On Human Rights Day, we say "Thank You!"
Every year on 10 December, we celebrate the day in 1948 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The rights enshrined in that declaration are what Amnesty International has worked to uphold and protect for the last 60+ years, and we have had some truly incredible wins. They include abolishing the death penalty in the majority of countries around the world, freeing prisoners of conscience, holding seemingly untouchable tyrants to account, and protecting the right to peaceful protest.
This couldn’t happen without the support of genuinely kind and caring individuals like you. Without your humanity, your aroha and your strength, none of Amnesty’s mahi over the past 6 decades would have been possible.
Luckily, people like you have stood side by side with us for days, years and decades, which means I have a list of incredible human rights wins from 2025 to share with you!
INDIVIDUALS AT RISK FREED!
INDIVIDUALS AT RISK FREED!
Just this year, you have helped free Robert Lugya Kayingo, Alaa Abdel Fattah, Sonia Dahmani, Dorgelesse Nguessan, Hawa Hunt, Idris Hasan, Leonard Peltier, Mahmoud Khalil and more!
Here in Aotearoa, many of you took action for Dorgelesse when her case was part of our annual Write for Rights event. Thanks to you, she was able to reunite with her family as a free woman.
“I thank you for all the efforts you have devoted as I was arbitrarily detained… I thank those who directly or indirectly work for your organization and contributed to my release.” – Dorgelesse Nguessan
HOLDING TYRANTS TO ACCOUNT
HOLDING TYRANTS TO ACCOUNT
- Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by police on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.
- Thousands of people, mostly from poor and marginalized communities, were unlawfully killed by the police – or by armed individuals suspected to have links to the police – during Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs”.
- Amnesty has been calling for his arrest for a number of years and described it as “a long-awaited and monumental step for justice”. He is now due to stand trial at the ICC.
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor filed a request for arrest warrants against the Taliban’s Supreme Leader and their Chief Justice, citing crimes against humanity.
- The request charged the Taliban’s Supreme Leader and their Chief Justice for gender persecution against women, girls, and LGBTI people since their return to power in August 2021.
PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO PEACEFUL PROTEST
PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO PEACEFUL PROTEST
- On 28 June, Budapest Pride proceeded despite restrictive anti-Pride laws and police targeting the march. Around 200,000 people, including over 280 Amnesty International activists and staff from Hungary and 22 other countries, peacefully demanded equality and assembly rights.
- This was Budapest’s largest Pride in 30 years, symbolizing strong public resistance to discrimination and highlighting the resilience of Hungary’s LGBTI community. Amnesty’s Let Pride March campaign helped raise awareness, mobilize activists, and urged police to respect peaceful protest.
- With over 120,000 global actions supporting the event – it demonstrated that solidarity can overcome oppression, though challenges for LGBTI rights in Hungary persist.
- Since May 1995, the Saturday Mothers have held regular peaceful protests at Galatasaray Square in Istanbul, Turkey, every Saturday, demanding justice for relatives forcibly disappeared in the eighties and nineties. Their 700th vigil on 25 August 2018 was banned and violently dispersed by police using tear gas and water cannons.
- Forty-six people were detained and later released, but in 2020, they were prosecuted for “attending illegal meetings and marches without weapons and not dispersing despite warnings”.
- Thanks to the determination of the Saturday Mothers and their supporters – including Amnesty International who provided legal aid – all were acquitted in March 2025.
- Tens of thousands of you here in Aotearoa New Zealand joined the September March for Humanity, despite weather warnings that stopped us from going over the bridge! Many of you carried signs with the name of a Palestinian child on them, as part of the Let Children Live action in partnership with Save the Children.
These are just a tiny handful of the amazing human rights wins you have been part of this year.
We hope they make you as proud and happy to look back on as they make us, and serve as proof that when we work together this team of 10 million can accomplish truly incredible things.
Want to take action on Human Rights Day?
We have two important ways you can take action in the days leading up to 10 December:
