This report to document state by state the situation of human rights around the world. With more than come with 159 countries in this years report we have been able to identify some very common themes that were seeing across the globe. One of these is the worrying rise in state sponsored discrimination and hate, which we have seen here in the United States as well. But a more promising theme is that we are also seeing rising levels of activism, which is exactly what Amnesty International is all about. Im very pleased today to be able to introduce my three colleagues from the Global Human Rights movement who are all ready to talk about the report and the important work that Amnesty International is doing. First, are secretarygeneral, salil shetty would give an overview of the report and the key themes that amnesty is highlighting this year. Next my colleague erika gueverarosas who is the americas director for amnesty, will speak to some of the human rights themes in our hemisphere including the United States. And then our third speaker, tirana hassan, director of our crisis work, will be able to speak to amnestys work on the rohingya as well as the situation in syria and any other crises that have been rising over the last several weeks and the last year. Id like it might each of you that this launch today is actually part of an embargo effort. The report will not be released until 1201 eastern time so as that you do not live stream, you do not tweet or post online to social media, that you hold your stories until 1201 tonight. Thanks for being here again and ill head over to salil. Thank you all for joining us this morning. So when youre ago millions of people, not just in the United States, but across the world, were watching anxiously to see what a Trump Presidency would yield. After an Election Campaign of hateful and xenophobic and sexist rhetoric. They were also looking with trepidation across europe where intellectual races in france, netherlands, austria and germany were showcasing some of the rhetoric and the cynical use of fear and hatred. Combined with already harsh crackdowns and identitybased violence in many countries, it was a bleak outlook. A year later we take stock, and what we find that in 2017 to a very alarming extent, sadly, the hateful rhetoric crossed into hateful reality. In the usa we saw the reinstatement of the global gag rule, depriving millions of women and girls worldwide of vital healthcare. The travel bans and that mainly muslim countries, the dramatic cutback on Refugee Resettlement numbers leaving thousands more in limbo, and a new climate of permissiveness for xenophobia and hatred arising from President Trumps failure to condemn it when he saw it. Battling hatred and fear against all whole groups of people based on who they are ultimately these only in one direction. When leaders fostered or turned a blind eye, the endgame is horrific and literally fatal. In 2017 was on no clear example than the Myanmar Military campaign of ethnic cleansing against the rohingya population. Led by the general, which drove more than 600,000 women, men, and children to flee in terror. It was arguably the biggest human rights story of 2017, but a story with its roots in years of hatred and systematic discrimination against the rohingya. The rising rhetoric of hate translated into horrific realworld consequences. That is the bad news from 2017. But theres also a lot of encouraging news. 2017 showed us what happens when people mass in great numbers to said that they will not accept the injustices they face. Rather than capitulate to marriages of fear, ordinary people clamored for justice, breathing new life into longstanding struggles and igniting a new era of social activism. Theres no better example of that than what weve seen with the kids in this country standing up against gun violence in the last few days. They refuse, the children were talking about, refused to accept what is unconscionable, should be the status quo. From the huge womens march is especially here in washington, d. C. To the widespread protests which started over food prices and corruption in iran, and from the mass mobilizations for judicial freedom in poland, to the thousands braving teargas and bullets campaigning against food and medical shortages in venezuela, peoples determination to seek justice burn brightly across the world. As margaret mentioned this is the first time Amnesty International is launching our annual report on the state of the world human rights in the United States of america. The reason is simple. In 2017 the usa figured prominently on both sides of the ledger. Significant and serious new threats to human rights that huge resistance. What happens here in the u. S. Has great resonance around the rest of the world. Its very important for us to remember that we cant view it happen in 2017 and whats whats happening in the world today as a simple equation of unprincipled leaders versus peoples powerpack across the world the values of human dignity, equality and human rights are hotly contested in our public squares, and on the internet, which is the modern public square. We saw the womens march in d. C. But we also saw charlottesville. We saw the staunch defense of the judicial in poland but we saw a rally which included calls for a muslim holocaust. So the hatred and fear in our public here has not gone away. Faced with a permissive climate for hatred and leaders were ready to throw we peoples rights, dignity and equality, those were willing to stand for justice and human rights are a critical line of defense. They often pay a heavy price, none more so than the 120 People Killed in protests in venezuela, the 312 or more human rights defenders who have been killed in 2017, or the countless facing smears and intimidation. But above all, 2017 brings into sharp focus the urgency of principal and Ethical Leadership in the world. The great Abraham Lincoln famously said that, and im sure we can apply the same to women, and i quote, nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a a mans character, ge him power. The lesson from 2017 is that fear and hatred is a a recipe r nothing but violence. 