Burma Arms Embargo Needed: Daily Brief

Three children were killed in Yemen over the weekend, after a neighborhood was hit by indiscriminate shelling. As Yemenis were again mourning their children, the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva was debating whether to create an international inquiry into all side’s abuses in Yemen’s armed conflict. Thousands of civilians have been killed in indiscriminate attacks in Yemen. If the international community is serious about stopping these atrocities, it should get serious now. A life-threatening crisis is emanating from North Korea that few are watching: China’s apparently expanding dragnet to force back fleeing North Koreans. Yesterday, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the death of 58-year-old Atulkumar Babubhai Patel in immigration detention in Georgia. As President Trump's cruel immigration policies ramp up, this could become sadly more common. The UN Security Council and concerned countries should impose targeted sanctions and an arms embargo on the army in Burma to end its ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims, says Human Rights Watch. Since August 25, 2017, after attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, Burmese military forces have carried out mass arson, killing, and looting, destroying hundreds of villages and forcing nearly half a million Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. “Greece’s Education Ministry has crucial work ahead as it attempts to improve the country’s dismal record of denying access to school to children seeking asylum on the islands,” says HRW's Simon Rau in new research released today. “Children who have fled hellish conditions in search of safety in Europe need the support and hope a classroom provides and cannot wait until much of the school year has passed.” The regime in Egypt has shut down HRW's site after the launch of a report earlier this month, documenting systematic torture in prisons, a probable crime against humanity. And pro-government media outlets went into propaganda overdrive against HRW. Check out our video response.