Human Rights | WPN World People News

European Union governments’ policy responses to migration undermine refugee protection and human rights and diminish the EU’s moral standing, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Nov 23.

Government and rebel forces in and around South Sudan’s southern town of Yei have committed serious abuses against civilians in recent months, Human Rights Watch said on Nov 22. The abuses include killings, rapes, and arbitrary arrests by government forces and abductions by rebels. The abuses Human Rights Watch documented in Yei are just the latest example of attacks on civilians by both sides in the current conflict.

The Thai government should promptly and impartially investigate the alleged torture of an ethnic Malay Muslim suspected of involvement in insurgency, Human Rights Watch said on Nov 22. The government should also instruct the army to immediately withdraw its criminal complaints and end other forms of harassment against activists who have publicized allegations of torture by security officials in Thailand’s southern border provinces.

The Chinese government’s new policy of recalling passports restricts foreign travel for many residents of Xinjiang, Human Rights Watch said on Nov 21. The policy, applicable to residents of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region since at least October, gives police wide power to scrutinize residents’ proposed visits abroad.

Migrant workers onboard a Thai fishing vessel. While they make an enormous development contribution to both their countries of origin and destination, many migrant workers – particularly those with irregular status – suffer human and labour rights violations.

New satellite imagery of Burma’s Rakhine State shows 820 newly identified structures destroyed in five different ethnic Rohingya villages between November 10-18, 2016, Human Rights Watch said on Nov 25. The Burmese government should without further delay invite the United Nations to assist in an impartial investigation of the widespread destruction of villages.

Hundreds of men arrive at Hasansham camp for displaced persons after being screened by Iraqi Security Forces.

Ten years after signing a peace accord, successive Nepali governments have failed to deliver on its central human rights promises, Human Rights Watch said on Nov 18, 2016. The international community, and particularly the United Nations, should press the government to fulfill its pledges as victims wait in vain for information about missing family members and accountability for crimes committed during the war.

Human Rights Watch again calls on United States President-elect Donald Trump to repudiate the dangerous proposals he made and the divisive rhetoric he used during the presidential election campaign. Ten days after his electoral victory, Trump has tempered some of his rhetoric, but he has thus far failed to clearly and unequivocally retract any of his proposals that would either directly violate US law and universal human rights norms or harm millions of people.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/18/us-trump-should-repudiate-dangerous-...

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression David Kaye.