The World's Biggest Executioners; California's Broken Bail System: Daily Brief
EU rebukes Hungary’s repressive government; photographer documenting Philippine President Duterte’s “war on drugs” wins Pulitzer; selling migrants rife in Libya; risk of mass death from starvation growing in Horn of Africa; clamp down on protests in DRC; Zambia should reaffirm ICC membership.
Get the Daily Brief by email.
Russia has called for an investigation into last week's chemical weapons attack in Syria that killed scores and injured hundreds. It's a good move. There is still a lot we don't know about the attack - not least of all, who carried it out. An investigation should ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, and Russia's support in ensuring that is welcome.
How do you spin a brutal 'war on drugs' that has left over 7,000 people dead since June? Sounds like a difficult task, but some senior officials in the Philippines are doing just that, all the while ignoring the appalling human toll of President Duterte's assault on suspected drug dealers and users.
Hungary's crackdown on civil society has a new target: higher education. The Central European University (CEU) represents everything the current Hungarian government sees as a threat, and despite mass protests, Hungary's president has now signed a law threatening the institution's very existence.
From earlier today: With thousands of prisoners sentenced and put to death each year, China continues to be the world’s biggest executioner, a new investigation by Amnesty International found. Vietnam has secretly been the world’s third biggest executioner over the last three years, executing 429 people between August 2013 and June 2016. Only China and Iran executed more people over that period.
California’s bail system penalizes the poor and leads to the jailing of thousands of innocent people, a new Human Rights Watch report published today found. “The state’s broken system gives many people the miserable choice of being locked up, going into massive debt to pay bail, or pleading guilty without a chance to fight their case.”
The Hungarian government's efforts to shut down a university in Budapest has drawn a sharp rebuke from the EU's commissioner for justice. Thiousands demonstrated in Budapest on the weekend in support of Central European University, which the increasingly intolerant government of Hungary has targeted along with free media and civil society.
Region / Country