Human Rights | WPN World People News

The release this week of a man held incommunicado for more than six months after his apparent abduction by security forces is a step forward, but Bangladeshi authorities need to immediately reveal the fate and whereabouts of two other men held in secret detention, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said on Mar 02.

Philippine police are falsifying evidence to justify unlawful killings in a “war on drugs” that has caused more than 7,000 deaths, Human Rights Watch said in a new report on Mar 02. President Rodrigo Duterte and other senior officials have instigated and incited killings of mostly urban poor in a campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), a prominent international coalition, should suspend Azerbaijan’s membership for failing to carry out key reforms, a coalition of 21 groups including Human Rights Watch, ARTICLE 19, and International Media Support said on Mar 02. The EITI, during its board meeting in Bogota, Colombia, on March 8 and 9, 2017, will review Azerbaijan’s efforts to ease its repression of civil society groups as the EITI had required.

Since AIDS emerged 35 years ago, the international community has taken strides in stemming the disease – but must continue with resolve and commitment in eradicating the epidemic by 2030, as set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Security forces standby in Kinshasa during demonstrations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 19 and 20 December 2016.

Israel has been detaining Palestinian residents of Gaza under an obscure law that strips away meaningful judicial review and due process rights, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch said on March 01.

The Angolan government should urgently and impartially investigate police use of force to disperse a peaceful protest in the capital, Luanda. The police beat activists with batons and injured at least four protesters using police dogs.

Children sitting in front of a school that was badly damaged in the conflict in Yemen.

Thailand’s state Mahidol University should drop a disciplinary investigation against academics who criticized the Thai military junta, Human Rights Watch said on Fed 27. The action is being carried out against staff members of the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP), Southeast Asia’s longest-running graduate degree program in human rights studies.

Russia and other United Nations Security Council members should support a proposed resolution that would impose sanctions on Syrian government officials responsible for chemical attacks, Human Rights Watch said on Feb 27. The Security Council is expected to vote on the resolution as early as February 28, 2017.