6 August 2026

The true test of a just society is how it treats those who have the least political power to defend their rights. 

Drawing on new interviews conducted in 2026, and building on earlier research into the experiences of Kenyan women, this briefing documents how Filipino women domestic workers in Saudi Arabia are being overworked, exploited and subjected to degrading treatment, as well as sexual assault in some cases. Taken together, the testimonies add to evidence of a labour system that continues to leave domestic workers vulnerable despite some reforms. The briefing calls on Saudi Arabia to dismantle the remaining elements of the kafala system and ensure effective protection, accountability and justice for workers.

A year after Amnesty International documented widespread abuse of Kenyan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, a new briefing from the organization reveals that Filipino women are facing many of the same abuses, including being overworked, exploited and subjected to degrading treatment, as well as sexual assault in some cases. 

Sa pagdiriwang ng Pride Month, nakikiisang muli ang Amnesty International Philippines sa pagpupugay sa tapang, tatag, at talino ng bawat indibidwal na bahagi ng makulay at mapagmahal na komunidad ng LGBTI. 

Responding to calls to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility following the school shooting incident in Tacloban City involving two minors, Ritz Lee Santos III, Section Director of Amnesty International Philippines, said:

The international community’s tacit or explicit support for Israeli crimes, including genocide and apartheid, or their failure to act resolutely to stop them has emboldened the Israeli authorities to escalate a brutal campaign to forcibly displace Palestinians and expand its control over land in the West Bank, said Amnesty International. In a new report, the organization details how Israeli authorities are accelerating annexation through a state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the occupied West Bank, while committing the crime against humanity of forcible transfer. 

Palestinian Bedouins lived for generations in the occupied West Bank village of Khirbet Zanuta (Zanuta), sustaining themselves through herding, farming and dairy production. The village was designated as part of Area C under the 1995 Oslo II Accords, placing it under full Israeli military and administrative control. Today, Zanuta is being eaten away by Israeli outposts and settlements and destroyed by  state-sponsored violence and terror.

Cagayan de Oro City ~ Amnesty International Philippines reiterated today that the dire human rights situation in Mindanao is the consequence of decades of impunity and the failure in holding the government to account for leaving communities vulnerable to precarious living conditions and uncertain futures. On the last leg of the rolling launch of Amnesty International’s Annual Report on the State of the World’s Human Rights 2025/26, two days after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, Amnesty stressed that the conversation can no longer be limited to merely disaster preparedness or quick emergency response.

Companies are extracting vast troves of online data through unlawful web scraping to build their generative artificial intelligence (AI) products in a way that is enabling a mass invasion of privacy, making these systems unlawful by design, Amnesty International said in a new briefing today. 

This briefing examines how standalone generative AI systems, based on unlawful web scraping, are in conflict with international human rights law (IHRL) and standards through their design, development and deployment. While these technologies promise sophisticated automation and efficiency, they rely on data collection and model training practices that abuse privacy rights, enable discrimination, and threaten freedom of expression and thought. Amnesty International finds that standalone generative AI systems, based on unlawful web scraping, depend on mass invasions of privacy by design, and are fundamentally incompatible with IHRL. As such, Amnesty International is calling for a prohibition of such systems.

Amnesty International Philippines, on its movement’s 65th anniversary, announced the winners of Ignite Awards for Human Rights Season 4, the country’s first ever award-giving body exclusively dedicated to honoring Human Rights Defenders (HRDs). The four awardees, selected from dozens of nominees across the Philippines, were recognized for their courage and commitment to defending human rights, and the impact it brings to the lives of so many people especially the most vulnerable.