Human Rights | WPN World People News

The European Union and its member states should insist on including human rights concerns on the agenda for an upcoming EU-Egypt Association Council meeting and in EU public messaging about the meeting, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 29.

The World Bank is funding half a billion dollars in agricultural projects linked to forced and child labor in Uzbekistan, Human Rights Watch and the Uzbek-German Forum for Human Rights said in a report released on Jun 27. Under the loan agreements, the Uzbek government is required to comply with laws prohibiting forced and child labor, and the World Bank can suspend the loans if there is credible evidence of violations.

President Rodrigo Duterte has unleashed a human rights calamity on the Philippines in his first year in office, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 28. The government’s murderous “war on drugs,” drug-related overcrowding of jails, and the harassment and prosecution of drug war critics has caused a steep decline in respect for basic rights since Duterte’s inauguration on June 30, 2016.

The death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student from Ohio imprisoned in North Korea since last year, should be a wake-up call to the international community. Warmbier, who was arrested in January 2016 after attempting to remove a political banner from his hotel, was subject to a show trial and sentenced to 15 years forced labor.

The Chinese government should immediately and unconditionally allow 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and his detained wife, Liu Xia, to obtain medical treatment wherever they want, in China or abroad, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 26. They should also be allowed unfettered access to family, friends, and legal counsel.

European Union headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted by consensus a resolution on June 23, 2017, directing the UN high commissioner for human rights to send a team of international experts to investigate alleged human rights violations and abuses in the central Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congolese government has agreed to cooperate, including by facilitating access. The final resolution incorporates language from proposals prepared by the African and European groups at the Council.

China should immediately release five North Korean refugees held in Chinese detention and agree not to return them to North Korea, where they would face grave danger, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 23. China should protect the five refugees and let them travel to safety in a third country, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Police arrested and severely beat the de facto leader of ongoing social protests in Morocco’s Rif region, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said on Jun 22, based on an account the protest leader gave his lawyer. Authorities are investigating Nasser Zefzafi, the protest leader, on grave charges, including one that carries the death penalty and some that appear political in nature.

Newly appointed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should use his authority to end longstanding abuses against Saudi dissidents and rights activists and to make a public commitment for rights reforms, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 22. The succession move follows a royal decree issued on June 17, 2017, that removed the country’s notorious prosecution service from the Interior Ministry and turned it into an independent agency.