Forced TV Confession in Belarus: Daily Brief
A clearly forced confession from journalist Roman Protasevich on Belarus state TV; China activists fight for accountability in Hong Kong and the UK; Libya's government decree threatens rights of assembly; Killing in the Philippines highlights the need for police cameras; one year since a Thai activist’s "disappearance" in Cambodia; and New York governor's opportunity to end child marriage.
Not even two weeks after his Ryanair plane was forced to land in Belarus, detained journalist Roman Protasevich appeared on state television on Thursday. The opposition, human rights groups, and Protasevich's family said that it was clearly a forced confession, the result of "abuse, torture, and threats".
After Hong Kong’s vigil for the anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre was banned, police arrested a prominent democracy activist for allegedly promoting an unauthorized assembly. But, as Yaqui Wang writes, "suppressing the truth has only fueled demands for justice and accountability". On the other side of the world, progress is made in the fight for accountability of Beijing’s human rights abuses, as today marks the beginning of Uyghur Tribunal hearings, an independent people's tribunal based in the UK, investigating the plight of Uyghurs in China.
As Libya heads towards elections in December, the government has passed a much-criticized decree that prevents nongovernmental organizations from carrying out activities independently, therefore restricting freedom of association of civic groups.
In the Philippines, a woman was allegedly killed by a drunken, off-duty police officer, underscoring once again the need for police to wear body cameras. While cameras alone won’t stop police abuses, they bring a measure of transparency during police operations.
One year after Thai activist Wanchalearm Satsaksit was abducted in broad daylight outside his home in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, no serious investigation has been undertaken by Thai or Cambodian authorities to find him.
After the New York State Assembly voted unanimously to end all marriages of those under 18 in New York State, it's now up to Governor Cuomo's to sign the bill and make New York the fifth US state to end child marriage.