Human Rights | WPN World People News

Police in western Kazakhstan arrested two trade union leaders on January 20, 2017, Human Rights Watch said on January 26.　The men apparently face prosecution in connection with a hunger strike over the forced closure earlier in January of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan.

A Mauritanian blogger convicted of apostasy faces execution unless the Supreme Court cancels or commutes his death sentence in a ruling expected on January 31, 2017, Human Rights Watch said on Jan 26. The Mauritanian authorities should drop the charges against Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mkhaitir and repeal the provision of its penal code that provides for the death sentence for apostasy.

Civilians in Lebanon, including children, face trial in military courts, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Jan 26. Such trials do not respect due process rights and violate international law. In one prominent case scheduled for January 30, 2017, 14 people protesting the government’s inability to resolve a waste management crisis in 2015 face up to three years in prison.

Both sides in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine have detained and abused people with complete impunity, Human Rights Watch said at a joint press conference with Amnesty International in Kyiv on Jan 25. In a statement released in Kyiv jointly with Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch reiterated its call for the Ukraine government and the Russia-backed separatists to stop all arbitrary and secret detentions and ill-treatment of detainees and ensure accountability for abuses that have occurred.

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst.

A Kyrgyzstan court on January 24, 2017, upheld a life sentence for a human rights defender, Azimjon Askarov, despite the UN Human Rights Committee’s ruling that he should be released and his conviction quashed, Human Rights Watch said on Jan 24. The court decision reinforces a severe miscarriage of justice in Kyrgyzstan.

Burma’s government should act to end the prosecution of peaceful critics in violation of their right to free speech, Human Rights Watch said on Jan 24. The National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government should seek to amend or repeal laws that criminalize nonviolent speech.

Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Yanghee Lee.

After years of ineffective enforcement of civil rights laws, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s External Civil Rights Compliance Office found that agencies in three states tasked with enforcing environmental laws should take steps to comply with civil rights requirements.

AWC representatives.