Of the four Kuwaitis incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than 7 years, three remain there. The government of Kuwait has long been pressing the U.S. government for the prisoners' return. Each of these cases was assigned to an Amnesty group in the United States, and those groups have been urging the U.S. government to either release the men or charge them with a crime and try them in Federal civilian court.

On May 14, 2009, Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, and two of her assistants were taken from her home to Insein Prison following an incident in which an American man allegedly swam across a lake to her house and stayed there for two days. Suu Kyi was subsequently put on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest, and was sentenced to an additional 18 months under house arrest.

Amnesty International is calling on the Department of Homeland Security to make U.S. immigration detention standards enforceable, and to use alternatives to detention in a meaningful way. If the government chooses to detain an immigrant, that person must be held in conditions that meet both domestic and international standards, and before a person is detained, all available alternatives to detention must be considered in each individual case.

Amnesty International is concerned that Chinese Internet service providing companies, including Baidu, Sina and Sohu, are complying with Chinese government requests and demands to censor content online and otherwise repress the rights to freedom of expression and privacy. Call on these companies to ensure the Internet fulfills its potential to empower and educate and to create global communities.

Please take action to help protect the safety of women in Afghanistan.

Amnesty International recently published a report expressing concern regarding the Burundian authorities' failure to adequately address the problem of sexual violence against women. Take action now and urge Burundian authorities to prevent and investigate rape, and provide justice to the victims.

Over three years ago, the Justice Department (DOJ) required that all cases of detainee abuse by private military and security contractors be handled by one US Attorney’s Office. As of today, that office has declined to prosecute almost all of the cases referred to it, with little explanation. Urge your representatives in Congress to pressure the DOJ to prosecute human rights violations committed by private military and security contractors.

Ebrima B. Manneh was arrested in July 2006 at the offices of the newspaper Daily Observer by plainclothes officers, thought to have been from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). He has been held in incommunicado detention without charge or trial for over two years. Please call on Gambian authorities to release Ebrima Manneh, a prisoner of conscience.

For peacefully raising a flag at an annual Indonesian ceremony, Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage may spend the next decade or more in prison. Amnesty International considers Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage to be prisoners of conscience who have been detained for the peaceful and legitimate exercise of their right to freedom of expression. Please urge the President of Indonesia to bring about the immediate and unconditional release of Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage.

Malik Medjnoun and Abdelhakim Chenoui were taken into custody in September 1999, after which they were held in secret, unacknowledged detention, respectively for seven and six months. Both allege that they were tortured during this period of enforced disappearance.

Amnesty International USA, in partnership with the Save Darfur Coalition, is calling on President Barack Obama to turn his promises on Darfur into concrete action. We're collecting one million signatures to deliver to the White House to reinforce the need for Darfur to be a top-priority issue on the Obama administration agenda.

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur. Some organizations and United Nations member states are calling for the UN Security Council to suspend the execution of the arrest warrant. Write to Secretary of State Clinton and UN Ambassador Rice today to urge the U.S. to continue to oppose any calls to bargain justice away.

On Wednesday, March 18, 2009, Governor Bill Richardson signed into law a bill to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico. With this bill, sponsored by Representative Gail Chasey, New Mexico has now become only the 2nd state in over 30 years to legislatively abolish the death penalty, and brings to 15 the number of states in the U.S. that are now death penalty free! Write to Gov. Richardson and Rep. Chasey today and thank them for their unprecedented leadership.

On January 1, 2008, a UN-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) was deployed to Darfur with the mandate of protecting civilians. Many countries pledged troops and military hardware; but more than a year since its initial deployment, UNAMID remains severely under-resourced and just over 60% deployed. Urge key international actors to fulfill their pledges and do everything in their capacity to ensure that UNAMID can successfully protect the people of Darfur.

60 percent of people living with HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are women. In South Africa, women under 25 are 3-4 times more likely to be infected with the virus and have the highest rate of new infections. Women and girls subjected to violence are at greater risk. Many women lack access to the free health care they are legally entitled to. Ask South Africa to reduce HIV and AIDS and address gender based violence.