Human Rights | WPN World People News

A Russian human rights activist is facing criminal charges for allegedly failing to comply with the “foreign agents” law, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 05. On June 27, 2016, Russian authorities notified Valentina Cherevatenko, a prominent rights activist in the South of Russia, that they were bringing criminal proceedings against her for “malicious evasion” of legal requirements set out in the “foreign agents” law. Investigators alleged that as chair of the Women of the Don Foundation for Civil Society Development, Cherevatenko had violated article 330.1 – “malicious evasion of the duty to file the documents required for inclusion in the register of nonprofit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent.”

Fifty years after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it controls these areas through repression, institutionalized discrimination, and systematic abuses of the Palestinian population’s rights, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 04.

New cases have emerged of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities detaining men and boys fleeing Mosul on suspicion of affiliation with the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Human Rights Watch said on Jun 03.

The government of Thailand should immediately investigate the death of a Pakistani man in immigration detention, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 02. The case points to the need for Thailand to urgently end the indefinite detention of refugees and asylum seekers.

The following statement was issued by eight nongovernmental organizations, including Human Rights Watch, on June 2, 2017, concerning Egypt’s repressive new law to regulate nongovernmental groups:

People with disabilities and other at-risk groups go unidentified on the Greek islands as the European Union inappropriately presses Greek authorities and medical aid organizations to reduce the number of asylum seekers identified as “vulnerable,” Human Rights Watch said on Jun 01. The EU, and the Greek government, now prefer to contain all asylum seekers on the Greek islands. Before the new policy, asylum seekers identified as “vulnerable” were allowed to be transferred to the mainland to have their cases handled there.

The Chinese government should acknowledge its role in the massacre of untold numbers of peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators around June 4, 1989, and hold perpetrators to account, Human Rights Watch said on Jun 01. Authorities should allow commemorations of the occasion, and release those imprisoned for having done so in the past.

Nyayak Olo Bapit, a Shilluk woman from Malakal, pictured in Juba. She was forced to flee Malakal after a bullet struck her left thigh during fighting there in January 2014.

Authorities in Kenya have committed a range of abuses against journalists reporting on sensitive issues, threatening freedom of expression ahead of elections slated for August 8, 2017, Human Rights Watch and ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa said in a report released on May 30. Journalists and bloggers reporting on corruption, disputed land acquisition, counterterrorism operations, and the 2007-2008 post-electoral violence, among other sensitive issues, have faced intimidation, beatings, and job loss.

The Algerian authorities should drop all charges against a leading activist and his 40 co-defendants that are based on their peaceful activism for the rights of the Amazigh, or Berber, minority, Human Rights Watch, EuroMed Rights, Amnesty International, and Front Line Defenders said on May 29. Kamaleddine Fekhar and most of his co-accused have been detained since July 2015.