Ignoring Beijing’s Threats of Retaliation: Daily Brief

An unprecedented cross-regional coalition has endorsed a UN declaration that strongly condemns the Chinese government’s widespread human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. It is the first time all five regional groups at the UN joined in calling for the abuses to stop - proof that countries are ignoring Beijing’s threats of retaliation against those that publicly raise concerns about alleged crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. UN member states should now move quickly to establish a commission of inquiry to determine the scope of abuses and outline possible paths to accountability. 

Taliban officials in several provinces across Afghanistan have forcibly evicted residents who belong to minority Shia communities, as well as people associated with the former government, from their homes and farms to reward their own supporters. The evictions, which are being carried out with threats of force and without any legal process, come at a time of record internal displacement in Afghanistan and are particularly cruel just before winter sets in.

The Syrian government has executed 24 people and sentenced 11 others to life in prison with hard labor for lighting wildfires that burned across the country’s northwest last year, the New York Times reports. The people convicted were accused not of arson but of terrorism. The harshness of the sentences shocked even those who have tracked the brutality of the country’s 10-year civil war.  

A military tribunal in Cameroon has sentenced four people to death for an attack on a school in Kumba, the South-West region, which killed 7 children and injured at least 13 others. The trial was marred by serious procedural irregularities such as violating the rights of the accused to challenge the evidence against them and to present evidence in their own defense. To truly deliver justice for the victims, the authorities ought to bring a credible case before civilian courts and hold those responsible to account according to international fair trial standards. 

Police in Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, continue to crack down on pro-democracy protesters with teargas and lethal force. The country has been rocked by protests since May this year, when students and teachers marched to vent their anger at the alleged police killing of a law student at the University of Swaziland.  South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security Cooperation, has now dispatched special envoys to meet with King Mswati III.  

In a small step toward justice, a United States federal judge ruled this week that the US had no legal basis for detaining an Afghan held at Guantanamo Bay, because he was not a member of Al-Qaeda or an associated force. Nevertheless, Haroon Gul, who has been held for 14 years without charge, will likely remain at Guantanamo due to the arduous certification process required by the US defense secretary which makes resettling him in another country unlikely any time soon.

And lastly, registrations for virtual participation in the 4th International Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration in Abuja, Nigeria, next week are now open.