The US National Security Agency (NSA) has spied on the staff of human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, Edward Snowden told the Council of Europe today. If true, surveillance reform in the US is essential.
Eastern Ukraine continues to heat up as Ukraine’s security forces struggle to take back government buildings seized by pro-Russian protesters across several cities last weekend. Tensions came to a head in Kiev’s parliament as pro-Ukraine and separatist factions came to physical blows. Russian forces have amassed very close to the Ukraine border, and Russia has warned that Ukraine could devolve into civil war if its government uses force to regain control. The United States has again threatened further western sanctions against Russia.
Each year, France detains as many as 500 children who arrive in at the country’s transit zones – airports or seaports – without their parents or guardians. There, they are denied the protection and due process rights afforded other unaccompanied children on French territory.
A UK parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing a draft Modern Slavery Bill has called on the United Kingdom to restore the right for migrant domestic workers to change their employer – otherwise, these workers could be trapped in abusive situations.
Russian media recently reported that at least eight cancer patients in Moscow had committed suicide over the previous two weeks. Impasses to receiving needed pain medications played a role in several of these deaths.
