Human Rights | WPN World People News

The Indonesian government should dismiss charges against two French journalists in the easternmost province of Papua and end restrictions on foreign media there, Human Rights Watch said. Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat face trial on October 20, 2014, on charges of “abusive use of entry visas,” after being detained while producing a documentary for Franco-German Arte TV.

Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court sentenced a prominent Shia cleric to death on October 15, 2014. Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was convicted on a host of vague charges, based largely on his peaceful criticism of Saudi officials. Al-Nimr has a wide following in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, where most of the country’s Shia minority live.

The US government’s rapid-fire screening of unauthorized migrants at the border is sending Central Americans back to the risk of serious harm, Human Rights Watch said in a report released.

A counterterrorism bill before the Australian parliament would introduce overly broad new criminal offenses that undermine rights to freedom of expression and movement, Human Rights Watch said in a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security. The proposed Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill prohibits travel to “declared zones,” “subverting society,” and advocating terrorism, and permits the extended use of control orders and preventive detention.

Hearing (from left): Genoveva Tisheva and Claudia Menne

President Salva Kiir should veto a bill giving South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) sweeping powers, a group of national and international human rights organizations said. The bill would allow the security service virtually unfettered authority to arrest and detain suspects, monitor communications, conduct searches, and seize property.

A young boy carries away a box of food from a distribution centre in Afgoye, Somalia.

Egyptian authorities should release more than 110 university students arrested since the start of the school year on October 11, 2014. The arrests were apparently aimed at preventing a revival of campus protests that have erupted repeatedly since the overthrow of the former president, Mohamed Morsy, in July 2013. The arrests and subsequent activities appear to be solely directed at the students’ peaceful exercise of the right to free assembly.

Afghanistan’s new government should take urgent steps to combat sexual harassment of women in education, employment, and public life, Human Rights Watch said. There are no laws in Afghanistan that specifically prohibit sexual harassment or protect victims.

On 11 October, Education International (EI) and its affiliates will celebrate the 3rd International Day of the Girl Child. This year’s theme is Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence.