Latest action in relation to the persecution of the Uyghurs
August 2026
Today’s action is a little bit different, as we will focus on issues closer to home rather than exclusively on the rights of the Uyghurs. We are asking you to sign the Amnesty petition to ‘protect the protest’ – something that we feel is ultimately essential to the future of all human rights campaigning.
In some of our recent posts, we have started to include issues concerning the UK with successive attempts by governments to clamp down on unwelcome protests. In the UK, new laws are constraining our ability protest peacefully, which is an attack on our political rights. It risks creating a precedent and mark the beginning of more infringements on our ability to campaign on human rights. The UK is not of course in the same league as China where repression and stifling of rights is on a massive scale.
However, governments are dilatory about climate actions, are determined to assist Israel overtly and covertly in their violence, and are happy to support and allow arms sales to a wide variety of obnoxious regimes with poor human rights records. Voluble protests against these actions are unwelcome.
We want to protect our ability to run campaigns such as this one on the Uyghurs. In the end, protecting our political rights means protecting the future work we will do for human rights globally. The current laws that impact our ability to protest peacefully, which infringes not only on basic human rights to assembly, association, and expression (Articles 10 and 11, Human Rights Act), also creates nearly 7,000 climate protesters were arrested in the UK between 2019 and mid-2025.
Since 2021, the government has proposed four different anti-protest laws in four years. Police have arrested 3,300 people for peaceful protest against the proscription of Palestine Action. The actual prosecution of peaceful protesters in the UK threatens our ability to raise our voices for human rights around the world. It is also an infringement on political rights that limits a human rights response in any instance of further infringement.
For the health of our human rights futures (and therefore, our ability to campaign for others) please sign this petition: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/authoritarianism/protect-the-protest/
Although this is not directly related to the Uyghurs as part of the Uyghur Solidarity Month, we did suggest in our last post on this topic an action to speak to a friend or colleague.
- Latest Death Penalty Report
- Uyghur campaign: letter
- Uyghur campaign – day 11
- Risks of University Partnerships with Arms Firms and Israel
- Obituary: Daphne White
Thought of subscribing?
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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