Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 3 July 2014

Women have not been spared any of the brutality of Syria's conflict, but are not merely passive victims. A new HRW report profiles 17 Syrian women who are now refugees in Turkey, all of whom experienced violations at the hands of both government and armed groups. One of them is Kinda, a activist and refugee who survived detention in Syria. The Congolese army and UN peacekeepers failed to stop a massacre in eastern Democratic  Republic of Congo in which at least 30 civilians were killed. Civilians in Mutarule were "left to be slaughtered" even though they made desperate calls for help to the army and UN troops when the attack began on June 6, 2014, Human Rights Watch said.   The ruling by the European Court of Human Rights this week to uphold France’s blanket ban on full-face veils undermines Muslim women’s rights.  “Women in France and elsewhere should be free to dress as they please,” said HRW.  "An asylum seeker's worst nightmare." That's how HRW summed up disturbing allegations that Australian authorities who intercepted two boats packed with Tamil asylum seekers simply handed those on board back to the Sri Lankan navy, after only brief telephone interviews. If the reports are confirmed, the Australian government may well have blood on its hands.