Human Rights | WPN World People News

European Union leaders should publicly and privately press China’s government to end its crackdown on human rights and immediately release all detained activists, Human Rights Watch said in a joint letter with a dozen other nongovernmental organizations on May 29. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini will attend the EU-China Summit in Brussels with senior Chinese officials on June 1-2, 2017.

President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on May 29, 2017, will be an important first test of the French president’s commitment to reflecting human rights in France’s foreign policy, Human Rights Watch said.

Laws and policies that discriminate against women interfere with Iranian women’s right to work, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 25. Women confront an array of restrictions, such as on their ability to travel, prohibitions on entering certain jobs, and an absence of basic legal protections.

The Burmese army announced on May 23, 2017, that its investigation into alleged military abuses in Rakhine State uncovered no wrongdoing except in two minor incidents, Human Rights Watch said on May 24. The army’s failure to find its troops responsible for any serious abuses against ethnic Rohingya since October 2016 in northern Rakhine State demonstrates the urgent need for Burma’s government to allow unfettered access to the United Nations international fact-finding mission.

Anti-riot police have harassed, beaten, and ordered some 200 families off a farm linked to President Robert Mugabe’s family, Human Rights Watch said on May 22. The police affirmed in a court filing that the Arnolds Farm in Mazowe, Mashonaland Central province, Zimbabwe, which the families have occupied since 2000, is owned by the president’s family. Human Rights Watch could not independently verify the farm ownership.

A family from Afghanistan pushes their older mother in a wheelchair near Roszke, Hungary after crossing the border with Serbia. September 13, 2015.

Forces aligned with the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) attacked a military base and allegedly executed at least 30 captured soldiers, Human Rights Watch said on May 21. A hospital official and an eyewitness told Human Rights Watch that soldiers from the 13th Battalion aligned with the GNA Defense Ministry attacked the base in Brak El-Shati, in southern Libya, on May 18, 2017, and executed troops from the 12th Battalion of the Libyan National Army (LNA).

Thailand’s junta has failed to fulfill pledges to respect human rights and restore democratic rule three years after the military coup, Human Rights Watch said on May 21. The ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), led by Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, has instead prolonged its crackdown on basic rights and freedoms, and devised a quasi-democratic system that the military can manipulate and control.

Sri Lanka’s latest counterterrorism bill falls far short of the government’s pledges to the United Nations Human Rights Council to end abusive detention without charge, Human Rights Watch said on May 18. The Cabinet approved the third draft of the Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) on May 3, 2017, but no parliamentary vote has been set.

The United States House Judiciary Committee should reject a dangerous immigration bill that would exacerbate abusive aspects of the US immigration system and undermine public safety, Human Rights Watch said on May 18. The bill would essentially criminalize the presence of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the US.