Human Rights | WPN World People News

The US government’s rapid-fire screening of unauthorized migrants at the border is sending Central Americans back to the risk of serious harm, Human Rights Watch said in a report released.

A counterterrorism bill before the Australian parliament would introduce overly broad new criminal offenses that undermine rights to freedom of expression and movement, Human Rights Watch said in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The proposed Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill prohibits travel to “declared zones,” “subverting society,” and advocating terrorism, and permits the extended use of control orders and preventive detention.

Hearing (from left): Genoveva Tisheva and Claudia Menne

President Salva Kiir should veto a bill giving South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) sweeping powers, a group of national and international human rights organizations said. The bill would allow the security service virtually unfettered authority to arrest and detain suspects, monitor communications, conduct searches, and seize property.

A young boy carries away a box of food from a distribution centre in Afgoye, Somalia.

Egyptian authorities should release more than 110 university students arrested since the start of the school year on October 11, 2014. The arrests were apparently aimed at preventing a revival of campus protests that have erupted repeatedly since the overthrow of the former president, Mohamed Morsy, in July 2013. The arrests and subsequent activities appear to be solely directed at the students’ peaceful exercise of the right to free assembly.

Afghanistan’s new government should take urgent steps to combat sexual harassment of women in education, employment, and public life, Human Rights Watch said. There are no laws in Afghanistan that specifically prohibit sexual harassment or protect victims.

On 11 October, Education International (EI) and its affiliates will celebrate the 3rd International Day of the Girl Child. This year’s theme is Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence.

The Royal Thai Government should comply with its international human rights obligations to provide remedies and reparation to victims of torture or other ill-treatment, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International said.

The Bangladeshi government should set 18 as the minimum age for marriage to comply with international prohibitions against child marriage, Human Rights Watch said. Recent media reports indicate the prime minister’s cabinet is considering a revision to the law to make 16 the minimum age of marriage for girls. The minimum age for men would be 18.