Human Rights | WPN World People News

The United Nations Security Council’s failure to approve a December 23, 2016, resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan and placed a travel ban and asset freeze on three senior South Sudanese leaders was deeply disappointing, seven nongovernmental groups said on Dec 23. The measure failed to gain the nine votes needed to pass, with seven in favor and eight abstentions.

Bangladesh’s steps in recent years to recognize hijras as a third legal gender are leading to further abuses due to widespread prejudice and lack of clear rights-based procedures, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Dec 23. In recent years the government of Bangladesh has taken important steps toward acknowledging and protecting hijras, who are assigned male at birth but develop a feminine identity, but the implementation of promising decrees and programs has exposed hijras to serious abuses.

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

The Burmese military and ethnic armed groups in northern Burma should commit to protecting civilians and expediting aid in the face of escalating rights abuses and civilian displacement, Human Rights Watch said on Dec 22.

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fired Brazilian-made rockets containing banned cluster munitions that struck near two schools in the northern Yemeni city of Saada on December 6, 2016, Human Rights Watch said on Dec 23. The attack on al-Dhubat neighborhood in Saada’s Old City at about 8 p.m. killed two civilians and wounded at least six, including a child.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announcement that it will transfer oversight for the recruitment of domestic workers from the interior ministry to the labor ministry is a positive step, Human Rights Watch said on Dec 22. The UAE should now include domestic workers under its labor law and introduce specific enforcement measures.

Commemoration monument for fallen YBŞ/HPG fighters in Sinjar.

Thailand’s new Computer-Related Crime Act (CCA) gives overly broad powers to the government to restrict free speech, enforce surveillance and censorship, and retaliate against activists, Human Rights Watch said on Dec 21. Despite concerns expressed by civil society, business, and diplomatic representatives, the controversial law was unanimously adopted on December 16, 2016, by the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly.

A 31-year-old Syrian refugee in Lebanon was allegedly detained and tortured in February 2016, apparently on suspicion of being gay, Human Rights Watch said on Dec 21. The man, identified only as Shadi for his protection, told Human Rights Watch that he had been detained by Lebanese Military Intelligence officers, and tortured over a five-day period at Military Intelligence, Ministry of Defense, Military Police, and Internal Security Forces centers.

Housing in Tondo, Manila, Philippines. (file)