Human Rights | WPN World People News

Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.

Saudi Arabia’s failure to include women on its team to compete in the Asian Games in South Korea in September 2014 is a backward step for women’s participation in sport. A member of the Saudi Olympic committee said on September 4 that the kingdom plans to send women to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But Saudi officials should make clear what steps they are taking to ensure that women are included in other future competitions and are able to participate in sports generally.

The Malaysian government should cease using the country’s sedition law to arbitrarily arrest opposition lawmakers, activists, and critical academics, Human Rights Watch said. Since 2013, at least 14 people have been charged under the Sedition Act 1948 for criticizing the government or government officials. Those found guilty face up to five years in prison and a fine of RM 5,000 (US$1,600).

Yemeni authorities should immediately investigate the use of unnecessary lethal force against demonstrators in Sanaa on September 7 and 9, 2014. It should hold military personnel and other security forces found responsible to account. Altogether eight protesters and an ambulance driver were killed and at least 67 were wounded.

A group of internally displaced Iraqi girls queue for food at a community kitchen in a village in Iraqi Kurdistan's Dohuk governorate.

Three Israeli attacks that damaged Gaza schools housing displaced people caused numerous civilian casualties in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said. In the first in-depth documentation of the violations, Human Rights Watch investigated the three attacks, which occurred on July 24 and 30, and August 3, 2014, and killed 45 people, including 17 children.

At least 1.4 million children in 26 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia are growing up apart from their biological parents, often in institutional settings that can affect their development. Supporting families at risk of separation can reduce the need for institutional care and promote the right of all children to be raised in a nurturing family environment.

Saudi courts have sentenced two men to death and five others to long prison terms after trials that made a mockery of due process. Authorities charged all seven following protests by members of the Shia minority in 2011 and 2012 in Eastern Province towns that resulted in hundreds of arrests.

As students around the world return to school, a record number of conflicts and crises are depriving millions of children of their right to an education.

The Syrian government should immediately and unconditionally release the arbitrarily detained human rights defender Mazen Darwish and his colleagues Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Ghareer, 79 organizations said. The Syrian Anti-Terrorism Court is expected to issue its verdict on September 24, 2014 in their trial for “publicizing terrorist acts.”