 separate locations. The findings corroborate testimony from compound survivors who described being on casino property while they were confined and abused.

The casinos’ plans were recognized by the CGMC in December and January – during the country’s supposed nationwide crackdown on scamming compounds. The approved businesses include three Crown casinos owned by Anco Brothers Co. Ltd., one of the most powerful companies in Cambodia.

“This research establishes a clear link between Cambodia’s licensed casinos and its scamming compounds. At a time when the government says it is dismantling the scamming industry, the evidence shows it is simultaneously recognizing the plans for casino properties where abusive scamming compounds are run,” Amnesty International’s Co-Regional Director Montse Ferrer said.  

“This contradiction raises urgent questions about whether Cambodian regulators are legitimizing companies linked to grave abuses. The authorities must explain why casinos with documented links to trafficking and torture continue to receive official approval. Every day that these casinos remain licensed is another day in which people on casino property are at risk of human rights abuse.”