Human Rights | WPN World People News

Perugia’s public prosecutor should immediately drop charges against six gay rights activists accused of disturbing the peace because they kissed during a demonstration in March 2014, Human Rights Watch said. The public prosecutor’s office notified the six of the charges on October 7.

Malaysian authorities should end their politically motivated prosecution of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Human Rights Watch said. On October 28, 2014, the Federal Court – the country’s highest court – will hear Anwar’s appeal of his March conviction for violating Malaysia’s abusive colonial-era “sodomy law” that criminalizes same-sex relations.

Migrant domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are beaten, exploited, and trapped in forced labor situations, Human Rights Watch said in a report released. The UAE government, about to take up an influential new role in the International Labour Organization (ILO), has failed to adequately protect female domestic workers – many of them from the Philippines – from abuse by employers and recruiters.

A new government bill before the Turkish parliament would expand police search and court seizure and wiretap powers, reversing reforms approved in February, 2014. The bill, which parliament should reject, would introduce a new charge that could potentially be used against government critics and restrict lawyers’ right to access evidence against their clients at the investigation stage.

Spanish authorities should investigate the beating and pushback of a man by Guardia Civil officers in Melilla on October 15, 2014. Spain should immediately halt summary returns to Morocco from its enclaves.

LGBT Jamaicans are vulnerable to both physical and sexual violence and many live in constant fear, Human Rights Watch said in a report released. They are taunted, threatened, fired from their jobs, thrown out of their homes, or worse: beaten, stoned, raped, or killed.

Thailand’s credibility as a potential member of the United Nations Human Rights Council depends on the government’s addressing urgent human rights concerns at home, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, on October 18, 2014.

Syrian Kurdish refugees cross the border into Turkey after fleeing fighting around the city of Kobane in north-east Syria.

Remnants of a misfired Uragan cluster munition rocket lying in a field in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government near Novomykhailivka, Ukraine on October 14, 2014.

The Bangladeshi government should order an independent investigation and prosecute members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) responsible for a 2011 attack on a child (16) that caused him to lose a leg, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities finally dropped politically motivated charges against the child, Limon Hossain, but have not taken action against his attackers.