2018 need to leaders prepare to tackle the challenges from refugees to protecting human rights defenders, to the precarious nature of many peoples access to basic services, instead simply deflecting responsibility through blame it. We need leaders who are unafraid to stand for and defend the values of human rights, dignity and equality. As people have shown up by rising up again and again in 2017, we cannot afford for these values simply to be thrown away. The cost of humanity is far too high. We can and must do better than this. Thank you very much, and i will invite erika to. Thank thank you, everyone. Good morning. My name is erika gueverarosas and the board to talk about the u. S. Policies impact on Latin Americans greater the region is expensive one of the worlds worst regression climates. We are the region with the highest rates of homicide around the world. We are the most unequal region of the world but also this is the consequence in many ways of the u. S. Policies that are affecting the ability of people around the continent to exercise human rights. The alarming concern for human rights in our election of donald trump has proven to be wellfounded fear President Trump wasted little time in putting his antirights rhetoric and discrimination and xenophobia into action, including by signing a series of executive orders that are threatening the human rights of millions at home and abroad. But some specific concerns about the impact of these u. S. Policies in relation to latin america, the caribbean have included the immigration and refugee policies and practices such as the many president ial orders that have been suspending refugees settlement program. With increasing numbers of people from central america, mexico and other countries in the region seeking protection due to the generalized violence and the failures of the states to protect them. The executive order on poor borr security and Immigration Enforcement improvements and a series of other measures are allowed also the force of return of people as well as the increase of the unlawful mandatory detention of asylumseekers and separation of families that are affecting thousands of Central Americans and mexicans that are trying to cross the border in seek of protection. But also what is going to have a serious implication in the geopolitics of the immigration refugee policies in the region is the end of the humanitarian programs known as the temporary protected status which allows thousands of salvadorans, haitians and nicaraguans who have lived in the country leader for many years as one of the reverses edges of immigration policies intended to provide protection to people playing manmade and natural disasters in many countries of the region. These thousands of peoples are among the nearly 1 Million Immigrants who lives in the United States, whose lives in the United States have been offended and said to have a deadline under President Trump of the largest group, nearly 700,000 immigrants who were protected under the deferred action for childhood arrivals known as daca are set to begin losing temporary work permits in march, in a few weeks, and 12 of the 15 Top Countries of origin for daca beneficiaries are in the latin american and caribbean region. But if the threat from war between us and its reporter was not to create hostility towards the southern neighboring countries, President Trump had rhetoric against venezuela and cuba are providing the perfect excuse for dictatorial leaders to justify grave violations of human rights and national approaches to control people sleep in venezuela in particular what people are facing the worst human rights crisis in the countries recent history, the rhetoric of trump against venezuela is ruling government has not just infuriated president maduro but also providing him with a perfect excuse to justify serious Human Rights Violations such as arbitrary detentions, torture and attacks on civilians. But also women and girls are expecting already a very fine consequences as regression on rights. Trumps extreme restrictions on womens and girls access to Sexual Reproductive Services have had a notorious impact on lives of millions of women in the region and elsewhere in the world. He restated and expanded the global role, restricting almost 8 billion and u. S. Foreign and funding aid for International Programs that provide even mention abortion. He decided a United Nations Population Fund as a leading Global Maternal Health that provides pregnancy care to lowincome low income women in 150 countries. And it latin america alone were experts estimate that almost 800,000 women are treated annually for complications of unsafe abortion, President Trumps stint of putting that just many lives at risk but also are creating a regression context