Human Rights | WPN World People News

The United States Senate Judiciary Committee should reject a proposed law that would jeopardize privacy and free expression rights without effectively protecting children from online sexual exploitation, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the committee’s leadership on June 01, 2020.

Six years before George Floyd was killed in police custody in the city of Minneapolis, protestors in New York City demonstrated against the police shooting of Michael Brown.

State and local authorities in Tulsa, Oklahoma should provide reparations for the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, when a white mob killed several hundred black people and destroyed a prosperous black neighborhood, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 29, 2020. They should promptly develop and carry out a comprehensive reparations plan, in close consultation with the local community, to address the harm caused by the massacre and its lasting impact.

Nepal’s Special Service Bill risks giving the national intelligence agency unlimited surveillance and search powers, Human Rights Watch said on May 29,2020. The proposed law, which permits communications interception without judicial oversight, should be revised to safeguard Nepalis’ vulnerable civil and political rights and their privacy.

At least 500 people, including children, returning migrant workers, and religious minorities, have been sentenced to between one month and one year in prison in Myanmar since late March 2020 for violating curfews, quarantines, or other movement control orders, Human Rights Watch said on May 28,2020. Myanmar authorities should stop jailing people for Covid-19-related infractions.

The Thai government’s extension of its state of emergency is an apparent pretext for violating basic rights, Human Rights Watch said on May 27, 2020. On May 26, 2020, the government of Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha extended the draconian Emergency Decree on Public Administration in Emergency Situation until June 30.

Governments are releasing from jails and prisons far too few people whose continued detention in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic is not justified, Human Rights Watch said on May 27, 2020, based on a global media survey. Available data indicates that the virus is spreading rapidly through jails and prisons, putting detainees, staff, and their families at unacceptable risk.

Thousands of children in the Philippines have suffered lasting physical, emotional, and economic harm from President Rodrigo Duterte’s abusive “war on drugs,” Human Rights Watch said in a report and accompanying video released on May 27, 2020. Governments at the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2020 should support an independent international investigation into the “drug war” killings in the Philippines, including violations against children.

Human Rights Watch has identified the geolocation of burned buildings in Let Kar village, Rakhine State. The yellow outline estimates the extent of the damage from fire, based on satellite imagery.

Increasing armed Islamist group attacks on teachers, students, and schools in Burkina Faso since 2017 have had a devastating impact on children’s access to education, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on May 26, 2020.