Category: MIL-OSI

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Greenpeace UK has appointed Kathryn Tomlinson as the new chair of its board of directors. 

Kathryn, who is the Deputy Secretary General at Amnesty International, brings many years of director-level experience in international development and human rights to the role.

Before joining Amnesty, she held high-profile posts at International Alert, the global peace-building organisation, and Conciliation Resources, an international organisation committed to stopping violent conflict, where she was responsible for programme delivery across 15 countries, including Latin America and Africa.

Kathryn also spent six years as Asia Regional Director for the BBC Media Action, reaching more than 100 million people a year in some of the world’s poorest countries, and establishing new offices in Indonesia and Myanmar. 

Her career spans bringing about change for both people and planet. Her previous role as chair was with Walworth Garden, a charity providing learning and horticultural therapy through an award-winning community garden. At BBC Media Action, she oversaw the world’s largest survey of the impact of climate change.

Commenting on her appointment, Kathryn Tomlinson said:

I’m incredibly excited to take on this role at Greenpeace UK, an organisation I’ve admired for decades. Ever since joining my parents on marches against nuclear weapons as a child, I have seen that what changes the world for the better is people taking action together. And not a day has gone by without a stark reminder of why we need Greenpeace, whether it’s fossil-fuelled heatwaves or the latest report on nature’s collapse. As campaigners face threats from government crackdowns on protest rights to intimidation lawsuits by big polluters, I’m looking forward to putting my expertise at Greenpeace UK’s service. Boards play a crucial role in providing the right structure and backing that allow a campaign group to aim high and take risks. I can’t wait to work with the great talent on this board to support Greenpeace in its vital mission.

Kathryn joins a diverse, highly-skilled board of directors encompassing many crucial areas of expertise from climate studies and humanitarian law to movement building and charity finance.

She is taking over as chair from Andrew McParland, whose eight-year term at the head of the board ended earlier this year. 

Commenting on Kathryn’s appointment and the end of his tenure as chair, Andrew McParland said: 

It’s been an honour and a privilege to serve on the Greenpeace UK board for 16 years, half of them as chair. During that time, I’ve witnessed some of our biggest victories alongside our moments of greatest jeopardy – and how both have added to the organisation’s incredible strength. I’m very glad to pass on the baton to someone of Kathryn’s talent and experience, and to a brilliant team of passionate and capable board members.

ENDS

Contact: Greenpeace UK news team at press.uk@greenpeace.org and on 020 7865 8255

Source: Amnesty International –

On 22 June 2026, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs adopted the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Rules granting the Indian government sweeping new powers to police the activities, operation, management and leadership of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) receiving foreign funding.

The amendments significantly expand an already restrictive legal framework established under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 2010, which regulates the receipt and use of foreign contributions by individuals and organizations in India. It prohibits contributions for activities deemed to be detrimental to the “national interest,” an overbroad term open to misuse. Since 2010, successive governments have amended the Act three times, most significantly in 2020, when the law was expanded to ban the transfer of foreign funds between organizations, to cap administrative expenditure and to require funds to be routed through a single designated bank account. In 2016, three United Nations Special Rapporteurs jointly urged the Indian government to repeal the FCRA, warning that it was being used to silence organizations whose priorities did not align with those of the government.

In 2011, the Indian government notified rules to the FCRA, and has amended them 10 times since then. The latest amendments further perpetuate the Indian authorities’ use of the FCRA over the last decade as a tool to silence peaceful dissent and the exercise of fundamental freedoms and obstruct independent human rights work in the country. Such misuse has been repeatedly noted by various UN mechanisms, most recently by the UN Human Rights Committee in 2024 in its concluding observations on the fourth periodic review of India’s implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

The new rules apply to nearly 14,500 organizations that currently hold a FCRA license, and to all non-profits who may want to apply in the future. Existing non-profit organizations now face a one-year deadline to bring their registration in line with a far more limiting framework, or risk losing the ability to carry out their work altogether.

Under international human rights law, the right to freedom of association includes the right of associations to seek, receive and use resources, including funding from foreign sources. This is protected by Article 22 of the ICCPR, to which India is a state party, as well as by Article 13 of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly. Any restriction is permissible only if it is prescribed by law with precision and is not overbroad, is strictly necessary to meet only a legitimate aim provided for under article 22 namely, national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, and adopts a proportionate means to meet that aim. This test also applies to restrictions on the right to freedom of expression protected by Article 19 of the ICCPR. The new amendments place multiple undue restrictions on NGOs and in doing so, fail this test in several respects.

Source: Amnesty International –

African Union (AU) member states must ensure full political, legal and financial support for the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court), to enable it to effectively carry out its mandate to protect human rights, Amnesty International said today as it launched a new report marking the Court’s 20th anniversary.

