When US President Barack Obama
speaks tomorrow on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he will be
surveying a landscape very different from that of 1963.
A half-century after Martin Luther King's historic "
I Have a Dream" speech, the US has made real progress, but still has a
long way to go to insure human rights for all. From voting rights and immigration reform to racial disparities in sentencing and "
stop and frisk", the fight continues.
In Libya, Tripoli’s checkpoints, which dot the main crossroads of the capital
and are typically run by militias as well as official security forces,
recently
became even more unnerving with the appearance of heavily armed
men with vehicle-mounted antiaircraft weapons.
Libya needs to build a professional police force that can establish and maintain
law and order – not enhance the power of unaccountable militias.
In Thailand, a
spate of killings of ethnic Malay Muslims in the southern provinces demand a prompt investigation.
On August 21, unidentified gunmen shot and killed
Islamic a religious teacher. On August 14, gunmen firing assault rifles killed a prominent Malay Muslim leader. Government action is needed immediately to stem the spiral of reprisal attacks.
In Tanzania, Human Rights Watch will launch a major report tomorrow showing the price thousands of children pay while working in hazardous gold mines. Watch the video on our
YouTube Channel.
From this morning:
UN inspectors have resumed their investigation into last week's chemical attack near Damascus, Syria, after yesterday's work was interrupted by sniper fire. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there could be "no impunity" for the use of chemical weapons. US Secretary of State John Kerry called the attack a "moral obscenity" and said that US President Barack Obama was consulting with allies before deciding on next moves. Australia, France, Turkey, the UK and others have also made strong statements, all apparently backing some kind of forceful response.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, government troops, supported by a UN intervention brigade, have come under renewed fire from rebel M23 forces, who are backed by Rwanda, outside the eastern Congolese city of Goma. Recent fighting, which appears to be escalating, is reported to have cost dozens of lives and left hundreds injured since last week.
In China, an online video apparently showing a public execution has provoked debate. The video was posted to the Sina Web portal yesterday evening. China is the world leader in executions: the exact number remains a state secret, but experts estimate it to be 5,000 to
8,000 a year.