in which countries now are proposing new restrictions to law and practices to ensure that women and girls are not accessing sexual reproductive rights that are needed in their lives. So of course crisis after crisis shook us to the ground, they also inspired many to race in the region taken some of these policies so we see the womens march in many countries in latin america opposing to some of these policies and opposing have governments are justifying these new u. S. Foreignpolicy towards latin america precisely to commit some of the worst atrocities against the population. So im going to pass the mic to tirana hassan who will speak with some of the crisis or entering some of people in other parts of the world. Thank you. Thank you, erika. Before we launch into talk about 2017, i wanted to just share with you a comment that was sent to us from eastern guida. As unit eastern eastern guida is outside damascus in surrey and is being bombarded relentlessly over the last few days. Its been described probably as one of the worst stages through his scene in the war. A pediatrician that parking spoke to said the situation in eastern guida is worse than words can say. We have been lacking the basics of five years, but today its even worse. Why do i Start Talking whats happening today when where affecting on 2017 . Because this is a direct consequence of the paralysis that has plagued the International Community in 2017. When it comes to conflict, crisis and mass atrocities, we had seen zero moral or legal leadership coming from the International Community. 2017 was of the year, 690,000 rohingya, that is pretty much the population of washington, d. C. , fled their homes when the army army with income the Myanmar Military went in guns of blazing setting their homes on fire, killing their relatives, raping their women, they fled when youre living in squalid conditions in camps that are like small cities. 2017 was the year that 470,000 people were living, not living, surviving under siege in syria, and 90 of those people are in eastern ghouta. 2017 was the year that hospitals, markets, civilian homes or bond in yemen without consequence. Bombed. In 2017 was the year that the International Community could have done it differently. Mass atrocities played out in real time. We couldve done something about it, but they didnt. The messages that we have heard when we have taken the evidence from syria, from yemen, from myanmar to the Security Council of the United Nations, to the Human Rights Council has been that the capitals are telling us to keep our heads down, or, this might not be the right time to engage on the rohingya issue with myanmar. It seems abhorrent that the International Community, when you look back at 2017, and they look at how they could have prevented mass atrocities, how they couldve responded to crimes against humanity, they will not look back and draw any lessons from this. They will look back and they will see that they were part of the drafting at some of the darkest chapters in modern history. I was on the border with myanmar in bangladesh in the first weeks when the rohingya were fleeing. They were coming across, it was, in droves. It was scenes of people fleeing of biblical proportion. And amongst the sea people that came out when there was a woman, and she arrived holding just what she could carry. She had three of her children, two of her children were still missing. She never wanted to leave myanmar, and the first thing she said was, and i want to go back. She wanted to go back when she was safe. She wanted to go back when she would be recognized as a citizen of myanmar and as a rohingya. She wanted to go back when she could send her children to school and live safely and with dignity. None of those things are unreasonable. None of those things are not doable. None of those things justify the paralysis that we are seeing amongst the International Community when responding to their current Rohingya Crisis. There are solutions and it is clear that without ordinary people in capitals, in countries, in communities who will push their world, push their leaders to take action on the International Stage, then were going to continue to see people suffer because of this paralysis. We live in a time when crimes against humanity are being beamed into our homes in real time, and this demands real action. There must be a comprehensive arms embargo imposed on militaries that continue to kill civilians, to bomb hospitals, and it needs to happen now and it needs to happen against the militaries and the countries who are serial offenders to these crimes. 2017 hot us that without consequences and accountability, where crimes will go unabated and civilians, including women and children, the elderly, people with disabilities will not only suffer, they will die. 2017 taught us one other thing, and that is that outrage and condemnation is not enough. Without concrete action from world leaders, the message that they are sending is no longer never again. It is again and again, and this is unacceptable. Thank you. We are going to do two things now. One is that it want to just give a quick recap of the main messages, particularly for the cameras, and also to do what we traditionally do which is to officially launch the report, holding up the report. You are welcome to join me, all of you. So to hold up the reports, please. Thank you. Is that good . So let me just restate for the purpose of those of you, youve heard a lot of