Human Rights | WPN World People News

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.

An emergency proposal to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers from Italy, Greece and Hungary among EU member states was backed by Parliament on Thursday. The first temporary emergency rules for relocating an initial 40,000 over two years from Italy and Greece only were approved by Parliament on 9 September.

Thai authorities should release 64 asylum seekers detained in a recent raid who are being held in immigration detention, Human Rights Watch said on September 16. The asylum seekers – including 7 children – are from Pakistan and Somalia, and possess “person of concern” documents issued by the United Nations refugee agency.

Relatives of missing persons from Sri Lanka’s 26-year long civil war hold their pictures during a meeting in the capital Colombo.

Wide view of the Human Rights Council at its 30th regular session in Geneva on 15 September 2015.

Saudi authorities may soon execute a Saudi man for crimes related to a 2011 protest movement, committed when he was only 17. His trial was marred by serious due process violations, and the court failed to investigate his allegations that he had been tortured in detention.

Yemen’s Houthi authorities should immediately provide information about a prominent opposition party member who was arrested on April 4, 2015. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have yet to respond to inquiries from the family of Muhammad Qahtan, 57, a leader of the Islah party, about his whereabouts or their basis for holding him. He should be released unless he has been charged with a credible criminal offense.

Human Rights Watch and three anonymous individuals filed a complaint over surveillance by the United Kingdom on September 14. The complaint by Human Rights Watch to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) charges its rights had been violated by the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in intercepting, using, and retaining its communications and in particular, sharing them with the US National Security Administration (NSA).

On the second anniversary of Chinese activist Cao Shunli’s arbitrary detention in Beijing, United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) member states should press China to account for its conduct in that event and her subsequent death, Human Rights Watch said on September 14. The 30th session of the Council begins in Geneva on September 14.

Machetes and bullets in Gisenyi, Rwanda, 26 July 1994.