Credit: Jurgen Schadeberg www.jurgenschadeberg.com

Ahead of the biggest showbiz event of the year, we explore the human rights themes of three Oscar-nominated films – and find activism inspiration in some unlikely places.

For the past few months Israeli army bulldozers have been rolling in and out of Khan al-Ahmar, a small Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank. So far, the bulldozers have just been levelling the ground. But soon they will return to demolish dozens of homes, as well as the school, clinic and mosque which serve this community. Israel’s Supreme Court approved the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar in September, and its 180 residents have been given two “choices” for relocation: a site near the former Jerusalem municipal garbage dump, or a site next to a sewage plant near Jericho.

At this time of year, people often send a wish for world peace out into the universe. But how does the world even start to move towards such a lofty goal?

Responding to news that footballer Hakeem Ali al-Araibi will not be extradited to Bahrain, Amnesty International’s Minar Pimple, Senior Director of Global Operations, said:

Last January, the World Economic Forum made the call for 2018 to be “the year for women to thrive”. It urged governments to raise women’s participation in the labour force to that of men.

Responding to the announcement by Radio Free Asia that one of their contributors, Truong Duy Nhat, was reportedly abducted in Bangkok (Thailand), Amnesty’s Senior Director for Global Operations, Minar Pimple, said:

 Ahead of refugee footballer Hakeem Ali al-Araibi’s extradition hearing in a Bangkok court today, Amnesty International’s Thailand campaigner, Katherine Gerson, said:

Amnesty International Thailand organized the 2018 Media Awards on Thursday 24th January, 2019 at AVANI Riverside Bangkok Hotel. The four award categories were: print media; online media; television (long reports); and television (short reports).

On November 27th I landed in Bangkok with my beloved husband, a Bahrain-born professional football player. We were overjoyed to be spending our honeymoon together in the breathtaking country of Thailand. Not only were we celebrating our honeymoon, but it was also my husband’s first time traveling outside of Australia in the five years since he fled there in 2014 from Bahrain and was later granted refugee status.

Amnesty International Kenya joins other Kenyans and persons of good will around the world in expressing shock and outrage at the attacks that deliberately targeted and caused damage to lives and property at 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi, this afternoon.

Bahrain and Thailand will meet today as part of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. But while the two countries vie for supremacy on the field, their collusion off the field means that the future of Hakeem al-Araibi, the Melbourne soccer player who fled Bahrain and was granted refugee status in Australia, remains perilous.