different messages, let me just recap very quickly, so the main message from a report of 2017 is that the world suffered the terrifying consequences as hate and divisive rhetoric moved into policies and actions, and these consequences have been directed and hugely negative on women, refugees, minorities, those without a voice here at the same time governments mainstream hateful and divisive politics and the attacks on Vulnerable People got normalized. The good news is that people across the world, ordinary people, particularly youth, stood up to five for the own freedoms and for the freedoms of others. And we have huge number of examples to both talk about how governments have been so brazen in the attack on human rights and human values, but equally of people standing up across the world. So thank you very much for listening to us. We are open to taking some questions from you, and i will answer some of the myself but also i have very able colleagues who will help. Please go ahead. Raise your hand and introduce yourself and keep your questions short and precise. All clear, no questions. Please go ahead. Thank you. So this is the first time that you chose america as the menu to launch the report. Are there any direct results of your beer is expecting a a vetr just a special case for your cause . I think the direct results are already being seen by actions which the United States people are taking up themselves. I hope that this will only intensify on the government to understand that the policies and actions, rhetoric that were hearing from President Trump and others will be reversed. Im sure market will say more but dont forget that we have government which just last month had an executive order which was reversing the previous governments policies on something as, something which has been across the world condemned as a serious violation of International Human which is keeping wonton them obey present open. Were not talking about abstracting. This is happening as we speak. We have a president who actually said that in his very first few months, endorsed the use of torture. You can imagine what this means for governments across the world who were extensively using torture, including in a part of the world which you come from. So i think our message is loud and clear but let me ask market if she wants to add anything. Just two points. I think that the impact in the United States is that people will feel inspired and continue to be motivated to stand up, because amnesty is doing human rights work in the United States. We dont just human rights work in other parts of the world. We do it right here and we call out abuses wherever we see different and the other way its going to have an impact is our colleagues around the world are inspired that we do have we do call it human rights abuse in the u. S. If not enough we can criticize other government that may not have as much influence but here in the u. S. Were also calling out those abuses. Thank you. I just want to add one more point, much as, most countries were violating human rights, they always take the cover of National Sovereignty and domestic laws but we have to understand that when it comes to International Crimes and International Law, you dont really have that cover. Doesnt matter where you are and what your National Laws say pick your obligated under the International Law to follow those laws. It doesnt matter whether you are the smallest, poorest country or the richest most powerful country in the world. International human rights law is the standard use the same across all countries. I hope that answers partially. Please. Thank you. Two questions. I wanted to know you want to introduce yourself . [inaudible] from argentina. Which country to think are trying to compensate all the leaders in your view that undermining human rights . And number two, how do you feel about the work of multilateral organizations such as the United Nations that are supposed to like step in and prevent the retreat or like this worsening of human rights situations that you described . Im not sure if i exactly understood your question. As you know amnesty doesnt compare across countries because its a hopeless task to do but i can give you one example of probably what youre talking about, which is we saw a very strong attack against International Criminal court from several african countries, most visibly baroody which pulled out from the statute but also supported by south africa actively. Now, what we saw consequent to that was a several african countries, nigeria, many of the west african countries, botswana, they pushed back and said that we do not accept this position which is taken by some african countries and so what looked in 2016 like the icc was really at risk for big number of african countries pull out, i think that has now reversed. Im not saying that that is completely gone so we do have countries who will stand up for human rights including leaders in some of these country but maybe since its question a bit link to argentina you can talk. Just i may add that the backlash against human rights is also creating a context in which global and regional human rights institutions are being attacked by governments and the states. In specific case of the americas, systems have endured what is qualified financial crisis but in our opinion is more of a political crisis of states trying to reduce the Interamerican Human Rights Commission in particular whos representing many of the