Human Rights | WPN World People News

Cambodian authorities should immediately drop the prosecution of two social activists for “direct incitement” to foment social disorder, Human Rights Watch said on Aug 19. The prosecution violates their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The California state assembly is considering a bill that would require a consultation with a lawyer for anyone under the age of 18 before they can waive their Miranda rights and be questioned, Human Rights Watch said on Aug 18. Human Rights Watch released a video about a police interrogation of a child in a murder case and the need to provide children with extra legal protection to reduce the chance of coerced confessions.

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State and non-state actors in Iraq should heed the prominent Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s July 2016 statement banning violence against those who do not conform to gender norms.

Thai authorities should urgently release a student activist detained since August 6, 2016, for peacefully protesting the military junta’s proposed constitution, Human Rights Watch said on 16 August. Until his release, the Department of Corrections should transfer Jatupat Boonphatthararaksa, who has been on a hunger strike since August 7 at Phu Khiao prison in Chaiyaphum province, to a hospital where he can be under medical supervision. On the night of August 14, he briefly passed out after suffering from body pains, shivering, and a high fever.

The joint Syrian-Russian military operation has been using incendiary weapons, which burn their victims and start fires, in civilian areas of Syria in violation of international law, Human Rights Watch said on Aug 16. Incendiary weapons have been used at least 18 times over the past six weeks, including in attacks on the opposition-held areas in the cities of Aleppo and Idlib on August 7, 2016.

Syrian children attend class in a school in the Zaatari refugee camp in northern Jordan, October 20, 2015. The school taught Syrian girls in the morning and boys in the afternoon, but lacked electricity, heating, and running water.

Transgender people and others who do not conform to social expectations about gender face discrimination and abuse in Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Aug 15.

Soldiers killed and raped civilians and extensively looted civilian property, including humanitarian goods, during and after clashes between government and opposition forces in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, in July, 2016, Human Rights Watch said on Aug 15. In many cases, government forces appeared to target non-Dinka civilians.