Human Rights | WPN World People News

Brazilian authorities should reform laws that have been used to impose disproportionate punishments on military police officers who speak out publicly to advocate reform or voice complaints, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 09.

The Thai military’s dropping of frivolous defamation lawsuits against three prominent activists should be the first step toward ending government intimidation, censorship, and retaliation against human rights defenders in southern Thailand, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 07.

Algeria’s prosecutor’s office should drop its criminal blasphemy investigation of a writer over his 2016 novel, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 08. The Algerian authorities should uphold freedom of expression and take immediate steps to abolish the blasphemy law.

United States President Donald Trump’s new executive order significantly curtailing the US refugee program would inflict similar harms on refugees and Americans as the previous order, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 06.

Bahraini authorities are apparently targeting the family members of a prominent Bahraini activist in retribution for his human rights work, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 06.

Money alone does not make you happy. It can, however, give you financial independence and the freedom to determine your future or to quit a violent relationship. Yet women still receive lower wages and pensions, have limited access to top positions, are less represented in politics and devote more of their time to family and the home than men. This year Parliament is dedicating International Women’s Day to the economic empowerment of women.

Jordan joined a worrying regional trend towards increasing executions when it hanged 15 Jordanian men on March 4, 2017, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 05. Those executed included 10 convicted in six terrorist attacks between 2003 and 2016, and five convicted in murder cases. The official government news agency, Petra News, announced that authorities had executed the men inside Suwaqa prison, 70 kilometers south of Amman.

Iraqi forces have forcibly displaced at least 125 families said to have familial ties to affiliates of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Human Rights Watch said on Mar 05.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights decried Sri Lanka’s slow progress on its reform pledges in his report to the UN Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 03.

The Trump administration’s new immigration enforcement memorandums outline striking and sweeping changes to immigration policy that will have a dire impact on the rights of immigrants and their families and hurt the communities they live in, Human Rights Watch said on Mar 03, releasing a “question and answer” analysis. The US Department of Homeland Security released the memorandums on February 20, 2017.