victims of Human Rights Violations. This is something very alarming as well because we have gained a lot and having this regional human rights bodies that are providing in some instances a last option for victims of Human Rights Violations that didnt find justice in their own country. But also some of this into governmental bodies such as workstation of american states have been use by states to undermine the influence of certain governments in the region where the leaders were proposing four declarations or the announcing of the governments such as in the case of venezuela, what we are seeing is an unfortunate we dont have leaders that have the ethical and the morals to call anybody out. So what happened last year at the general vicinity of the organization of american states that took place in mexico, is the Mexican Government and the argentina government wanted to organize a declaration against venezuela. But then at the same time the mexico government was violating the rights and repressing the families of the 43 students that were subject to at the time they were denouncing the human rights situation in venezuela. That situation is of course creating and closing spaces for states to hold themselves accountable because all of them have a lot to respond to the citizens in relation to the human rights context in their own country. I think also the global refugee crisis i would be remiss if i dont highlight the important leadership role that was played by Angela Merkel in germany in the european context, and Justin Trudeau in the canadian context where the trend in europe and, of course, north america has been to essentially pander to fringe voices of taken a very antirefugee position. But you found chancellor merkels steny of fencing even if it comes with an electoral cause she will stand by European Values and stick to the principles of all European Countries have signed up to the Refugee Convention and she said that we are going to abide by that. President to do, we were i nine years by harper in the previous regime that canadians dont want refugees. Suddenly it seemed to be different and thats the whole issue of i think the leadership, that we need leaders to stand up and build the right things. Good morning. Im with the mexican [inaudible] i have two questions. The first one is i remember, i think it was last year, i dont know, if it was you or Freedom House of one of those organizations that presented a report about the race [inaudible] after the election of donald trump. There was plenty of evidence about that. And we, i mean, we had seen some of the evidence sometimes on tv. The question is i wonder if you have any reference about that situation in your report . I mean, is that sentiment still alive . And the second question is on latin america. Recently there was a call for the organization of american states, division of electoral presented the report very damning, you know, raising series questions about the legality of the process. Nevertheless, a lot of countries including the United States decide to recognize those elections. I wonder if cases like that represent a setback to the effort to defend human rights in the region, considering the fact that after the elections there was another repression and a lot of people died. Margaret, you want to say anything about the attitude questions . I think its no surprise to anyone at the issues of race and discrimination are still very front and center and our political or in the United States. We are continue to monitor discrimination, amnesty has been very active in campaign against the executive orders, banning visits from several muslim countries and reducing banning the number of refuge is allowed to here in the u. S. Weve been active in fighting against threats to womens Reproductive Health in the United States. Weve been active in addressing issues of disparity in our criminal justice system. Theres a number of ways in whh race lays out in very clear Human Rights Violations in the u. S. And we continue to see those as a priority for our work. Well, specific about the latin american region and increasing Political Polarization that exist in many countries particularly in the context of elections, of course it is conservancy the high levels of repression in situations like this where almost 40 people were killed in the context of repression of protest. Many have been detained arbitrarily and in some cases if theyre in solitary confinement. So if expressed our series concern about the situation in a country where the human rights have been violated for many years. One of the countries with the highest rates of homicide also the highest rates of killing of human rights defenders, many others have lost their lives and many others are not just experiencing different forms of violence but also the criminalization of their own state against the activism they are doing. Of course the political context, its extremely concerning not just in honduras but in many of the countries where elections are going to happen this year such as mexico, costa rica, venezuela and many others because what were seeing is this increased tendency of the states to grade legislation that can control people to take to the streets in demand for accountability, like is the case in mexico with the new law on security, internal security, the one of the concerns that amnesty has cast is now the military has an open door to repressed repres protesters in the context of Political Division in the context of the upcoming election. Maybe one or, okay, please go ahead and then lets give a chance to focus on the side of the room. Please go ahead. Can you elaborate more on the funnies on china for our audience, please . What do you mean by finding on china . Like a striking findings in that region. I can, okay, unless you particularly want a u. S. Perspective on it. So china as you know is a country which is a strong focus for Amnesty Internationals work. We work on Chinas Hong Kong office. Theres a lot that can be set to let me just speak to one or two key points. What we see in the last year is that when president xi becoming much more powerful inside the political machinery of china, which has seen actually a much higher sort of crackdown on human rights defenders inside the country with its lawyers and journalists, and although this like a mini of the countries content under the guise of national security. Because one of the most tragic incidents was a death of an amnesty person of conscience and he died in hospital when he had cancer and Chinese Government refused to moving out of the country to get better medical care as you know. That was in some ways a very symbolic example of that, but the controls on internet have been tightened. Several websites have been blocked. Then if you take the specific instances of the situations of the uighurs are the tibetans, things have become much, much worse. I want to also mention that the role of china on the International Stage is also i think very different in 2017 and i think we will see more and more difference. Historically, china has taken a very sort of hands off policy, noninterference policy would comes to international matters. But i think president xi has made a very clear this is a new china, a very assertive foreignpolicy. Weve seen a direct impact of that in myanmar where they pushed hard and myanmar actually agreed to repatriation agreement. Weve all seen the role they are played in zimbabwe which was interesting, less visible. Most of these things happened behind the scenes, but as you know the global power which was asserting to the one belt, one road program has ferry station rights implications, and we are tracking this very closely. They are also pushing hard for countries like egypt as a good example where critics of china who are located in countries outside china. Governments are being pressured to send them back to china. Egypt has already done this but we are seeing this in many other places. They are also starting to export civilians from africa which have not been in the past in a very substantial way. I must say that on the outside, this is the irony of china, that if china wants to play a positive role they can do that. They are on the cusp where i think they need to make some difficult choices for themselves because if you take the Climate Change issue, you could say that is because beijing is joking, they have no factor the fact that taken a proactive role on the Paris Agreement and all the Climate Change issues you human rights implications because it affects People Living in fragile environmental situations. So thank you for the question. There were a few more undecided. We have had said will stop at. I dont mind taking another five minutes that much more, so please give a short. Im with nancy pelosi is office. As saudi arabia and iran continue to engage in the proxy war in yemen, yemen continueso face very Serious Health crisis issues such as the caller breakout and malnutrition issues and recent aljazeera report on paper 18th that prevent apparent deaths from bird flu. Did you believe that the threat of a Serious Health crisis like a a bird flew back and spill over borders will change the attitude of International Community to the crisis, and if that what you believe in 2018 the International Men miniature due to change the situation in yemen and push into more hopeful situations . I have a lot to say on given but i will let you go. Let me start with the Health Crisis. We are not on the cusp of a Health Crisis and yemen. We are in a fullblown Health Crisis in yemen and tens of thousands have died. So i think that ship has sailed. What we need to be doing now is not talking about what is the next iteration of this crisis, the next chapter in this nightmarish book but its but what can we be doing about it. One of the biggest issues when it comes to healthcare and why people are dying in yemen besides being bombed relentlessly is the fact that there is a blockade in yemen. There are not supplies going in in the sort of scale that needs to be going in. There is a siege on the port. We need to see all of these restrictions lifted. We need to see free and unfettered humanitarian access throughout the country, and that needs to be negotiable both sides, both the houthis and the Saudi Coalition and the Yemeni Government need to ensure that you mentoring actors can be operated of course the needs of the accountability if the Saudi Led Coalition continues as it has over the last two years, to bomb infrastructure, healthcare, ports, et cetera, this will have a direct consequence on yemen. And on the yemeni people and, of course, on the wellbeing and survival of them. The point about will this lead to an endpoint to the International Community, i would say that the turning point for the International Community to engage on yemen to hold saudi arabia into account, to ensure that there are sound political, a Political Engagement with the