Hong Kong Kafka: Daily Brief

Hong Kong racing along its roadmap to repression; gangs kidnap and rape in Congo national park; Jordan police raid teachers’ syndicates and arrest leaders; government inaction putting lives at risk in Italy; EU defunds Polish homophobia; threat to workers' rights in Ukraine; how Kyrgyzstan let Azimjon Askarov die in prison; in Zimbabwe prisoners at grave risk of Covid-19; fighting voter suppression in the US; and some positive impact of the intersex human rights movement.
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The authorities in Hong Kong have today barred a dozen pro-democracy candidates from elections. They've also arrested four students, ages 16 to 21, in the first police operation in the territory under China's draconian new national security law, otherwise known as "the roadmap to repression."

Criminal gangs have kidnapped at least 170 people near the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo bover the past three years. Small groups armed with guns and machetes have beaten, tortured, and murdered hostages, raping women and girls, who make up more than half of them, while using threats to extort money from their families.

Police raided the Jordan Teachers Syndicate headquarters in Amman and 11 of its branches across the country, shuttered them, and arrested all 13 syndicate board members. 

In Iraq, Yezidi child survivors of Islamic State are facing an unprecedented health crisis, according to Amnesty International.

Government inaction has left women and girls facing avoidable obstacles to accessing legal abortion in Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic, putting their health and lives at risk.

The EU has declared a stop to some funds going to towns in Poland that have declared themselves "LGBT-free zones."

Ukraine’s parliament is considering draft amendments to the country’s trade union law that, if adopted, would impose serious and unjustified restrictions on workers’ rights to freedom of association. 

We're not going to forget Azimjon Askarov. Nor how Kyrgyzstan's authorities let him die in prison.

As Covid-19 cases rise in Zimbabwe, there are major risks to the country’s prisons and detention centers. 

With the expected resumption of the National Basketball Association on Thursday, following last weekend’s opening of the 2020 Women’s National Basketball Association season, many Black professional athletes returning to sports in the United States are using the moment to fight voter suppression.

And join us later today for this online event highlighting the positive impact of the intersex human rights movement...

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