Human Rights | WPN World People News

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition used a British-made cruise missile to destroy a Yemeni ceramics factory, a civilian object, on September 23, 2015, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said on November 25, based on field research and interviews with eyewitnesses at the scene.

The horrendous Paris attacks have provided certain European and U.S. politicians with an irresistible opportunity to attempt to close the door on refugees while seeking to expand overbroad government surveillance. It is important, out of principle and for our collective safety, to reject these appeals to fear and prejudice, as some political leaders have done.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the Official Commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women at the UN Headquarters in New York.

France should apply broad new powers granted under an expanded state of emergency law in as narrow and limited manner as possible to avoid trampling on human rights, Human Rights Watch said on November 24. The law expands the government’s emergency powers under a 1955 law. It also extends the state of emergency by three months as of November 26, 2015, when the 12 days the government can carry out a state of emergency without a parliamentary extension ends.

Thailand’s junta has proposed that the new constitution protect military personnel from prosecution for serious abuses, Human Rights Watch said on November 24. The constitution drafters should reject the proposed de facto amnesty.

More than 100,000 people took part in the 2015 International Istanbul Marathon in Turkey on 15 November, with the slogan “Say No to Violence Against Women,” and the overall colour theme of the marathon was orange.

Turkey has all but closed its borders to Syrian asylum seekers and is summarily pushing back Syrians detected as they try to cross, Human Rights Watch said on November 23. Syrians described Turkish border guards intercepting them at or near the border, in some cases beating them, and pushing them and dozens of others back into Syria or detaining and then summarily expelling them along with hundreds of others.

Independent observers and monitors should be allowed to investigate the latest raid by Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang region, which reportedly left 28 people dead, Human Rights Watch said on November 23. Clarifying facts on the ground is essential in order to determine whether excessive force was used.

The world remains a deeply unfair place for the poorest and most disadvantaged children despite major advances since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, according to a UNICEF report released on 20 November.

Bassel Khartabil, a defender of freedom of expression being held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance may be facing a death sentence, 36 local and international organizations said today. His wife has received unconfirmed reports that a Military Field Court has sentenced him to death. His whereabouts should be disclosed immediately, and he should be released unconditionally, the groups said.