Children Beaten in Lebanon's Schools: Daily Brief
Adults are beating children in Lebanon’s schools; Trump meets Hungary's 'Viktator'; Bosnia & Herzegovina joins Safe Schools Declaration; brutality in Cameroon needs United Nations spotlight; news update from the war in Syria; families arbitrarily stripped of citizenship in Qatar; fear returns to Sri Lanka; and European elections matter in United Kingdom despite Brexit shadow.
"Corporal punishment was banned decades ago in Lebanon’s schools, but children still have to choose between suffering abuse or missing out on an education. Adults are beating children in Lebanon’s schools, and that urgently needs to change.”
Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, and author of new Lebanon report.
Today the White House is hosting Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, who is often referred to as the “Viktator” during anti-government protests. The chances of Trump bringing up the human rights crisis in Hungary seem slim.
Very good news from Bosnia & Herzegovina, that has become the 87th country to join the Safe Schools Declaration, to protect education from attack in times of conflict.
The United Nations Security Council’s decision to hold an informal meeting on Cameroon today gives momentum to international efforts to address the human rights crisis in the country’s Anglophone regions. Some 1,800 people have been killed since late 2016, and half a million people had to flee their homes so far.
There's news from the war in Syria, with a focus the country's deadly detention centers:
- 128,000 people have never emerged.
- Unspeakable torture is routine.
- The horrible conditions yield "extermination."
- Documents show senior officials know about the atrocities.
- Arrests are now INCREASING.
Qatar’s decision to arbitrarily strip families from the Ghufran clan of their citizenship has left some members still stateless 20 years later and deprived of key human rights.
This month marks 10 years since the end of Sri Lanka’s long and brutal civil war. But instead of celebrating peace and seeking justice for crimes committed during that conflict, Sri Lanka faces another terrible challenge, and is again under a state of emergency.
And next week’s European Parliament elections come at an awkward time for the United Kingdom.