UN Warns of "Ethnic Cleansing" in Burma: HRW Daily Brief

Next week, the Australian government will let people “have their say” on same-sex marriage. Ballots will be mailed to residences across Australia, asking voters: “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?” But this worthless public opinion poll does little to actually address equality, and actually does more to harm it. Meanwhile, hate crimes against LGBT people in the United Kingdom have surged by nearly 80 per cent in recent years. Although great strides have been made in equality in the UK, it's alarming that holding hands in public can still be dangerous. President Trump is hosting his Malaysian counterpart, Prime Minister Najib Razak, in Washington this week. As Malaysia cracks down on rights at home, Razak is just the latest authoritarian to have been invited to the White House. Azerbaijan has finally released Mehmen Aliyev, the director of the country’s last remaining independent media outlet. Aliyev was jailed last month on charges related to his journalism work. Now the government should drop these bogus charges for good. Venezuela's worsening human rights and humanitarian crisis demands an international response. In the country today, there are no independent institutions left to act as a check on executive power. Along with regional pressure, major institutional bodies like the European Union and its member states have a leading role to fill in addressing the crisis. From earlier today: The military operations against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Burma have hallmarks of ‘ethnic cleansing', says Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the human rights chief of the United Nations. He urges the Burmese government to end "its current cruel military operation". HRW has also warned that the violence there suggests ethnic cleansing, and is asking the UN and donor countries to press Burma to urgently allow humanitarian aid for people at risk.