Human Rights | WPN World People News

Almost 14,000 children whose schools were destroyed or heavily damaged in the two earthquakes are having classes for the first time in five weeks in temporary learning centres.

Iraqi authorities are preventing thousands of families fleeing the fighting in Ramadi from reaching safer parts of the country. The government of Iraq has primary responsibility for protecting internally displaced people and should allow those fleeing danger in Ramadi or elsewhere to enter safer areas.

Boys play on the streets of Aleppo, capital of the north-western Aleppo Governorate, Syria.

Burundian police have used excessive force in a crackdown on protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza’s election bid for a third term, Human Rights Watch said on May 29.

Public support for the European Union's humanitarian aid has gone up in spite of the economic crisis. Nine out of 10 citizens (90%) believe it is important for the EU to continue funding humanitarian aid, a rise of two percentage points since the previous survey in 2012. Almost as many, 85%, support humanitarian aid funding in spite of the economic crisis in Europe.

Children at the Mahama camp in Rwanda, where 26,300 refugees from Burundi are now living. UNICEF is extremely concerned that children continue to be exposed to violence in Burundi.

Thirty-seven countries on May 29, 2015, joined an international Safe Schools Declaration that commits them to protect education from attack. In situations of conflict, widespread attacks on schools and universities, their students and staff, as well as the use of school buildings by armed parties is denying education to many thousands of people – with devastating results for individuals and their communities, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) said.

Rohingya and other survivors of dangerous boat voyages from Burma and Bangladesh describe horrific treatment by unscrupulous smugglers and traffickers in Burma, and abuse and neglect aboard ships, Human Rights Watch said on May 27. A regional meeting scheduled on May 29, 2015, in Bangkok must find solutions to the so-called boat people exodus.

Gambian authorities have detained incommunicado, depriving them of all contact with the outside world, dozens of friends and relatives of people accused of involvement in a coup attempt since January 2015, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said on May 27. Those detained include women, elderly people, and a child, and many are believed to be in ill-health.

Downtown area of Benghazi, Libya where forces loyal to the Libyan Army are fighting Islamist militias, April 2015.