Human Rights | WPN World People News

Two children sit on chairs in the New Covenant day care center, a center set-up and led by parents in Orange Farm township, Johannesburg, to cater to children with disabilities who are not admitted in the township’s mainstream schools.

The government of Moldova should ensure that Tajik opposition activist Sobir Valiev is not extradited or otherwise returned to Tajikistan, where he faces possible torture or ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch said on August 17. Sobir Valiev, deputy head of the Congress of Constructive Forces of Tajikistan, a peaceful opposition group, was detained on August 11, 2015, at the request of the Tajik government by Moldovan migration police in the Chisinau airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul. Tajik authorities are pursuing Valiev’s extradition on extremism charges that appear politically motivated and in retaliation for his peaceful political opposition activity.

Fourteen international organisations have joined the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) in welcoming the release of its president Mazen Darwish and in calling for all charges against him and his colleagues to be dropped, as well as for the release of all other prisoners of conscience who remain detained by the Syrian authorities.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) should take concrete steps to improve respect for human rights among member states and strengthen regional human rights institutions, Human Rights Watch said on August 16. Heads of state of the SADC’s 15 members will meet on August 17 and 18, 2015, in Gaborone, Botswana, for their 35th summit.

Minawao refugee camp, northern Cameroon. It is the largest formal refugee camp in the region for Nigerian asylum-seekers.

High-level officials from Turkmenistan discussed the implementation of international standards on freedom of religion and belief during an OSCE-supported week-long study visit to the United States, which concluded in Washington D.C. on 14 August.

“Our UNICEF colleagues in the Central African Republic met with the young girl reportedly raped by a UN police officer. While respecting the integrity of the investigation into the incident, it is clear that this child has endured a most brutal ordeal.

The streets of Sirte were the most heavily damaged after a nine-month war in 2011.

People demonstrate in Bujumbura against a decision by Burundi’s ruling party to nominate President Pierre Nkurunziza to run for a third term (April 2015).

There is no simple, nor single, answer to the challenges posed by migration. And nor can any Member State effectively address migration alone. It is clear that we need this new, more European approach.