Human Rights | WPN World People News

A sharp increase in attacks by the armed group commonly known as Boko Haram has uprooted 500,000 children over the past five months, bringing the total number of children on the run in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring countries to 1.4 million, UNICEF said on 18 September.

Save the Children is stepping up its emergency response to the refugee crisis in Serbia, where more than 25,000 children have arrived this year alone, including at least 5,753 unaccompanied minors.

"UNICEF is in touch with the Government of Hungary's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York to discuss how refugee and migrant children can be adequately protected in line with the country’s commitments to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Toby Lanzer, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, on 18 September commended the immense generosity of Niger’s communities and Government who host those fleeing the violence in neighboring northeast Nigeria. He welcomed efforts by humanitarian actors in support of national authorities and added that the international community must match the humanity shown by poor communities across the region and take its responsibility for a greater share of the humanitarian burden.

The Pakistan government should halt the scheduled September 22, 2015, execution of Abdul Basit, who is paralyzed from the waist down, Human Rights Watch said on September 20. The case underscores the inherent cruelty of capital punishment by the execution of a person with a severe disability.

Britain has offered resources and expertise to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) to help speed up the resettlement to Britain of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees, International Development Secretary Justine Greening confirmed on 20 September.

Hungary’s new border regime denies access to asylum and exposes vulnerable people to violence and prosecution, Human Rights Watch said on September 19.

The European Commission has released an additional aid package of €15 million amid an increasingly deteriorating humanitarian situation in South Sudan. The funding brings the total EU humanitarian aid for the country to nearly €300 million so far in 2015.

Gambia’s government commits serious human rights violations against perceived critics and political opponents, perpetuating a climate of fear and repression, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on September 17.

President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine signed a decree on September 16, 2015, expanding a wide-ranging blacklist of people banned from entering Ukraine, including dozens of journalists, Human Rights Watch said on September 17. Poroshenko should immediately revise or revoke the decree.