Human Rights | WPN World People News

Cluster munition survivors who lost their legs play sitting volleyball one evening with participants of the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The baseless conviction of the opposition leader Leopoldo López and three Venezuelan students for violent incidents during the country’s 2014 protests exposes the extreme deterioration of the rule of law in Venezuela, Human Rights Watch said on September 10. The trials involved egregious due process violations and failed to provide evidence linking the accused to a crime.

Tunisian police have used unlawful force to disperse apparently peaceful protests in at least three cities since September 1, 2015. The protests were organized against a proposed law to give corrupt businessmen and state officials from the Ben Ali era immunity from prosecution if they return the assets they plundered.

Mexico should immediately address the failures of its investigation into the enforced disappearance of 43 students in September 2014, and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said on September 6. The Attorney General’s Office should promptly investigate the claims of abuse and obstruction of justice made by an international group of experts that evaluated the government inquiry into the disappearances.

A UNHCR staff member distributes blankets to people waiting to cross the Greek-FYR Macedonian border. UNHCR staff have been at the border since the start of the current crisis, monitoring the situation and helping the vulnerable.

Declaring that Europe is facing “a moment of truth” with hundreds of thousands of people risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea, the head of the United Nations refugee agency on 4 September urged the European Union (EU) to admit up to 200,000 asylum-seekers fleeing conflict zones like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The European Union and its 28 member states should act immediately to address the human rights crisis resulting from years of mismanaging migration and asylum, Human Rights Watch said on September 4. With a humanitarian crisis on the Greek islands, a dysfunctional asylum system in Hungary, thousands of new arrivals in need of protection, and many deaths at EU borders, bold steps are needed at an EU summit on September 14, 2105.

Marietje Schaake

9N235 submunitions that failed to explode during a cluster munition attack collected and displayed in Starobesheve, photo taken on October 11, 2014.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Ra’ad Zeid Al Hussein addresses a seminar on the fight against impunity in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the capital Bangui on 2 September 2015.