Human Rights | WPN World People News

French authorities should bring to justice those responsible for the horrific attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015, Human Rights Watch said on January 8, 2015. The authorities should guard against backlash against French Muslims and ensure that their broader response protects human rights.

President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive action on immigration protects millions of families in the US but leaves major rights concerns unaddressed, Human Rights Watch said on January 8. Obama and the Congress should act to end harsh treatment at the border, unnecessary detention, and unfair criminal penalties that tear families apart.

A Tunisian blogger has been imprisoned after the Tunis military court sentenced him to a three-year term for “defaming the army” and “insulting military high command” through Facebook posts.

Birthday celebrations planned on January 8 for North Korea’s dynastic supreme leader Kim Jong-Un contrast sharply with severe human rights violations throughout the country, Human Rights Watch said on January 6, 2015. During the three years of his rule, Kim Jong-Un has escalated surveillance and control on borders to prevent North Koreans from fleeing and to stop outside information entering the country. Kim has continued a policy of systematic interrogation and torture of North Koreans caught trying to flee.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany should press Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk to ensure that Ukrainian forces take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians. Merkel and Yatseniuk are scheduled to meet in Berlin on January 8, 2015.

Authorities in Sri Lanka should ensure that voters have safe and secure access to the polls to vote in presidential elections on January 8, 2015, and that state media is not misused in favor of the incumbent, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. Local monitoring groups have reported numerous acts of election-related violence and intimidation during the month-long campaign that closed on January 5.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the the number of Cubans picked up at sea trying to reach the United States has surged since President Barack Obama announced plans to restore diplomatic relations with Havana.

Congolese authorities should intensify efforts to arrest and bring to justice a rebel commander whose troops have committed vicious killings, mass rapes, mutilations, and child abductions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

US President Barack Obama should press President Enrique Peña Nieto to address Mexico’s failure to investigate and prosecute egregious abuses by Mexican security forces, Human Rights Watch said Monday in a letter to Obama.

November 2014, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: Afeel Khan and his children wait to be registered at the Jazolai camp for people displaced by conflict in north-west Pakistan.