Human Rights | WPN World People News

European Union leaders should press Ukraine at their July 12-13, 2017 summit meeting to fulfill its human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 11. The meeting in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, comes several weeks after Ukraine secured visa-free travel for Ukrainians to EU states, which the Ukrainian government had sought for years. At the same time, the Ukrainian government has adopted new measures that threaten freedom of expression and access to information. The summit’s agenda includes such issues as the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s occupation of Crimea, and the need for Ukraine to reform.

Talibés begging in downtown Dakar, Senegal, May 11, 2017.

Civilians foraging near the Mosul University Presidency building, which bears the scars of fighting between Iraqi troops and ISIL militants.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) forces have expelled at least four Yezidi families and threatened others since June 2017 because of their relatives’ participation in Iraqi government forces, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 09. The KRG’s security forces, Asayish, returned the displaced families to Sinjar, where access to basic goods and services is very limited.

The Cambodian government should rescind its recent order restricting independent election monitoring groups, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 09. On July 4, 2017, a month after the country’s flawed commune elections, the Interior Ministry issued a letter to two election-monitoring organizations to cease their activities in alleged violation of the country’s nongovernmental organization law.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) forces have expelled at least four Yezidi families and threatened others since June 2017 because of their relatives’ participation in Iraqi government forces, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 08. The KRG’s security forces, Asayish, returned the displaced families to Sinjar, where access to basic goods and services is very limited.

Egyptian authorities should not deport dozens of detained Chinese Muslim Uyghurs to China, where they are at serious risk of arbitrary detention and torture, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 07.

The Mental Health Authority of Ghana has taken steps to release 16 people, including two girls, held in shackles at Nyakumasi Prayer Camp, a spiritual healing center in the Central Region. Those freed, some of whom have mental health conditions, were taken to nearby Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital on June 30, 2017.

The Thai government should halt enforcement of a new migrant workers’ law that imposes excessive criminal penalties and has caused thousands of migrant workers to flee Thailand, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 07.

Ten human rights defenders detained on July 5, 2017, in Istanbul on alleged suspicion of membership of an armed organization should be released immediately, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 06. Turkish police detained the group of prominent activists at a hotel on the island of Büyükada in Istanbul, where they were attending a workshop on protecting the work of human rights defenders. The activists were subsequently taken to various police stations, and lawyers told Human Rights Watch the rights defenders are under investigation for membership of an armed organization, though there is no information on any evidence against them.