Human Rights

OSCE Representative calls on authorities in Moldova to allow free and unhindered work of journalists

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović on 23 January expressed concern about reports that Russian journalists are being repeatedly denied entry into Moldova.

Libya: Civilian Toll Mounts in Benghazi

Displaced Person Camps Hit; No Military Target

Unidentified forces fired at least four rockets at two camps for internally displaced people in Benghazi on January 9, 2016.

UK announces £30 million in support for refugees arriving in Europe in Winter

New support will help 27,000 children and babies who have fled fighting in Syria - support for migration crisis now exceeds £50m.

Britain will provide £30million in new funding to help the most vulnerable people – including children and infants - arriving in Europe and fleeing the Syrian conflict, UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced.

After first-hand visit to besieged Yemeni city of Taiz, senor UN official calls for unlimited access for aid

Senior United Nations humanitarian officials on 23 January called on the authorities and various factions in war-torn Yemen to allow sustained access into the besieged central city of Taiz after seeing first-hand the desperate state of its inhabitants, who lack critical medical supplies, food and other basic needs for survival.

Thailand: Investigate Army Abduction of Student Activist

Drop Charges Against Peaceful Critics, End Military Trial of Civilians

The Thai government should urgently investigate the abduction and alleged beating and mistreatment of prominent student activist Sirawith Seritiwat by army soldiers, Human Rights Watch said on January 22. The arrest, which Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha said was for violating the ban on public assembly and political activity, is itself unjustified under the right of all persons to peacefully assemble and protest.

Impunity for Sexual Violence in Burma’s Kachin Conflict

A year ago this week, two young ethnic Kachin school teachers, Hkawn Nan Tsin, 21, and Maran Lu Ra, 20, were raped and murdered at a teacher’s dormitory in the town of Kaung Kha in Burma’s Shan State. The main suspects in this horrific crime are Burmese army soldiers stationed just a few hundred meters from where the women lived. The Burmese military strenuously denied the charges, staged a perfunctory investigation and threatened to take legal action against anyone who publicly alleged army personnel were responsible. To date, no one has been arrested for the crime and a police investigation is going nowhere.

South Sudan: slaughter of civilians, gang rapes among ‘shocking’ crimes committed by all sides, says UN

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Child soldiers released in South Sudan.

Afghanistan: Attack on Journalists Threatens Media Freedom

Journalists Face Escalating Intimidation and Violence

Anti-government insurgency groups should immediately stop intentionally targeting civilians, Human Rights Watch said on January 21. The January 20 suicide attack on a minibus in Kabul transporting journalists affiliated with Tolo TV, Afghanistan’s 24-hour news channel, was an atrocity designed to undermine Afghanistan’s still-fragile media freedom.

Human rights: EU seamen detained in India, Ethiopia and North Korea nuclear test

Parliament calls on India to release the 14 Estonian and 6 Briton seamen detained in the south of the country, strongly condemns the nuclear test conducted on 6 January by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and deplores the recent use of excessive force by security forces in Ethiopia, in three resolutions voted on Thursday.

Somalia Should Make Concrete Pledges at Rights Council

Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, a passionate Somali journalist, was sentenced in February 2013 to one year in prison. His crime? Interviewing a woman alleging rape by government security forces. The woman was also convicted of “tarnishing” state institutions. Both were eventually acquitted, but Abdiaziz fled into exile.