Human Rights | WPN World People News

Protestors in New York City demonstrate in the wake of the verdict in the case of the police shooting of Missouri teenager Michael Brown (24 November 2014).

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović, expressed on 8 July concern about a proposed law on the German Foreign Intelligence Agency (BND, Bundesnachrichtendienst), which was debated in the Bundestag, Germany’s Federal Parliament, on 8 July.

Burundian intelligence services have tortured and ill-treated scores of suspected government opponents at their headquarters and in secret locations, Human Rights Watch said on Jul 7. Police and members of the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, have also committed serious abuses, often in collaboration with the intelligence services.

Rio de Janeiro state promised improvements in public security in preparation for the Olympics, but it has not done enough to address extrajudicial executions by police, a central obstacle to more effective law enforcement, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Jul 7.

One year after the Chinese government began a nationwide sweep of more than 300 human rights lawyers, legal assistants, and rights activists on July 9, 2015, 24 still remain in detention, Human Rights Watch said on 7 July. The government has blocked lawyers and families from meeting with 18 of these 24 detainees, putting them at high risk of torture and other ill-treatment.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should publicly press China’s leaders to end their crackdown on activists and independent groups, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the secretary-general, on 5 July. Ban will visit China from July 6 to 10, 2016.

Activists from across Africa clarify misconceptions about the International Criminal Court (ICC) and highlight the need for African governments to support the court in a video released on Jul 6 by 21 African and international nongovernmental organizations.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries should endorse concrete measures to improve the protection of civilians in the conflict in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to government leaders on Jul 5. The NATO Summit in Warsaw, Poland on July 8 and 9, 2016, will discuss military and other support for the Afghan government as the Taliban and Afghan government forces claim an ever-increasing number of civilian lives.

Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Mike Smith, Chairperson, Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea, speaks to the press after presenting his report to the 28th Session at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.