Human Rights | WPN World People News

“The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Australia is a signatory, underscores that the best interests of a child must be a primary consideration in all decisions and actions affecting that child.

Chinese authorities should immediately release five booksellers who the government has forcibly disappeared. The five are affiliated with the Hong Kong-based Mighty Current Media, known for publishing books critical of senior Chinese leaders.

In view of next week's European Council, the Commission is reporting on the implementation of the priority actions on 10 February under the European Agenda for Migration and highlighting key areas where immediate action is needed to restore control.

The Indonesian parliament should reject proposed amendments to its counterterror law that are unnecessarily broad and vague and would unjustifiably restrict freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch said on February 9. Parliament may consider amendments as early as this month that include stripping Indonesian citizens, suspected of traveling abroad to fight for Islamic State, of their citizenship as well as criminalizing any “insult” to the Republic of Indonesia.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced on 9 February it has started distributing urgently needed food to people displaced by the recent surge in violence in Syria’s northern Aleppo.

The Syrian-Russian joint military operation in Syria has included the use of internationally banned cluster munitions in at least 14 attacks across five governorates since January 26, 2016. The attacks killed at least 37 civilians, including six women and nine children, and wounded dozens.

South Sudan faces unprecedented levels of food insecurity, with 2.8 million people, nearly 25 per cent of the population, in urgent need of aid, at least 40,000 of them on the brink of catastrophe, at a time when the war-torn country is traditionally most food secure, United Nations agencies warned on 8 February.

Some 4,000 refugees and migrants are currently reported to be living in the Calais "jungle" and almost 2,500 in Grande-Synthe, on the edges of Dunkerque, often in dire circumstances, aggravated by the winter conditions. UNHCR is specifically concerned about the living conditions of children, in particular unaccompanied and separated children, and would welcome the establishment of additional emergency reception places such as the children's centre (Maison du jeune réfugié) in St Omer (run by France terre d'asile), or other structures responding to the protection needs of children, including those under 15. Furthermore, options for simplifying the child protection procedures, particularly for those children with relatives in another EU Member State, should be urgently explored.

Annette Groth (Germany, UEL), who is preparing a report on a stronger European response to the Syrian refugees crisis for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), is to visit Jordan and Lebanon from 8 to 13 February 2016.

At least 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation in 30 countries, according to a new statistical report published ahead of the United Nations’ International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation.