Get the latest delivered to your inbox
Privacy Policy

Now Reading

Amnesty International USA Supports Yahoo! Shareholders on Resolutions Combating Internet Repression and Establishing Human Rights Committee

Amnesty International USA Supports Yahoo! Shareholders on Resolutions Combating Internet Repression and Establishing Human Rights Committee

Published 06-12-07

Submitted by Amnesty International USA

NEW YORK- June 12, 2007 -Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) has endorsed two shareholder resolutions up for a vote today at the Yahoo! annual meeting -- one calling on the company to oppose Internet repression in countries such as China, and the other establishing a corporate Board Committee on Human Rights.

"Increasingly, shareholders recognize that companies must address human rights concerns, not only because this is the right thing to do but because their failure to do so may have a financial impact," said Mila Rosenthal, Director of AIUSA's Business and Human Rights program.

"In repressive countries like China, following local laws without question is no longer a viable course of action for multinational companies," said Rosenthal, noting that Yahoo! was recently sued by individuals who say they were imprisoned in China because of information provided by the company.

"We encourage investors to support these resolutions to demand that Yahoo! respond to concerns about complicity in human rights abuses."

As part of its irrepressible.info campaign, Amnesty International has called on China to release Chinese journalist Shi Tao, who was imprisoned for sending an e-mail about the government's directive on how journalists should report on the 15th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy movement. His identity was discovered because Yahoo! released the information to Chinese authorities. Amnesty International has expressed deep concern about Yahoo!'s role in providing this information and more generally about its complicity in government censorship in China.

Irrepressible.info (http://irrepressible.info) has drawn 60,000 supporters worldwide to oppose internet repression and the collusion of companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! with Chinese authorities to restrict access to information over the Internet.

Amnesty International USA logo

Amnesty International USA

Amnesty International USA

Founded in London in 1961, Amnesty International is a Nobel Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with over 1.8 million members worldwide. Amnesty International undertakes research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights. Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the U.S. Section of Amnesty International.

More from Amnesty International USA

Join today and get the latest delivered to your inbox