Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 10 June 2015

Thousands of children work in Ghana’s artisanal and small-scale gold mines in hazardous conditions, despite Ghanaian and international law prohibiting the practice, according to a new report. Just before dawn on the morning of Jan. 3, Boko Haram fighters opened fire on a Nigerian army base near Mile 4, a small Nigerian village a few kilometers west of the town of Baga. This may have been the most deadly single massacre in Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency. From earlier today: Amnesty International has been barred from traveling to Azerbaijan ahead of the European Games in Baku. The same has happened to a campaigner from the British rights group Platform London. A Human Rights Watch researcher was also turned back at the airport in March. Azerbaijan has accelerated its crackdown against journalists and rights defenders in the run-up to the Olympics-linked event. Pakistan has executed a man who was 15 when sentenced. The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine has soared to over one million due to the ongoing conflict in the country’s eastern regions, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today. In the US, there's a push for new legislation to further prohibit torture, but many are asking why existing laws haven't been applied to bring accountability in earlier cases of torture by the US. Global Witness says documents show that UK oil company SOCO International bankrolled a Congolese Army officer alleged to have led a violent campaign against those protesting SOCO’s oil exploration in Virunga National Park. Human Rights Watch has documented several cases of arbitrary arrests by government authorities, and threats and attacks by unidentified assailants on park rangers and activists who have criticized oil exploration in the park. The park’s central sector chief was warned in September 2013 that he would be killed if he continued to oppose SOCO’s activities. Days later, Congolese military and intelligence officers beat, arrested, and detained him. A UN commission on Eritrea found that “systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations persist” and that it is “not law that rules Eritreans but fear.” Rights group are calling on African governments meeting at the 25th summit of the African Union to build on important steps during 2015 to ensure justice for grave international crimes.