Refugees with disabilities overlooked; Safe School Conference aims to end attacks on schools; Beijing installs mainland loyalist in Hong Kong; Kyrgyzstan clamps down on critical media; Sudan's ICC fugitive Omar al-Bashir expected in Jordan; South African struggle veteran & Mandela ally dies.

Get the Daily Brief by email.
Residents in the beleaguered Iraqi city of Mosul were instructed not to leave their homes ahead of airstrikes last week that are reported to have killed up to 200 civilians, Amnesty International says in a report released today. “The shocking spike in civilian casualties from both US-led coalition airstrikes and ground fighting between the Iraqi military and so-called Islamic State (IS) fighters in recent months has raised serious questions about the lawfulness of these attacks," the organization says. Meanwhile, NewYork Times reporters on the ground confirm concerns about the increase in civilian deaths.
The European Parliament will be host an event today to remind the European Union of its obligations to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities. Although at a heightened risk of violence, discrimination and exclusion, refugees with disabilities are largely being overlooked in the humanitarian response and have difficulties getting access to basic services.
The latest of Hungary’s abusive laws designed to make it difficult to seek asylum come into force today. The new law allows for the blanket detention of asylum seekers, including children. The European Court of Human Rights had ruled the law violates the human rights of asylum seekers. So far, however, the EU has been reluctant to hold Hungary to account.
Islamist militant violence has disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of children in Pakistan, a Human Rights Watch report found. Girls are particularly affected. It is high time Pakistan and others endorse the Safe School Declaration at this week's Second International Conference on Safe Schools in Buenos Aires. Botswana has just pledged to do so.
After two decades of mainland rule, Beijing has failed to fulfill its promise of universal suffrage and installed a hand-picked mainland loyalist as chief executive for Hong Kong. Young Hong Kong activists promptly announced “a large civil disobedience protest” for July 1, when the highly unpopular Carrie Lam will officially take office.
Ahead of presidential elections scheduled for November, Kyrgyzstan authorities are clamping down on the country’s media and threatening two critical media outlets with closure. The outlets face charges of discrediting the "honor and dignity of the president" and spreading "false information." Local courts ordered the freezing of their bank accounts.
Region / Country