Venezuela in Pain: HRW Daily Brief

As Venezuela slips further into chaos with President Maduro's most recent consolidation of power, the fear gripping many in the nation is simply the lack of basic medicines available. The dearth of morphine is the most troubling, both for those patients, forced to live out their final days in pain, and their loved ones. The dangerous methods people are resorting to range from travelling into neighboring Colombia, to buying morphine on the black market, where they have no guarantee what they're getting. Students, from elementary school to university in the Philippines are now going to be subjected to random drug tests, which is a damaging outgrowth from the Duterte administration’s abusive “war on drugs.” The approval by the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education places students in grave danger, as law enforcement agencies now can carry out any drug-related operation within the school premises. Server Karametov, a 76-year old Crimean Tatar, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for “disobeying police orders” while holding a peaceful, single-person picket. He was protesting the ongoing trial of Akhtem Chiygoz, a Crimean Tatar leader prosecuted on bogus charges related to criticism of Russia's occupation. Since 2014, Russia and the de facto Crimean authorities have attempted to silence those who oppose or criticize the authorities’ actions and policies through violence, intimidation or exile. The threat of net neutrality being dissolved still looms in the US, even with a staggering 18 million comments presented by lawmakers to the FCC. While the same democratic lawmakers have pushed for the commenting period to be extended, what you can do now is call your Congressional representatives Due to a more aggressive 'turnaround' policy by the Italian government, the number of migrants arriving on the country's shores in June and July was 11,459, half of what it was for the same period last summer. New policies placing pressure on NGOs also place migrants at increased risk. The 'turnaround' policy, funded by the European Union, might breach Italy's international obligations. Squeeze one end of the balloon, and the air simply moves to the other... Spain is now seeing the number of migrants arriving so far in 2017 surpassing the total of 13,000 in 2016. Doctors without Borders warns that Spain is ill-equipped to deal with the influx of “desperate new arrivals,” with reception centers already overcrowded. What could be a simple vote on marriage equality in the Australian parliament is now a 'postal plebiscite.' Opinions are divided about the desirability of a postal vote and the effect which rhetoric from both sides will have on vulnerable members of society. Constitutional challenges before Australia's High Court loom.