Alan and Gyan Mohammed are siblings, who were both teachers in their hometown of Al Hasakah in North Eastern Syria. They have muscular dystrophy and use wheelchairs. When the so-called Islamic State (IS) group captured their town in summer 2014, they had little choice but to leave. The siblings faced a torturous journey. Strapped to either side of a horse, they travelled with their mother, sister Shilan and brother Ivan; first to Iraq before crossing the mountains into Turkey. Eventually they reached Turkey’s western coast, where smugglers put them on an inflatable dinghy to Greece. They ended up in a refugee camp in an isolated and abandoned military base 80km from Athens.

19/06/2018 – Various organizations including Amnesty International continue to document China’s abusive campaign against human rights. The EU has taken some steps to push back against these developments. Yet the EU’s commitments to promoting human rights has not been matched in China with a willingness to act or a determination to at least achieve releases. Amnesty International and 23 other NGOs urged the EU to publicly and repeatedly call for the release of Liu Xia, Wang Quanzhang, Tashi Wangchuk, Ilham Tohti, Lee Ming-cheh and Gui Minhai.

Migrants wait to disembark from the MV Aquarius after it arrived in Augusta on the island of Sicily ©REUTERS

08/06/2018 – We, the undersigned NGOs, ActionAid, Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, Clean Clothes Campaign, European Coalition for Corporate Justice and International Federation for Human Rights, are pleased to provide for your earnest consideration the following suggested elements for an EU Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct.

© ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

A young Syrian refugee peers out of the window of an aeroplane after arriving at Hanover Airport on September 11, 2013 in Hanover, Germany. ©Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

A leadership test for the EU

30/05/2018 – With the attached letter, we are writing to share with you Amnesty International’s recently issued report Families Torn Apart: Forced Eviction Of Indigenous People In Embobut Forest, Kenya that sheds light on the forced eviction of the Sengwer Indigenous community from their ancestral homes and land in the Embobut Forest, Kenya. The government has stated that the forest must be cleared in order to implement a project funded by the European Union (EU).

Development is vital for Kenya, but it must not carry a human cost. All donors funding projects in Embobut Forest, including the EU, must ensure that conservation and climate change projects do not cause, or contribute to, human rights violations

©Antonio Rodriguez