Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 12 December 2014

Supporters of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, physically attacked rights activists at a press conference in Moscow, Russia. Two men threw eggs at those trying to draw attention to the shocking use of collective punishment against insurgents’ family members in Chechnya, including burning of their houses by local law enforcement. The authorities have cleared the main camp of the long-running "umbrella movement" protests in Hong Kong. Beijing seems keen for the world to believe that the struggle for democracy is over, with state media declaring demonstrators "defeated." Some refugees who fled brutal violence in the Central African Republic can see their homeland across a river border, yet still must ask: Will they ever be able to return? Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has secured his party's endorsement to be its presidential candidate in 2018, when he will be 94. He also had the party’s constitution amended to allow him to make all senior party appointments. It reflects a consolidation of Mugabe’s grip on the party and government, and dashes hopes for lasting rights reforms. Jordanian authorities have broken reform promises by arresting and charging activists for speech-related offenses under vague terrorism legislation. A year ago today, a rebellion by the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo ended when the group’s leaders and the Congolese government, as well as the guarantors of the peace process, signed a series of peace commitments, known as the “Nairobi Declarations,” following the M23’s military defeat. Victims of M23's abuses are still waiting for justice. Reactions to this week’s release of the US Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture continue around the world. The report's evidence is strong enough to formally investigate and likely prosecute CIA officers, contractors employed by the CIA, and senior US government officials for a range of crimes, from torture and kidnapping to rape.