Members of Syria's civil defense force, the White Helmets, have been helped to flee to Jordan as war nears endgame; Ugandan villagers hold sit-in to protest violence and home torchings; UN sends alleged war criminals to become peacekeepers; Iraq's National Security Service detains prisoners despite no mandate; new migrant crackdown in Hungary; human rights cost of a 'no-deal' Brexit; UK abandons opposition to death penalty for alleged ISIS killers; and India's hollow words on women's rights... 

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Israel says it has carried out an evacuation of members of Syria's White Helmets civil defense group from a war zone in south-western Syria. More than 400 volunteers and family members were taken to Jordan via the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, apparently at the urging of the governments of the UK, the US, and several other Western nations. 

Local leaders from the northern Uganda village of Apaa have camped outside the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights alleging that since late 2017 Ugandan soldiers have “burned over 800 houses, caused three deaths, and perpetrated countless severe beatings of Apaa residents.” The villagers are demanding an end to the violence as well as compensation. 

The United Nations has been sending alleged war criminals to act as peacekeepers in conflict zones, a confidential new report claims. The 41-page document, seen by The Observer newspaper, claims a cohort of senior Sri Lankan commanders who have been deployed to UN operations were involved in alleged abuses during the final phase of war with Tamil rebels in 2009.

A former detainee who was held in a facility east of the Iraqi city of Mosul has described "horrendous" conditions inside the makeshift prison. Officials from Iraq's National Security Service initially told HRW the agency has "no authority to hold prisoners", but changed their line once HRW got access to see the prisoners for itself. 

Hungary has toughened its anti-migrant stance with a ‘propaganda’ tax aimed at certain non-profit groups. 

The prospects of the UK leaving the European Union without an agreement on future relations – a so-called “no-deal Brexit” – seem more real now than ever. And the consequences for human rights could be serious.

Staying with the UK, reports suggest that the government has secretly abandoned its blanket opposition to the death penalty to allow two notorious ISIS members of the so-called "Beatles" group to be sent to the US. The UK's Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, allegedly told Jeff Sessions, the US Attorney General, that Britain will demand no “assurances” that the pair will not be executed in America.

And finally in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government claims it’s improved the lives of women. But the statistics on political participation, health and violence against women and girls tell a very different story. 

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