southeast in terms of International Come in terms of crimes against humanity and international breaches of International Humanitarian law. That needs to have happened two years ago. One point on, youre right to say that its a proxy war between saudi arabia and iran. In this case proportionately i think saudi arabia has a lot to account for, but dont forget that the weapons which the Saudi Coalition is getting is coming from western countries, from the uk, from this country, from brazil. What is fueling the war . If you want to take action, there are people in this building who could do a lot more i think we dont need to go too far to find the solution. So there was another question here, and then probably, im looking at we can do one on one relations after this. I understand you are the Crisis Response program and im wondering what your greatest challenges are as you are faced with new technology and try to verify all these violations, what are your greatest challenges as you train verify these things, and greatest concerns as well . So i think the two things actually begin to melt one is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to operate in the publication and we need to be on the ground to bear witness to create collect the sort of evidence we need. And so that is proving to be very challenging in syria. Access to surrey is limited. In relation to the Rohingya Crisis in myanmar, journalist, humanitarian and human rights investigators including those which are mandated by the u. N. Human Rights Council have not been granted access to be able to do any sort of proper on the ground investigation. Instead what weve been seeing is the flimsy investigations which have been carried out by the perpetrators themselves, they Myanmar Military and surprise, surprise they are saying everything is fine. That is one of our greatest challenges. In terms of what is coming out and how do we decipher what is true and what is not, what do you do with these thousands of hours of live streams horror coming out of syria or libya . Actually there are solutions. This is both our greatest challenge and in a way our greatest opportunity. At Amnesty International we develop what we call the digital verification call. Weve invested quite heavily into ensuring that we have network, a capacity, a small army of her own you might say, that actually looks at the sort of footage that is coming out of these places, and we conduct a thorough investigation, thorough forensic analysis of these videos. And photographs. So were able to geo locate, were able to verify, were able to see if these figures exist before, if the context is correct. So then once we been able to triangulate the open Source Information that was out there that we can actually use it in our investigations. But it has proved incredible and defensively dramatic changes in this landscape about opensource investigations. At some of you may be aware there was a case of a command in libya. This was a living commander who had videos that started to emerge on youtube of an individual who is executing men. He was present at the number of executions. Nobody had been on the ground but those videos were verified and actually an arrest warrant was issued by the International Criminal court. So this is a real turning point. While its a challenge its an Incredible Opportunity and a step towards justice and accountability. I know there are two more, keep it very short. Please at the back and then come to the front. I have one you in the back. I am with a spanish newspaper. In the report you talk of the regression of human rights with mr. Trump in the whitest i would like to know if you could give us some concrete examples of concrete consequences of that regression in other countries and in the world stage, please. Thank you. I think i talk a little bit about that in the context of the americas pick the obvious one is on the refugee issue where its very, very clearcut. We talked about the global gag rules, the implications of the global gag rule internationally. At 1. 8 billion of cuts in the funding for agencies who are helping with sexual Reproductive Health care. As i said, if the president of the United States legitimizes brazen Human Rights Violations like Guantanamo Bay or torture, you can imagine the signaling effect of this. If you take each one of the things that hes been pushing for, it becomes, even the attacks on the media, for example, and silencing of dissent, you can imagine how much leverage this gives for leaders in egypt or hungary or places where they are simply waiting to crush dissent and crush any kind of freedom expression and assembly. We now have today the announcement of the arrest, a rather sentencing of five years in bahrain for tweeting. We can think of others who are using twitter for negative purposes across the world. You can imagine the implications of the actions taken by this country elsewhere. But i will ask maybe, margaret, do you want to add anything . Please. Just one of the thing President Trump has been highly critical of protest movements here in the United States, and i think theres no question that his criticism of athletes like Colin Kaepernick a black lives matter protesters here in the United States have no transfer to other countries we are seeing that oppression of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of peaceful protest being crushed in many, many countries around the world, including more than 20 in africa, several in the