Released on World Day for International Justice, the report, ‘20 years of the African Court – Protect the Court, Protect the People’, examines the successes achieved and the challenges faced in two decades by the Court, which serves as an important regional judicial avenue for individuals and civil society organizations.

Yet despite the African Court’s crucial role in delivering justice, only 34 of the AU’s 55 member states have ratified the protocol establishing the regional human rights court. And as of July 2026, only seven allow individuals and NGOs to directly submit complaints to the Court.

We join with civil society organizations, bar associations, academic institutions, and people across the continent in calling for AU member states to enable the African Court to fully live up to its promise.

Japhet Biegon, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa at Amnesty International

“The African Court is an essential judicial avenue for individuals and civil society organizations who cannot obtain prompt, effective and adequate remedy for human rights violations in their own countries. Despite its challenges, the African Court has demonstrated dynamism and agility in examining the cases brought to it, developing strong jurisprudence and expanding the protection of human rights in Africa,” said Japhet Biegon, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa at Amnesty International.  

“It is vital that every AU member state ratifies the African Court Protocol and makes the declaration that would allow individuals and NGOs to directly access the Court, so that the African Court is able to continue to protect human rights in a meaningful way for decades to come.”

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 16, 2026) – The Trump administration has announced a proposed deep sea mining lease sale¹ in federal waters near American Samoa, marking the world’s first attempt to commercially mine the deep sea. The move is a major step toward opening U.S. waters to commercial deep sea mining and comes despite mounting opposition from Pacific Indigenous leaders, Pacific communities, and civil society groups. 

Arlo Hemphill, Greenpeace USA Oceans Are Life Campaign Lead, said:  “The Trump administration is attempting to launch the world’s first commercial deep sea mining lease sale despite clear opposition from Pacific communities and major unanswered scientific questions. Pacific peoples are being asked to shoulder the risks of a destructive new industry enabling corporations to chase profits in one of the last wild places on earth.”

The announcement comes after American Samoa imposed a moratorium on seabed mining in its waters and formally opposed federal proposals to mine the outer continental shelf near the territory. An April document issued by the newly redesignated Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) outlined plans for lease sales in American Samoa in August 2026 and indicated funding for tribal and Pacific Islands outreach would only follow the lease sales, a clear breach in the consultation of affected communities. 

“The federal government is moving forward with a decision affecting Pacific communities before meaningful consultation has even begun — scheduling outreach after the lease sale, not before it,” added Hemphill. 

Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka, founder of American Samoa’s Finafinau Foundation² said: “Pacific people have made our position clear: we do not want deep sea mining in our waters. Yet the Trump administration is forcing this industry on our communities – imposing decisions that could affect us permanently without consulting us. Our ocean is our home, our food, our culture, and our future, and we are calling on the Administration to stop this reckless lease sale before irreversible harm is done.” 

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which were also identified in MMA documents for future lease sales, have similarly expressed opposition to deep sea mining proposals. Their opposition includes a recent call by both governors for a moratorium on the practice. More than 3,000 residents from U.S. territories have signed petitions opposing the industry’s launch in the region. And on June 5th the governor of Guam signed a ban in nearshore waters under territorial control.

Solomon “Uncle Sol” Pili Kahoʻohalahala, a Native Hawaiian Elder of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Advisory Council and Native Hawaiian Cultural Working Group, said:  “The Pacific has already seen what happens when governments and corporations treat our ocean as something to exploit instead of a living system that sustains our people. Indigenous leaders across the Pacific are standing together against deep sea mining because we know the risks will not stop at our shorelines. The ocean connects our communities across generations, and Pacific peoples will continue protecting it.”   

More photos can be viewed here and images of Pacific leaders lobbying in Washington, DC can be seen here.

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Contacts:

Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected], +1 703 342 9226

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: Greenpeace Statement –

More photos will be available soon in the Greenpeace Media Library

HOBOKEN, NJ (July 16, 2026)—Greenpeace USA activists today unfurled a 50-foot banner outside Dove’s USA headquarters with the message “Dove: Care for Men’s Health, Kick Plastic Out.” Just days ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 finals, activists dressed in soccer jerseys handed out ‘red cards’ penalizing Dove, the Official World Cup Personal Care Sponsor, and urging it to kick plastic out of its packaging. Greenpeace is calling on Dove to act faster to address its role in the global plastic pollution crisis — a growing public health emergency.

Lindsey Jurca, Senior Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace USA, said: “As an official sponsor of the World Cup, Dove has spent millions telling men it cares for their most sensitive parts. But its parent company, Unilever, is one of the world’s top plastic polluters — and now plastic pollution is showing up below the belt. Dove can’t have it both ways. We’re asking Dove to put its money where its mouth is and kick plastic out.”

