US To Cut UN Funding?; Burma Victims Deserve Justice: Daily Brief
Germany's opportunity to step up on human rights; Hungary's unlawful detention of refugees; China intensifies crackdown on activists; Iraq's "hellhole" prisons; Jordan's new criminal justice measures; Sudan's futile attempt to polish its image; a Camaroonian lawyer's dedication to LGBT rights
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Schools should be safe places for children, even during wartime. And there's something every country can do to ensure that education and safety are not casualties of conflict. To date, 59 countries have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration. It's time for others to join them. Who will be next?
Fear of terrorism and scapegoating have contributed to an increasingly hostile atmosphere of Islamophobia in the United States. But despite dangerous rhetoric conflating Islam and Muslims with violent extremism, facts and data present a starkly different picture.
Last month, Lebanon announced that it would begin waiving hefty residency fees for some Syrian refugees. It was a step forward for people desperate for a secure legal status in the country. Unfortunately, the policy excludes many of them.
In the hope of getting more business opportunities and investment Azerbaijan’s autocratic President Aliyev is on an official visit to France this week. Azerbaijan’s repression of critics and jailing of opponents need to be front and center on the agenda.
From earlier today: US State Department staffers, Foreign Policy reports, have been instructed to seek cuts in excess of 50 percent in U.S. funding for U.N. programs. That would signal “an unprecedented retreat by President Donald Trump’s administration from international operations that keep the peace, provide vaccines for children, monitor rogue nuclear weapons programs, and promote peace talks from Syria to Yemen," according to Foreign Policy.
The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Burma has called for a high-level investigation into rights abuses following a bloody crackdown against Burma’s ethnic Rohingya Muslims. Her call was supported by a number of human rights organizations. The Human Rights Council, which will have to table its resolution by Thursday, seems divided on the issue, however.