Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 22 May 2015

One year after seizing power, Thailand’s military junta has used dictatorial power to systematically repress human rights throughout the country. The date for elections continues to slide, with no certainty when they will happen. Backsliding on respect for basic rights and democratic reform seems to have no end in sight. The indefinite detention of asylum-seeking mothers and their children in the United States takes a severe psychological toll. The Obama administration has just two more days to produce a plan on family detention - call today and demand a stop to the detention of mothers and their kids. Voters in the Republic of Ireland are taking part in a referendum on legalising same-sex marriage today. More than 3.2 million people are being asked whether they want to amend the country's constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. The situation in Northern Nigeria is one of the most serious humanitarian crises in Africa according to the head of the Red Cross Peter Maurer. He calls for more aid for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The World Education Forum, one of the most important and decisive global meetings on education, is taking place in South Korea this week. While some countries will claim that they have reached ‘universal’ enrollment in primary education, many children are still being left behind by governments that have lacked the political will to adopt specific, binding legal or policy frameworks to guarantee the right to education for the majority--and the minority--of children The world is facing a massive refugee crisis. Yet there's something missing from the international response: compassion.