UN Human Rights Council should launch investigation into Gaza killings; EU diplomats stand with HRW over row with Israel government; inside China's indoctrination camps; US & Afghan forces not properly investigating civilian casualties; how France's president can fight xenophobia; why Special Criminal Court is vital for Central African Republic; Russia's visa U-turn; Burundi should tread carefully over latest killings; & students brand Nicaraguan president a "murderer".

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In the last 6 weeks, Israeli forces have fatally shot more than 100 Palestinians inside Gaza, while thousands more have been wounded, many with life-changing injuries. Israeli soldiers - acting on orders from senior security officials - fired live rounds at demonstrators even outside of life-threatening situations. When the UN Human Rights Council holds its special session on Gaza this Friday, it should launch an independent investigation into the killings and maimings at the Gaza border.

 

A legal battle is underway between HRW and the Israeli government, which recently revoked the work permit of HRW's Israel & Palestine director, Omar Shakir, and gave him just 14 days to leave the country. 

 

A disturbing new article has revealed what happens inside China's indoctrination camps in Xinjiang province, where Muslims are forced to disavow their Islamic beliefs and instead "give thanks" to the ruling Communist party. 

The US and Afghan governments are not adequately investigating possible unlawful airstrikes in Afghanistan, which may contribute to rising civilian casualties, HRW has warned. 

If French President Emmanuel Macron really wants to push back against xenophobic populists, as he claims to, he needs to revamp his own legislative agenda.

A recent uptick violence in the Central African Republic makes the country’s new Special Criminal Court especially important as a means to offer justice to victims of brutal crimes committed during the country’s conflicts.

Russia's decision to reverse its denial of a visa to a well-known investigative journalist to attend the upcoming football World Cup shows FIFA has leverage over Moscow - and should use it. 

The deadliest killing of civilians in a single incident in recent years in Burundi - when 26 people were murdered in the village of Ruhagarika last Friday - comes at a tense time for the country. So it's all the more important that the killers, when they are found, should be arrested and not executed. 

And finally, the Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and students have traded angry accusations in a televised debate. Mr Ortega said criminals and gang members had infiltrated opposition protest rallies - which began when the president approved cuts to pension and social security payments - but student activists branded him "a murderer" to his face.

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