Crackdown on Rights Defenders in Vietnam: Daily Brief

Plus: Time for justice in Burma; Trump's call for death penalty irresponsible; Mali commits to investigating abuses; looting elites in South Sudan; sexual harrassment in Afghanistan; equality for women a distant dream; most journalists' killings unresolved.

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As world leaders meet in Vietnam next week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Vietnamese authorities are intensifying their crackdown on anyone with the courage to speak up for human rights and democracy.
Justice is desperately needed for the Rohingya population targeted by the Burmese military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing. Because of Burma’s failure to investigate these mass atrocities the United Nations Security Council should refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
US President Trump’s call for the death penalty to be used against Sayfullo Saipov, who is accused of killing eight people by driving a truck onto a cycling path in New York City, is irresponsible and shows a lack of respect for the judicial process, Human Rights Watch says.
Mali’s Defense Ministry has expressed support for investigating serious alleged abuses by its security forces during counterterrorism operations in central Mali, a significant step that should be accompanied by criminal investigations by the Justice Ministry.
While at least 50,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in nearly four years of fighting in South Sudan, the country’s ruling elite have stolen and squandered nearly a billion dollars of the country’s foreign reserves, an investigation by Simona Foltyn and the South African Mail & Guardian reveals.
A video of an Afghan government official appearing to sexually exploit a female employee has sent shockwaves through Afghanistan where sexual harassment is rampant but rarely discussed in public, the Guardian reports.
Women won’t have equality for another 100 years, data released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows. It will take more than twice that long even, before women earn as much as men, the figures suggest.

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