Forced Labor in Thailand's Fishing Industry: Daily Brief

It's been one year since President Trump reinstated and dramatically expanded the "Global Gag Rule," a ban on using US foreign aid toward abortion-related activities or messaging. The ban does serious harm to women around the world who could benefit greatly from information on reproductive health. And one year on, examples of these negative impacts on health services can already be seen. Memorial, one of Russia’s leading human rights groups, is under attack in Chechnya. Last night, someone set fire to the car of one of Memorial’s drivers. To make sure there was no misunderstanding, someone sent threatening text messages to Memorial’s mobile phone. Earlier this month, Memorial’s office in Ingushetia was all but destroyed by suspected arson. And on January 9, the director of Memorial’s office in Grozny, Oyub Titiev, was arrested on fabricated drug charges. He remains in jail. Unfortunately, the siege on Memorial is just the latest case of Chechen authorities attempting to silence critics. From earlier today: Forced labor and other rights abuses are widespread in Thailand’s fishing fleets despite government commitments to comprehensive reforms. Migrant fishers from neighboring countries in Southeast Asia are often trafficked into fishing work, prevented from changing employers, not paid on time, and paid below the minimum wage. Bangladesh’s decision on Monday to delay the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Burma should be followed by suspending the bilateral plan, which threatens the refugees’ security and well-being. Last August, in response to an open letter from Human Rights Watch, Greece’s migration ministry pledged that by the end of 2017, all unaccompanied children would be placed in special shelters or safe zones. Yet, as of late December, 54 unaccompanied children were detained in so-called “protective custody” in police station cells or in immigrant detention centers. The attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul was just the latest in a long string of incidents targeting civilians in Afghanistan. Those who ordered or carried out this attack are responsible for war crimes.