Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 4 February 2016

A bill that would finally give women in Sierra Leone access to safe and legal abortions is currently waiting for President Ernest Bai Koroma's signature. The country's current law dates from 1861 and criminalizes abortion except in only come life-threatening circumstances. New research shows that United Nations peacekeepers raped or sexually exploited at least 8 girls and women in the war-torn Central African Republic (CAR). Several of those interviewed, desperate from the conflict's fallout, said they had sex with peacekeepers in exchange for food or money. This is not the first time allegations of sexual assault have been leveled at UN peacekeepers. Japan took an historic step this week by joining the Minamata Convention on Mercury, now it should act on it. The Convention aims to protect people and the environment from the harms of mercury, which remains a serious health threat globally. Tunisia's parliament has made a landmark decision to make changes to detainee rights, providing suspects with pre-trial legal protections that do not exist under current law. A United Nations panel has concluded that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is being arbitrarily detained in London, in violation of international law. Four Libyan men charged in the United Arab Emirates have little chance of receiving a fair trial given the amount of due process violations already committed by authorities in their case, including forcible disappearance.