China, Saudi Arabia and Russia should not get seats on UN Human Rights Council; abusive treatment of returning refugees in Venezuela; do LGBT+ asylum seekers have a future in the United States?; fresh calls to end Afghanistan’s ‘virginity exams’; Turkmen activist Dursoltan Taganova faces deportation from Turkey; prosecution of former MP casts doubt on Burundi's reform; and South Korea partially recognizes reproductive rights.

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China, Saudi Arabia and Russia should not get seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council because of their long history of massive rights violations. UN member states will participate in elections today for 15 seats on the 47-nation council in Geneva, for three-year terms beginning on January 1.

France and Uzbekistan are also hoping to get seats on the Human Rights Council.

The authorities in Venezuela are responsible for the abusive treatment of returning refugees, in a way which will also likely amplify transmission of Covid-19, new research shows. 

Do LGBT+ asylum seekers have a future in the United States?

Women and girls in Afghanistan are still targeted for abusive 'virginity tests', despite a 2017 Ministry of Public Health policy instructing government health workers not to perform these 'examinations'.

The Turkish government should halt plans to deport the Turkmen activist Dursoltan Taganova to Turkmenistan, where she will be at grave risk of arbitrary arrest and torture.

Hopes that a new president may reverse a repressive course in Burundi are fading fast. 

And there's some positive news from South Korea on reproductive rights.