India Legalises Gay Sex: Daily Brief
India legalises gay sex; Qatar ends exit visas for foreign workers but concerns persist; kids still separated from their migrant parents in US detention scandal; student activists in Iran being denied an education; British Conservatives need to promote democracy in Europe; blow to women's rights in Tunisia over inheritance rights; armed anti-migrant militias emerge in eastern Europe; & outrage continues over jailing of Myanmar journalists who exposed massacre.
In a historic decision, India's Supreme Court has today ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence. The decision strikes down language in Section 377 of India’s Penal Code, a relic of British colonial rule, that punishes “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with 10 years to life in prison. The court has now ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a fundamental violation of rights.
A new bill in Qatar now allows foreign workers the right to leave the country without an exit visa, but it excludes several key groups of workers and falls short of Qatar’s reform pledges. Qatar, which is hosting the 2022 Football World Cup, has come under increased scrutiny of its treatment of foreign workers since winning the bid.
Hundreds of children remain detained in the United States and separated from their parents more than five weeks after a court-ordered deadline to reunify them, HRW has said, as it released a devastating video about the effects of family separation.
Student activists in Iran are being denied an education, with potential graduate students barred from studying despite getting the grades they need.
British Conservative members of the European Parliament don't have an easy time right now, given the Brexit vote for the UK to leave Europe means their jobs will soon become redundant. But for as long as they still sit in Europe, British MEPs have a responsibility to uphold democracy.
The official rejection by Ennahda, one of Tunisia’s main political parties, of a bid to establish full equality between men and women in inheritance is a blow to women’s rights in the country.
Czech and Slovenian authorities have voiced alarm over the emergence of armed anti-migrant militias in the two central European countries.
And finally, Myanmar - which this week jailed two reporters for helping to expose a massacre of Rohingya Muslims - still seems in denial about the extent of political damage this will cause.