Human Rights | WPN World People News

The death in the Democratic Republic of Congo of a rebel leader wanted by the International Criminal Court highlights the need to bring justice for his forces’ many victims. The Congolese army announced on September 18, 2019 that its forces killed Sylvestre Mudacumura, commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and “his closest lieutenants” the previous night.

Tanzania should protect Burundian refugees fleeing widespread abuses instead of requiring them to return to Burundi against their will.

A Venezuelan police unit has been carrying out extrajudicial executions and arbitrary arrests in poor communities that no longer support the Nicolás Maduro government, Human Rights Watch said on Sep 18, 2019.

Tajikistan’s government takes little action to investigate or prosecute domestic violence cases and is doing far too little to help survivors, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Sep 19, 2019. Despite progress in some areas, Tajik law does not criminalize domestic violence, and women who experience abuse lack adequate protection and access to shelter and other services.

Rohingya refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in Myanmar.

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is driven largely by criminal networks that use violence and intimidation against those who try to stop them, and the government is failing to protect both the defenders and the rainforest itself, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Sep 17, 2019.

Jordanian authorities have forced about 200 people to leave their home governorate because of their extended family ties to an accused murderer, Human Rights Watch said on Sep 17, 2019.

Chinese authorities should immediately release to their families children held in “child welfare” institutions and boarding schools in Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said on Sep 15, 2019. The government should cease unnecessarily separating Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim children from their families.

Indian authorities should immediately release detained Kashmiris who have not been charged with a recognizable offense. Several thousand Kashmiris, including politicians and opposition activists, have been held in preventive detention since August 5, 2019, when the Indian Parliament voted to alter the autonomous constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir state and split it into two federally governed territories.

A Chinese Communist Party notice banning retired Tibetan government employees from taking part in religious activities violates China’s commitment to religious freedom, Human Rights Watch said on Sep 11, 2019. The notice obtained by Human Rights Watch is undated but appears to have been issued in early August 2019.