Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 8 October 2014

Last weekend, the former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier died before courts could bring him to justice for human rights crimes. But people surrounding Duvalier have also been charged with crimes like torture, disappearances, and political killings during his rule. Other countries should do more to support Haiti’s victims and the country’s investigation into these crimes.
Tomorrow, international donors, the World Bank, and Haiti’s government will meet to talk about financial commitments for clean water and improved sanitation in Haiti. When they discuss combating water-borne diseases like cholera in Haiti, these groups should also address the need for safe, clean latrines and water for drinking and hand-washing at schools.
The recent discovery of mass graves in Mexico, close to where 43 student protesters were “disappeared” – possibility with the involvement of local police – is yet another reminder of Mexico’s failure to adequately address the large number of disappearances and abductions throughout the country in recent years.
The battle between Islamic State and Kurdish fighters over the Kurdish border town of Kobane has intensified, and it seems that two days of US air strikes have failed to fracture the militants’ advance.
Roughly 10 percent of the people who died in the fighting in Eastern Ukraine were killed after last month’s cease fire between Russia-backed separatists and Ukraine’s government. In the past month,at least 331 people were killed, a new United Nations report says, bringing the total dead from the fighting to at least 3,660. The report added that most civilians were killed by indiscriminate shelling by both sides.
The blog of a 12-year-old Norwegian “child bride” that went viral in Norway is actually a provocative stunt designed by nonprofit Plan International to bring to light the plight of child brides around the world. Child marriage has far-reaching implications for girls, including a greater likelihood of physical,emotional, and mental damage, as well as lost opportunities for education and personal development.