Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 1 June 2016
Ukraine & media freedom; Hamas plans more executions; Modi meets Obama; 158,184 refugees still wait for EU relocation; Outrage over remarks President Philippines; tyrants (e.g. in Azerbaijan) don’t like sunshine & activist released in Bahrain.
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Authorities in Ukraine should immediately drop a ban on 17 Russian journalists and protect media freedom, says Human Rights Watch.
The Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip should halt planned executions. Three men were put to death on the morning of May 31, 2016, as the first step in a declared plan to kill 13 convicted criminals. The executions came after a number of highly publicized murders.
When United States President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India meet next week, the messaging should be more than photo-ops or that they are on first-name terms. They should make a public pledge that power should be used to protect the human rights of populations at risk — not just strategic interests, says Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW's South Asia director.
Rodrigo Duterte, President-elect in The Philippines, has come under heavy criticism for stating that journalists were killed because they were corrupt and “you are not exempted from assassination if you are a son of a bitch." About 175 journalists have been killed in the Philippines since 1986, ranking it among the most dangerous places to work in the news business.
Member states of the European Union have been embarassingly slow with the relocation of 160,000 refugees from countries most affected by the refugee crisis, such as Greece and Italy. The decision to relocate these people was made in September last year...
For those who didn't know this yet: tyrants don't like sunshine. “The fight for human rights must be open and transparent,” says Khadija Ismayilova, an award-winning investigative journalist who was released from prison in Azerbaijan last week, after spending 537 days behind bars for journalism. “We should not talk about it behind closed doors.”
And good news from Bahrain, where prominent activist Zainab al-Khawaja has been released from prison.