Compassion Needed to Fight Hate in Germany: Daily Brief
Compassion, respect and hope are needed after killings in Germany; how nativist populism is going mainstream in Europe; progress on rights and justice is key to Sudan's transition; journalists face prison in Burundi; more evidence of China’s horrific abuses in Xinjiang; Australia should not cozy up to Myanmar’s army; searching for answers about people disappeared by ISIS; and death in custody of Rwandan singer and activist Kizito Mihigo must be investigated.
Hope, respect and compassion is needed in response to despicable acts of extremist violence like in Hanau, Germany. This is "a crucial defense against the fear and division that those who commit these attacks want to create,” says Wenzel Michalski, Germany director at Human Rights Watch.
Human rights are at stake in a Europe, where nativist populism has been going mainstream, with corrosive ideas feeding a discourse of hate and discrimination.
Sudan’s transitional government should accelerate their promises in ensuring genuine reforms, and make sure that those responsible for atrocity crimes are brought to justice, such as Sudan’s former president Omar al-Bashir.
United Nations experts have strongly criticized the two and a half year jail sentences against four Burundian journalists for doing their job.
The regime in China needs to know that its repression in Xinjiang will no longer escape scrutiny.
The Australian government should immediately end military ties with Myanmar until there is genuine progress on rights protection and accountability in the country.
"What happened to our loved ones?" is a question that remains unanswered in Syria, where civilians still don't know what happened to the thousands of people who disappeared under 'Islamic State' rule.
And the government of Rwanda should ensure a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation into the death in police custody of singer and activist Kizito Mihigo.