Human Rights | WPN World People News

Morocco’s judicial authorities should ensure that upcoming verdicts in a mass trial are not based on confessions or statements implicating other defendants obtained under torture or other ill-treatment during police interrogations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said on Jul 17.

The Canadian government should fast-track its consideration of the refugee claims of seven people who sheltered US National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden before he left Hong Kong in 2013.

Aftermath of an explosion in the centre of Kabul, Afghanistan, on the corner of Passport Lane and the Indian Embassy.

Australian officials should press the government of Laos to respect human rights at the Australian-Laos human rights dialogue, scheduled for July 18-19, 2017, in Vientiane, Human Rights Watch said in a submission to the Australian government on Jul 17. Key areas of concern in Laos are freedom of speech, association, and assembly; enforced disappearances; abusive drug detention centers; and repression of minority religious groups.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at the launch of the Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes.

Authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) in eastern Ukraine have been unlawfully holding a blogger known for his pro-Ukraine views in unacknowledged detention for over six weeks, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 14. DNR security officials forcibly disappeared Stanyslav Aseev on June 2, 2017, and in recent days Human Rights Watch received credible information from reliable sources that Aseev has been in custody of DNR security services throughout his enforced disappearance.

India’s Supreme Court on July 14, 2017, ordered an investigation into alleged unlawful killings by government security forces in Manipur state from 1979 to 2012, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 15. The court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to set up a five-member team to examine at least 87 killings by police, army, and paramilitary forces in response to a petition filed by victims’ families and nongovernmental groups in Manipur seeking investigation into 1,528 killings.

The recent arrest of 10 human rights activists is a “hammer blow to Turkey’s besieged civil society and an ominous indicator of the direction Turkey is heading in,” the leaders of five international organizations said in an open letter to the Turkish government on Jul 13.

Cambodian authorities should immediately end the politically motivated prosecution of six land rights activists, including the prominent advocate Tep Vanny, who has been jailed for nearly a year, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 14.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.