France Declares "Mission Accomplished" in Calais; Lebanon's New Law to Help End Torture: Daily Brief

The authorities in France have declared “mission accomplished” in Calais. But then you look at the details... Lebanon’s parliament has taken a positive step to improve the human rights situation and end the use of torture in the country. A new law established a National Human Rights Institute, which will include a committee to investigate the use of torture and ill treatment. Burundi has taken a major step backward by officially withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, Human Rights Watch says, calling on other African ICC members to distance themselves from Burundi’s decision and affirm their support for justice for victims of the gravest crimes. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, activists urged African leaders to press President Joseph Kabila to step down at the end of his mandate in December or shoulder some of the blame if the country descends into chaos. Trying to stem such dissent, eight more activists have been arrested in Congo... With hate crimes rising in the wake of the referendum on Brexit, Poles in the UK are forced to reconsider their options... In Burma, the suffering of the Rohingya Muslim community intensifies, with now dozens of rapes reported in the northern Rakhine State at the hands of state security forces, while humanitarian aid to the area has been blocked. This morning, two unknown men attacked the chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the country's largest organization for the protection of human rights in Bulgaria. And finally, if you like a good mystery, try to figure out what's happened to the plan to have Afghan women at the peace talks...