Dove has used the FIFA World Cup to promote its plastic‑packaged men’s personal care line and presents itself as a brand that cares about men. Yet its parent company, Unilever, produces more than 600,000 tonnes of plastic packaging annually and consistently ranks among the world’s top 5 plastic polluters.

Emerging science is raising questions about the links between exposure to microplastics and plastic chemicals and men’s sexual health and fertility. Sperm counts have dropped by nearly 62% since the 1974 Men’s World Cup and doctors are sounding alarms that chemicals found in plastics could be a culprit. Plastic chemicals include known endocrine disruptors capable of interfering with hormone systems. 

Recent studies reveal that microplastics may be showing up in semen and penile tissue, underscoring how deeply plastic pollution could be reaching into men’s bodies. Dove’s products are largely packaged in polyethylene (PET), a plastic that may leach hundreds of chemicals into the products it contains over time, some capable of interfering with male hormone systems.

As a company that has millions to spend on Dove’s World Cup sponsorship, Unilever can afford to invest in large-scale reuse-and-refill systems. Unilever pledged to halve its virgin plastic footprint by 2025, missed that target, and has since quietly shifted its goalposts. Despite repeated calls from customers to stop selling plastic sachets and other packaging, the company has not provided a plan to scale up reuse initiatives beyond current pilot projects, or to phase out sachets. 

Shanna Swan, an environmental and reproductive epidemiologist known for her research on environmental contributors to declining sperm counts, said: “We are seeing decades-long declines in semen quality and testosterone levels worldwide, with chemicals in the environment linked to the declines. Some of these endocrine-disrupting chemicals are associated with plastics and are showing up in placental and testicular tissue, where they can adversely impact the developing fetus. This isn’t just about men’s balls; it’s about the survival of life on the planet. It is urgent that these exposures, capable of decreasing the reproductive success of current and future generations, be removed from commerce.”

Eric Isaac, one of the men who took part in Swan’s intervention featured in the Netflix documentary, The Plastic Detox, said: “My wife and I struggled with infertility for years. I was shocked to learn that my everyday exposure to plastics could be part of the problem. We welcomed a baby boy last February, and we can’t help but wonder if our lifestyle changes to reduce our exposure to plastic helped. Every family should have the freedom to know that joy.”

Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, internationally renowned leader in environmental health, said: “Plastics represent a multidimensional and urgent threat to human health. The scientific evidence is extremely strong for the effects of certain plastic chemicals on our hormones—from cradle to grave and womb to tomb. This is not an abstract or distant concern. It is an issue that should concern us all. We know enough about plastics to act with urgency.”

Last week, Greenpeace USA lit up the New York skyline with a message for World Cup fans: “Defend Your Balls. Dove, Kick Plastic Out.” The projection was part of a campaign calling on Unilever to phase out plastic packaging, transition to plastic-free, zero-waste, reusable packaging, and support a strong Global Plastics Treaty that cuts plastic production.  

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Contacts:

Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, +1 703 342 9226. [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 –

Responding to reports that more than 500 people are feared dead after two boats carrying mostly Rohingya refugees capsized off the coast of Myanmar, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher Joe Freeman said:

“These reports are a heartbreaking reminder of the increasingly desperate choices facing many Rohingya today. People do not risk their lives at sea unless the alternatives are even more unbearable. Decades of persecution, statelessness, conflict and severe humanitarian hardship have left many with nowhere safe to turn.

“These sea journeys are always perilous, but the fact that they are happening during the monsoon season when sailing conditions are rougher than normal further highlights the risks people are willing to take to escape the dire conditions in both the Bangladesh refugee camps and in the Rohingya homeland in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

“In Bangladesh, Rohingya families lack aid, education and proper shelter, while also facing forced recruitment by armed groups and kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs, trends that Amnesty International has documented through past interviews with parents and young people. In Myanmar, most of Rakhine State is now under the control of the Arakan Army, which Amnesty and others have accused of using the Rohingya for forced labour, reinforcing the apartheid-like conditions created by the Myanmar military.

“Therefore it is not surprising that these tragedies at sea continue to happen, and they only emphasize the need for durable solutions both in Bangladesh and in Myanmar. Governments across the region must strengthen search-and-rescue efforts, ensure timely access to protection for those seeking safety and work together to end the cycle of neglect that continues to put Rohingya lives at risk.

“This should also send a message to the Bangladesh authorities and the international community to prevent forced repatriation. Conditions in Rakhine State are not viable for safe and dignified returns as people continue to flee the place the Bangladesh government wants to forcefully repatriate them to.”

Source: Amnesty International –

Three years after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen migration cooperation with Tunisia, the European Union (EU)’s unchecked support for border control in the country continues to fuel serious human rights violations against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, Amnesty International said today.   

