Aleppo Agony; Ohio Abortion; Nigeria Repression: HRW Daily Brief
EU needs leadership on refugees; US halts some arms sales to Saudi; returning Afghan refugee kids face child marriage; new DR Congo arrests; Qatar claims reform of abusive 'kafala' system; & how will human rights fare under US oil chief Rex Tillerson?
Get the Daily Brief by email.
A new United Nations report documents a pattern of torture, forced labor, sexual violence, and arbitrary detention of migrants and asylum seekers in Libya. Libya’s coast guard intercepts thousands of migrants each year as they try to reach the European Union. But rather than returning them to detention centers where they are at risk of serious abuse, Libyan authorities should help ensure their safety and the EU should allow their passage.
From earlier today: Fighting has broken out again in eastern Aleppo today, dashing hopes that a last-ditch ceasefire deal could see civilians evacuated from the besieged Syrian city. Buses to evacuate residents and fighters have reportedly returned to their depots. Amid desperate pleas for protection from those still trapped there, the UN should urgently mandate a UN monitoring team to travel to areas now under government control to document crimes that have been committed and deter future abuses, HRW says.
A US Governor has just signed into law a bill restricting a woman's right to abortion in the state of Ohio. It's not the controversial "heartbeat" bill that would have made abortions illegal later than just six weeks into a pregnancy, but the bill John Kasich signed is still insideous.
European Union leaders should signal a change in course and affirm strong human rights principles in EU asylum policy and foreign relations, Human Rights Watch said today.
Nigerian authorities should end their violent repression of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a minority Shia group, and free its leader, HRW said today.
The US has said it will limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia amid concerns over civilian casualties in air strikes that the Saudi-led coalition is carrying out in Yemen. The moves comes just days after HRW research revealed that US-made bombs have been used in unlawful airstrikes in Yemen.