Taken Without Trace - The World's "Disappeared": HRW Daily Brief
Taken without trace - the world's disappeared; thousands flee Burma violence; US axes climate change envoy amid Hurricane Harvey havoc; South Asia's devastating floods; press freedom "under attack" by President Trump; silence on Saudi's promise to end male guardianship; Syrians stuck near Jordan border flee Assad army; Sri Lanka justice.
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The Trump administration, with the support of Ivanka Trump, has said it will reverse Obama-era legislation designed to help prevent pay discrimination by measuring wages on the basis it will be a burden to employers. But these measures were put in place to protect women's rights, which gender-based wage gaps clearly violate. President Trump, and his special advisor Ivanka, have again turned their backs on women across the United States.
Jordan has used an inquiry into the legality of an online magazine as an excuse to target the country's already marginalized LGBT community. Noxious statements by government officials have done little more than stoke moral panic. Jordan's government should instead stand firm on upholding rights for everyone in the country.
A Russian YouTuber recently noted that internet users in Russia today, “have one foot in jail.” As the government continues to use "anti-extremist" legislation to crack down on online critics, free expression has few remaining outlets in the country.
From earlier today: The fate of scores of people who've been forcibly disappeared comes into focus today, on the international day to remember those taken without trace. For victims' families, the torture of not knowing what's become of their loved ones - or even if they are still alive - is like an open wound which never heals.
More than 18,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled violence in Burma's Rakhine state for Bangladesh in the past week alone, aid workers say. Hundreds more are said to be trapped in a no-man's-land between the two borders. The news of mass displacement comes as new data from HRW reveals "widespread burning" and destruction in Rakhine state.
As Storm Harvey moves from Houston to the US state of Louisiana, there is dismay over the Trump administration's decision to abolish the role of climate change envoy.