Human Rights | WPN World People News

More than 20,000 girls are married every day below the minimum age permitted by national law, according to new research from Save the Children and the World Bank marking the International Day of the Girl.

ODIHR Director Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir speaks at the opening plenary session of the 2017 OSCE Human Dimension Seminar in Warsaw as Jacek Czaputowicz, Undersecretary of State at Poland’s Foreign Ministry (left), and Ambassador Christian Strohal, Special Representative for the 2017 Austrian OSCE Chairmanship (right), listen. 11 October 2017.

In September 2017, newly arrived Rohingya refugees from Myanmar walk through paddy fields and flooded land after they fled over the border into Cox’s Bazar district, Chittagong Division in Bangladesh.

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law three bills that recognize young people’s vulnerability to abuse and their capacity to grow and mature, Human Rights Watch said on Oct 11. The bills, signed on October 11, 2017, will protect children in police custody, limit prison terms for youth and young adults, and offer young people a chance to rebuild their lives.

Child marriage and a lack of access to quality education are major barriers to progress for girls across the globe, Human Rights Watch said On Oct 11, on the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child.

The protection of children of those sentenced to death or executed should be strengthened in those OSCE countries that still practice capital punishment, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Marta Santos Pais, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, said on the occasion of the World Day against the Death Penalty, on October 10.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres addresses an event on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2017. On his right is Andrew Gilmour, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights.

The Cambodian government’s filing of a politically motivated legal case on October 6, 2017 to dissolve the main opposition party will render national elections in July 2018 undemocratic, Human Rights Watch said on Oct 10. If the government-controlled Supreme Court rules against the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), this would deny Cambodians the fundamental right to elect a government of their choosing.

Rwanda’s military has routinely unlawfully detained and tortured detainees with beatings, asphyxiations, mock executions, and electric shocks, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Oct 10.

The government of Ghana should ensure adequate funding for mental health services in Ghana, as a crucial step to eliminating the widespread practice of shackling and other abuses against people with psychosocial disabilities, a coalition of nongovernmental groups said on Oct 09.