Human Rights | WPN World People News

Polling station in Bangui for the second round of elections in Central African Republic, February 2016.

Congolese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release two activists who were arrested one year ago during a pro-democracy youth workshop in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fred Bauma and Yves Makwambala face trumped-up charges in an apparently politically motivated drive to silence dissent. On March 16, 2016, the Supreme Court of Justice is expected to issue a decision on whether to grant the two provisional release.

The European Union’s proposed deal with Turkey, announced on March 8, 2016, represents “a disturbing disregard for international law covering the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants,” Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth said in a letter to EU heads of state. Roth urged European leaders to reject the new elements of the EU’s Joint Action Plan with Turkey at the European Council on March 17-18.

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The failure of the United States government to appoint lawyers to represent migrant children facing deportation violates their basic rights under international law, Human Rights Watch said in an amicus (“friend-of-the-court”) brief filed in a federal appeals court on March 14. The Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute and the law firm Covington and Burling LLP served as counsel on the brief. Students in Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic provided research and drafting assistance for the brief.

Separatist insurgents took over and damaged a hospital in southern Thailand on March 13, 2016, in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said on the day after. The attack on the hospital occurred during a resurgence of separatist attacks on civilians since the beginning of March.

President Dilma Rousseff should veto a counterterrorism bill whose overbroad and vague language could be used to undermine freedom of association and expression in Brazil, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the president on March 14.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed.

Marching in New York City for gender equality.

Security Council members vote to adopt a resolution endorsing special measures presented by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers.