Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 8 May 2015

An estimated 1,750 people have lost their lives during risky trips across the Mediterranean so far in 2015. An unknown number are children. The harsh realities in Afghanistan, Eritrea and Syria help explain why some children take such risks to reach the safety of Europe. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council plans to put forth a draft resolution that would authorize Europe to use military force to stop migrant smuggling boats that set off from Libya. Rights group are calling on the United States to make concrete commitments to address serious human rights problems during a United Nations review of its human rights record, in Geneva on Monday. Human Rights Watch is working with other organizations trying to end family detention of migrants in the United States. You can help before Mothers Day (Sunday May 10). After publicly beheading five migrants on Monday, Saudi Arabia has now already executed 80 people in 2015, almost as much as all of 2014. Prominent human rights activist Itai Dzamara was abducted in Zimbabwe by five armed men on March 9, 2015. Authorities in Zimbabwe have denied involvement in his abduction, but family members told Human Rights Watch that state security agents had repeatedly threatened Dzamara prior to his abduction, warning him that something would happen if he did not halt his activism. Omar Khadr was a baby-faced 15-year-old when he arrived at Guantanamo Bay in 2002. He had been severely wounded in a firefight in Afghanistan in which a US army medic was killed and other US soldiers injured. The incident began a 13-year ordeal marked by repeated interrogations, torture, alleged threats of rape, and a plea bargain with a fundamentally flawed military commission. After being imprisoned nearly half his life, Khadr, now a bearded 28-year old, was finally released on bail Thursday by a court in Canada. Uzbekistan's atrocious human rights record is discussed at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, almost 10 years after the Andijan massacre.