The European Commission and Tunisia signed the deal on 16 July 2023, despite clear public documentation of a sharply deteriorating human rights situation in the country, including racist abuse and unlawful collective expulsions by the authorities that often involved torture and ill-treatment.  

Since then, and despite the continuation of these violations and the 2024 dismantling of the asylum system removing the only avenue for protection, EU and member state officials have remained resolutely committed to strengthening that cooperation, celebrating the resulting significant drop in irregular departures from Tunisia while failing to put in place rigorous and credible due diligence measures, or to embed effective, transparent monitoring or human rights conditionality. 

“Despite well-documented evidence of human rights violations against refugees and migrants in Tunisia, the EU looked the other way and signed the MoU without effective human rights safeguards. Since then, the EU has celebrated this migration cooperation as a success despite mounting documentation that the Tunisian authorities continue to subject refugees and migrants to serious human rights violations. These have included dangerous interceptions at sea putting lives at risk, failures to individually assess protection needs of those disembarked in Tunisia, as well as unlawful collective expulsions which have involved torture and other ill-treatment, including rape,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa.  

Given the scale and severity of ongoing human rights violations, and the lack of any protection avenues with no access to asylum, it is clear that Tunisia cannot be considered safe.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International

“Given the scale and severity of ongoing human rights violations, and the lack of any protection avenues with no access to asylum, it is clear that Tunisia cannot be considered safe. The EU must act urgently to suspend cooperation on border control with Tunisia and implement strict, credible and effective human rights safeguards.” 

In September 2025, the EU delivered two new search-and-rescue (SAR) vessels to Tunisia and in June 2026 President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced the delivery of three more, in a leaked letter to EU member states, in which she highlighted a 97% decrease in irregular arrivals to Italy since 2023. 

In April 2026, in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from Amnesty International, the Commission disclosed that Tunisia and other countries would benefit from a EUR 675 million migration support package between 2025 and 2027.  

In November 2025, Amnesty International published a comprehensive report documenting the scale and gravity of violations described above. Those violations have continued while Tunisian authorities have not restored access to asylum procedures. 

Source: Oxfam –

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to the reported arrest of five people in police raids on two independent bookstores in Hong Kong today, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:

“This year’s escalating attacks on Hong Kong’s independent bookstores hammer home the chilling reality of what the city has become: a place where you can be criminalized simply for what’s on your bookshelf.

“Booksellers should never face arrest simply for doing their jobs: selling, publishing or distributing books. The use of ‘sedition’ offences to target bookstores once again demonstrates how Hong Kong’s national security framework is being weaponized to silence dissenting voices and eradicate spaces for free thought and debate.

“The growing uncertainty over so-called ‘red lines’ for booksellers leaves publishers and writers guessing which titles could lead to criminal investigation, arrest or closure. Such ambiguity is intentional: fueling fear and self-censorship, with devastating consequences for freedom of expression.

“Hong Kong’s authorities must immediately stop using national security and sedition laws to criminalize the peaceful exercise of human rights, and ensure that everyone in Hong Kong can access, publish and share ideas without fear of arrest.”

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

14 July 2026 – In response to plans by Kenya and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, to construct a 700,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Lamu County, Sherelee Odayar, Oil and Gas Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, said:

“This project threatens to damage one of East Africa’s most fragile coastal ecosystems while locking Kenya into a risky fossil fuel future. Lamu’s mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass beds are not expendable; they support fisheries, livelihoods and coastal protection. A mega-refinery of this scale brings habitat destruction, marine degradation, oil spill risk and dangerous air pollution.

“The promise of ‘thousands of jobs’ cannot be used to hide the true cost of this investment. Large fossil fuel projects often create temporary jobs while undermining existing livelihoods in fishing, tourism and small-scale local economies.

“This refinery also risks becoming a stranded asset as the world moves toward cleaner energy. It would also lock Kenya into decades of carbon-intensive development, worsening climate change and its impacts. The enormous capital required for a project of this scale could instead help accelerate Kenya’s renewable energy future through solar, wind, geothermal, storage and better energy access.

“No approvals should move forward without a full, independent environmental and social impact assessment, genuine public participation, and transparent scrutiny of the long-term economic, health and ecological risks.”

Greenpeace Africa is calling for an immediate halt to approvals until an independent Environmental and Social Impact Assessment is completed, publicly released and subjected to meaningful public participation. Any review must assess cumulative impacts on Lamu’s mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and fishing livelihoods, alongside the wider economic risk of locking Kenya into costly fossil fuel infrastructure as the global energy transition accelerates.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

Ferdinand Omondi, Communication Lead, East and Southern Africa, +254 722 505 233, [email protected]

Greenpeace Africa Pressdesk: [email protected]