Human Rights | WPN World People News

Warning about mines written on outside wall of building in Raqqa, Syria, January 21, 2018.

Mauritania’s human rights defenders face repression when they raise the country’s most sensitive social issues, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Feb 12, 2018. The issues include ethnic and caste discrimination, slavery, and the need for accountability for a campaign of atrocities against certain groups three decades ago.

Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran Asma Jahangir.

One of the manual water pumps around East-Ghouta serving as one of the very few water sources in the besieged area. Water can be unsafe as it is not tested nor purified.

Mauritanian authorities have detained an activist since January 24, 2018, apparently over social media posts decrying discrimination, Human Rights Watch said on Feb 10, 2018. The activist, Abdallahi Salem Ould Yali, used social media to urge the country’s Haratines, a group descended from slaves who comprise more than one-third of the population, to resist discrimination and demand their rights.

Ugandan rights organization Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) was the target of a violent break-in on the night of February 8, 2018, Human Rights Watch said on Feb 09. HRAPF works to protect the rights of marginalized groups including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, and sex workers. The group reported that unidentified assailants broke into its office overnight, disabled parts of the security system, and slashed two guards with machetes, severely injuring them.

The Burmese military should ensure that humanitarian aid reaches all civilians in need in northern Burma’s Kachin State, Human Rights Watch said on Feb 09. On February 5, 2018, approximately 5,000 people demonstrated in Myitkyina, the state capital, against the Burmese military operations in the state.

Permanent headquarters of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

The Cambodian government should immediately release Sam Sokha, a Cambodian labor activist who gained notoriety after she threw a sandal at a photo of Prime Minister Hun Sen in April 2017, Human Rights Watch said on Feb 09, 2018. On February 8, 2018, Thai authorities forcibly returned Sam Sokha, who had been detained in Bangkok in January, to Cambodia.

The government of Malaysia should ensure that 11 detained migrants are not forcibly deported to China, Human Rights Watch said on Feb 09. The migrants should have urgent access to refugee status determination proceedings by the United Nations refugee agency.