americas, also in asia. Thats an alarming situation for those of us who believe activism as part of the solution for human rights. Question is also for you, if you dont mind. He was taken strong on the atrocities committed against the rohingya in myanmar. Is unsung suki also responsible for those atrocities . What are you calling used to do on the situation now . So she has a role to play in this but she doesnt command they Myanmar Military. The person who is in the command and control, that are military personnel. A person who is the head of the Myanmar Military is a man called [inaudible] and we would expect his name to be in every newspaper and in every television report where were talking about the atrocities which are being committed. I think in terms of accountability for the burning, for the killings, for the mass atrocities that Amnesty International has documented, we really do need to be focusing on the commanders, commanding those units were on the ground, who are getting those orders and, of course, the commanderinchief himself. She has a role to play. This did not come out of nowhere. The prejudice against the rohingya, the institutionalized discrimination against the rohingya, these are issues that should been dealt with by the civilian government. The violence is one aspect of this, but there is an institutionalized system which is made up of complex laws and orders and local, just local sort of bylaws, which Amnesty International has investigated in 2017, and weve established that it is actually the crime of apartheid. This crime of apartheid and dismantling the laws which discriminate to this degree and make the rohingya other, this rematch sits with the civilian government, very much within a purview and she should be acting on this immediately. I can just the role of the u. N. U. S. We have been active on the u. S. Role on it but i think its an issue of which ive been quite directly involved person as well, and i think the most striking thing, since you mention her specifically, as you she was amnesty prisoner of conscience we fought for her release for two decades. She has huge Popular Support within the people of myanmar. So she had the responsibility to speak up and that was the difficulty inside myanmar. Weve been vocal in our criticism, but we shouldnt be confused who can move the needle on this issue and that is thats precisely why we want to target the generals directly, but, of course, theres a lot of blame to be shared. And for the last comment on what the u. S. Government should do, my colleague joanne lindh who heads the Public Relations team what the Work Congress is doing. Thank you. And i appreciate the question. So happy to see so many health staff here gathered with us because the plight is actually one of the few, but very important issues that Amnesty International has been working closely with the Trump Administration to address. I think many of you may know that secretary tillerson shortly before thanksgiving visited myanmar and met with the military leaders and on the ground spoke at a press conference where he was critical of the myanmar authorities, military and civilian, for the mass atrocities and failure to halt them. In december, just a few months ago, the Trump Administration issued an executive order to that targeted 13 individuals who are engaged in Human Rights Violations and other types of government corruption and these 13 individuals were named and your subject to targeted financial sanctions by the United States. And one is a former leader of the western manned command of the Myanmar Military. One whom Amnesty International has documented directly overseeing crimes against humanity. We know that the Trump Administration at multiple agency levels, including the state department, treasury, national security, usaid and joint chiefs and pentagon are addressing the crisis and theres so much more to do. What is and can congress do . There have been multiple hearings in both chambers. There has been movement on a resolution that the house passed, i believe unanimously, in november. Just two weeks ago, the Senate Foreign relations committee, the human rights and freedom act which amnesty s020, the next stop is the senate floor. And the Amnesty Board of directors sent a letter directly to Mitch Mcconnell urging him to bring that to the floor for vote asap. And monday, 300 activists across the United States will be hitting capitol hill and meeting with legislators both republicans and democrats, urging them to take action on several top priorities, including passage, ultimately final passage of the bicalmeral, bipartisan. And theyre urging them robust funding and aid. And the United States notwithstanding, troubling developments from the Trump Administration, the United States remains the single largest donor to the community and its absolutely essential that the u. S. Government keep funding the world food program, unicef, refugee agencies to make sure that refugees in yemen, in syria, in bangladesh, that they are provided for and that lives can be saved. Thank you. Thank you very much we want to make sure that standing here, is the person who you need to contact and otherwise its difficult to pass the questions. And thank you very much for joining us this morning and i hope you found it useful and thanks for your support for amnesty and for human rights. [applause] [inaudible conversations] and once again, were live
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