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Redazione RHC : 12 December 2025 17:37
Amnesty International has launched its own website, accessible via the .onion domain on the Tor network, offering a new secure channel for accessing the organization’s information and research. The initiative, officially launched in December 2023, stems from the need to ensure access to content even in countries where the main website is blocked or heavily monitored.
The decision comes amid growing global digital restrictions. In countries such as Russia, Iran, and China, Amnesty International’s entire portal is blocked, preventing citizens from freely accessing information about human rights violations. In several other regions, however, browsing is exposed to government surveillance, posing direct risks to activists, journalists, and dissidents.
Tor, short for The Onion Router , is a key tool for circumventing these limitations. The network uses a series of relays run by volunteers and applies multiple layers of encryption, making it extremely difficult to trace a user’s IP address. This system allows for a higher level of anonymity than traditional browsing.
In common browsers, accessing a website occurs via DNS and direct connections to the server, a process that exposes users to their IP address. This information, comparable to the return address on a postal letter, can be used to track a person’s digital activities without their knowledge.
The Tor browser, on the other hand, forwards data through a chain of distributed nodes, masking the true origin of the traffic. When accessing a .onion domain, the communication never leaves the Tor network and benefits from end-to-end encryption, further reducing the risk of interception or identification.
Amnesty International chose this infrastructure specifically to protect users accessing sensitive materials related to human rights complaints, investigations, and campaigns. The goal is to enable access to independent information even in authoritarian contexts, without requiring users to expose their digital identity.
The need for tools like Tor has become even more evident after investigations like Project Pegasus in 2021, in which Amnesty documented the use of NSO Group’s spyware to monitor up to 50,000 mobile devices. Technologies of this kind, used by governments of various nationalities, have targeted activists, lawyers, journalists, and political opponents.
In an era marked by advanced surveillance and targeted censorship, Amnesty International’s launch of the .onion website is part of a broader strategy to defend digital freedom. Providing secure access to content is a concrete step toward enabling people to stay informed without risking their privacy or personal security.
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