Human Rights | WPN World People News

The Philippine government should immediately release the alleged drug suspects unlawfully detained in a Manila police station “secret jail,” and ensure their protection after release, Human Right Watch said on Apr 29. The official Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and the National Bureau of Investigation should conduct a joint investigation into the existence of other unofficial lock-up cells in police stations across the country and ensure they are shut down.

Bahraini authorities’ treatment of wrongfully imprisoned detainees violates international standards on prisoner treatment and in some cases may constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, a coalition of ten rights groups said on Apr 30. The authorities should ensure that all detainees are treated with humanity and in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, including access to the adequate medical care they require and contact with their relatives.

Lebanon’s General Security agency has detained and deported migrant domestic workers apparently for having children in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said on Apr 25. Authorities should stop deportations and release anyone detained for this reason. Denying residency renewals to long-term workers who have given birth while living in Lebanon disproportionately interferes with their right to family life.

An 8-year-old girl sorts and bundles tobacco leaves by hand near Sampang, East Java.

Tadodaho Sid Hill, Chief of the Onondaga Nation, delivers the ceremonial welcome at the opening of the Sixteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The German parliament should reject a proposed security agreement with the Egyptian Interior Ministry, Human Rights Watch said on Apr 24. The agreement, which is scheduled for a vote on April 28, 2017, lacks human rights protections and would be with a security agency whose officers have committed torture, enforced disappearances, and most likely extrajudicial killings. As a result, it could make German officials complicit in serious human rights violations.

China should immediately disclose the whereabouts of eight North Korean refugees currently detained in China, publicly pledge that none of them will be returned to North Korea, and provide them with asylum or allow departure to a third country of their choice, Human Rights Watch said on Apr 23. North Koreans who are forced back after fleeing their country face a real risk of torture, sexual violence and abuse, incarceration in forced labor camps, and public executions, making them refugees sur place in the need of urgent protection.

After recent skirmishes left thousands displaced, many civilians continue to seek safety in different locations in Wau, South Sudan.

Equatorial Guinean authorities should immediately release two men who head the country’s leading human rights organization, seven human rights and transparency organizations said.

Gambia’s government should act to prosecute those responsible for grave crimes committed during the 22-year rule of Yahya Jammeh. Fair trials are crucial for victims and their families and for building respect for the rule of law in the country.