Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 23 May 2016

A new report by Amnesty International highlights the continued use of internationally banned cluster bombs in Yemen. Saudi Arabia purchased the indiscriminate weapons from the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries. Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in civilian areas left behind “minefields” of cluster bombs and put the civilian population at great risk, months after the attacks. A series of bombings in Syria have killed scores of civilians. The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibilities for the attacks and appear to have deliberately targeted civilian areas, a war crime. All parties in the war in Syria should do more to ensure that civilians - regardless of who they support - are protected from these heinous attacks. The World Humanitarian Summit opened today in Istanbul, and among the many important issues on the agenda is the protection of people with disabilities. Often forgotten in conflict and crisis, governments should ensure safety and aid for this vulnerable group. The United Nations Committee Against Torture, has condemned the use of forced anal examinations in Tunisia as an attempt to find “proof” against people accused of homosexual conduct. These abusive exams serve no useful purpose and often amount to torture. Tunisia should stand by its progress in human rights and ban these exams immediately. Demonstrators planned peaceful protests across Kazakhstan over the weekend. However, police detained hundreds of people associated with them, including activists and journalists, sometimes forcibly. The government's latest actions to stifle dissenting views come after around of arrests last week connected to the same issue of unpopular land reform proposals. From earlier today: Tibetan areas are "at the forefront" of China's country-wide crackdown on peaceful dissent, with detentions, prosecutions and convictions in the region widespread, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today.