No European Trade Deal Until Brazil Protects the Amazon: Daily Brief
No European trade deal until Brazil protects the Amazon; keeping schools safe from the battlefield; unrest and killings in Ethiopia; impunity for domestic violence in Kyrgyzstan; critic books disappearing from Hong Kong; another critical voice arrested in China; and attack on media freedom in Russia.
The European Union-Mercosur (South American trade bloc) trade agreement should not be considered for ratification until Brazil shows it is ready to uphold its commitments to protect the Amazon rainforest.
Schools can, and should, be places of study and safety for children, even during war.
In Ethiopia, more than 90 people have been killed in protests following the death of ethnic Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa.
Impunity for domestic violence is still the norm in Kyrgyzstan.
Days after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong, books written by the city's democracy activists have started disappearing from libraries.
And there's also appaling news from mainland China. Today, Beijing police have detained Xu Zhangrun, law professor and one of China’s prominent critics of the Communist Party’s expanding control.
And in Russia, a court has sentenced journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva on bogus terrorism charges. Yet another dangerous precedent, with a journalist found guilty of a terrorism offence for normal journalistic work.