Human Rights | WPN World People News

Recent legislative amendment requires activists and journalists reporting on government corruption to file public declarations of their personal assets, Human Rights Watch said on Apr 05. The new requirement is vague and could be used to deter or punish investigative journalists and partners of anti-corruption nongovernmental groups for doing their job.

Participants at a conference on Syria in Brussels on April 5, 2017, should address the reasons why more than half a million refugee children are still not in school, Human Rights Watch said on Apr 05. Donors and host countries had pledged that all Syrian refugee children would be receiving a quality education by the end of this school year.

The Israeli military authorities are blocking access to and from the Gaza Strip for human rights workers who document abuses and advocate to end them, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Apr 02. The travel restrictions call into question the Israeli military authorities’ claim to rely on human rights organizations as an important source of information for their criminal investigations into potential serious crimes committed during the 2014 Gaza war.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s scheduled meeting with United States President Donald Trump on April 3, 2017, comes at a time when human rights are at a nadir in Egypt and under threat in the US, Human Rights Watch said on Apr 02.

The Thailand media regulator’s decision to suspend a television station’s broadcasts for seven days is blatant censorship that further undermines media freedoms and reinforces military dictatorship, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 30.

Chinese courts in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces on March 31, 2017, convicted three activists on politically motivated charges that the authorities should quash, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 31.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) armed forces fired rubber and live bullets and teargas canisters at protesters in Sinjar on March 14, 2017, killing one person and wounding at least seven, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 30. KRG authorities should investigate the use of lethal force against the protesters.

Chinese authorities should halt the expulsion and political re-education of monks and nuns from a major Tibetan religious institution, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 29. According to a statement by an abbot of the institution, Chinese officials announced on March 12, 2017, that 3,225 homes at Larung Gar, the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist institution, would be torn down by April 30.

Jordan should deny entry to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir or arrest him if he enters the country, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 28. Al-Bashir has been invited to visit Jordan on March 29, 2017, to attend the 28th summit of the Arab League, news reports say.

The Cambodian government has shielded and promoted those implicated in the deadly grenade attack on an opposition party rally 20 years ago that left at least 16 people dead and more than 150 injured, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 28. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which became involved because an American citizen, Ron Abney, was severely injured, should complete its long-stalled investigation into the March 30, 1997 attack against the opposition leader Sam Rainsy.