Syrian Government Responsible for Chemical Attack: Daily Brief

A UN-appointed inquiry has found that the Syrian government was responsible for an April 2017 chemical attack that killed nearly 100 people. Now the Security Council and Chemical Weapons Convention member countries should take strong measures to ensure those responsible face justice. Violence has surged in recent moths in the Central African Republic, once again putting civilians at risk. The UN Security Council should give the peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA, the additional resources it needs to protect civilians from attacks, including sexual abuse. The Qatari government’s newly announced labor reforms are a step in the right direction, but their implementation will be the decisive factor. If carried out, these measures would be pathbreaking for Gulf countries where migrants make up most of the labor force. A new report by Amnesty International documents the inhumane conditions in which prisoners in Russia are transported to corrective colonies. Both men and women are forced to travel in packed, windowless trains, with no ventilation, and limited access to water. While North Korea reluctantly opens up on human rights, it is critical the international community continue to press on accountability for the atrocities still unfolding in the country, even if justice seems like a long way off. Uzbekistan is going through a reform shake-up under president Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and there have been some important human rights changes, even though severe patterns of abuse still exist. But a former political prisoner is hopeful that real change might happen in the country. Burundi’s official withdrawal from the ICC became effective on Thursday, in the latest example of the government’s efforts to avoid any kind of accountability for those responsible for grave human rights violations . A hunger strike by dozens of detainees in Yemen’s provisional capital of Aden has highlighted the mistreatment of prisoners throughout the country. Detainees held in an informal detention facility in a military camp controlled by UAE-backed forces have vowed to forego food until granted their “legal and humanitarian rights.”