Amnesty International Bournemouth Poole Christchurch Group

This month, we bring you news from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Highlights are:

• Colombia: Amnesty has reactivated the #SearchingWithoutFear campaign to support women searching for their loved ones who were victims of enforced disappearances.
• Brazil: Amnesty has warned that Meta may be failing to address election-related disinformation spread through Facebook ahead of Brazil’s presidential election in October.
• Venezuela: Amnesty has criticised the government’s decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
• Ecuador: There are new revelations of the alleged involvement of the United States in attacks on Ecuadorian vessels, including the Fiorella, eight of whose crew remain missing.
• Argentina: Amnesty said the government’s expanded use of mass surveillance technologies threatens the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
• Chile: Amnesty condemns a proposal to pardon former Carabineros and military personnel convicted of crimes linked to their duties during the 2019 peaceful protests.
• Bolivia: Human Rights Watch say two decrees published by the government threaten the right to freedom of association and the work of human rights defenders.

COLOMBIA

CAMPAIGN ACTIVATION: #SearchingWithoutFear

On 30^th August, International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, Amnesty reactivated the #SearchingWithoutFear campaign to support women searching for their loved ones who were victims of enforced disappearance in the Americas. During the second half of 2026, Amnesty is mobilising support for their international recognition, with the aim of establishing a World Day of Women Searchers at the United Nations, an initiative that women searchers themselves have been promoting at the UN in Geneva and New York. Amnesty Academy has released a 90-minute self-paced online course on the rights of women searchers. We officially invite you to take the course and learn more about this issue, which is so close to our hearts. Free course here!

BRAZIL

Amnesty International has warned that Meta may be failing to effectively address election-related disinformation spread through its Facebook Advertisements platform ahead of Brazil’s presidential election on 4 October. Social media has been used to spread disinformation in Brazil for years. To investigate how Facebook handled election-related disinformation in advertising, Amnesty International conducted an experiment by submitting ‘mock’ ads containing election-related disinformation to Facebook. The experiment found that eight of the submitted ads were accepted, while the remaining seven were flagged for identity verification because they appeared to be related to a social issue, election, or politics, rather than being rejected specifically for containing election-related disinformation. Amnesty ensured that these test ads did not go live. [Read more…]

This month we bring you news from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela

Highlights are:

• In Argentina, President Javier Milei has signed an emergency decree allowing authorities to bar, deport and revoke visas of people accused of inciting hatred against Argentina or its people
• For Venezuela, Amnesty continues with its Urgent Action calling for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained in Venezuela
• Protests have intensified in Bolivia over government plans to open protected areas and Indigenous territories to mining and agribusiness, with communities warning of deforestation and land dispossession
• The area of Brazil’s rainforest burnt in 2025 was smaller than previous years, although critics still note the government’s decision to approve oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon river.
• More than 50 years after the kidnapping, torture and murder of Chilean folk singer and human rights activist Víctor Jara, retired army colonel Nelson Haase Mazzei has been jailed for 25 years.
• Human Rights Watch has called US-Ecuador Security Cooperation “a dangerous partnership”, noting that co-operation was “deepening at a moment when both governments have engaged in serious human rights violations fuelled by their insistence on framing their confrontations with organised crime groups as a kind of war”
• Amnesty has issued a media release in support of the demand from the Guerreras por la Amazonía (Women Warriors for the Amazon) that the Ecuadorian Government fully implement the landmark court ruling of 5 years ago requiring Ecuador to eliminate oil industry gas flares located near populated areas and provide reparations to affected communities. Amnesty has also called for an investigation into the role of the United States in an attack on an Ecuadorian vessel.
• Amnesty has denounced the Peruvian Government’s enactment of a Law which allows alleged crimes committed by members of the Armed Forces and the Police to be investigated and tried by military and police courts
• Amnesty continues with its Urgent Action calling for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained in Venezuela

ARGENTINA

President Javier Milei has signed an emergency decree allowing authorities to bar, deport and revoke visas of people accused of inciting hatred against Argentina or its people. This follows controversy during the World Cup over the behaviour of players and fans. Milei claimed there was an international “anti-Argentina” campaign, with many labelling the country as racist. Amnesty Argentina has acknowledged racism in the country but criticised those “reducing the country to a stereotype”.  There are concerns that the broad wording of the decree could be used to restrict freedom of expression.  [Read more…]