Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 21 September 2015

Police in Macedonia have verbally and physically abused migrants and asylum seekers at the border and in detention, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Macedonia is not the only country in Europe where migrants and refugees from war-torn countries like Syria face abuse. Hungary has adopted a new border regime that denies access to asylum, and exposes vulnerable people to violence and prosecution. And it's not just Syrians who are fleeing war and conflict. People from Afghanistan make up a large proportion of those trying to reach safety too. United States officials have expressed concern at the use of cluster munitions by Syria, South Sudan, Ukraine and Sudan. But what about Saudi Arabia's use of these weapons in Yemen? Government-backed militias in Iraq carried out widespread destruction of homes and shops around the city of Tikrit in March and April 2015, in violation of the laws of war. This week Xi Jinping, the president of China, will visit the US. During his two years in power, Xi has reintroduced hardline rhetoric and retrograde tactics, like reviving the practice of public confessions and disappearing critics. China also remains the only government in the world that's imprisoned a Nobel Peace Prize winner. The heads of Apple, Google, Microsoft and other major technology firms should tell President Xi Jinping and Internet czar Lu Wei to reverse their expansion of surveillance, censorship, and data collection when they meet in Seattle later this week, Human Rights Watch says. The New York Times has exposed a child sex abuse scandal in Afghanistan. US soldiers were apparently told to ignore the sexual abuse of boys by their Afghan allies.