Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 24 June

In today's Brief: The European Union, in its talks with China, declined to take steps that would make the dialogues more meaningful in human rights terms. Celebrating 20,000 twitter follows with a T-shirt give away. More on Snowden's odd journey, Indonesia's detention and neglect of child migrants & asylum seekers, and Syria's regime subjecting female activists to detention, torture & sexual assault.
In the three months since Xi Jinping formally assumed China’s presidency, few if any significant steps towards better human rights protections have emerged...  HRW's  Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director, is sending his 20,000th twitter follower this old-school Human Rights Watch T-shirt. The back view: "Making the world unsafe for dictators since 1978."
It seems everyone is following the remarkable journey of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who recently drew global attention to US mass surveillance programs. After he left Hong Kong for Moscow, his final destination became the subject of much speculation. Reading through Human Rights Watch's research on the countries discussed at the weekend -- Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador -- none seem to be places anyone would consider models for freedom of expression or safe havens for whistleblowers.  But where is he? Pic of the Day -- Snowden's empty seat en route to Cuba.
We have also pointed out that the US should not use the Espionage Act, with its heavy penalties, to punish those who disclose classified information to the media for the purpose of exposing government wrongdoing and unethical policies.  Turning to those who travel half way around the world but don't get such levels of attention... HRW released a major new report today on Indonesia's detention and neglect of migrant and asylum-seeking children. Each year, hundreds of kids are detained in sordid conditions, without access to lawyers, and sometimes beaten. Others are left to fend for themselves, without any assistance with food or shelter. This interactive map highlights the movements and the individual stories... Read the story of just one... In Syria, women have detailed torture and abuse at the hands of the military and its allies in a set of new testimonies...