Alarm Bells over New Interpol Boss: Daily Brief

The global police agency Interpol has once again elected a top official of an abusive state institution as its president. With Major General Ahmed Naser al-Raisi from the United Arab Emirates at the helm, Interpol "risks jeopardizing its credibility as a rights-respecting international law enforcement agency," says Human Rights Watch. Al-Raisi has held the high-level position of inspector general at the UAE Interior Ministry since April 2015, making him responsible, among other things, for investigating complaints against police and security forces, including allegations of torture. The UAE state security apparatus has a long record of human rights abuses.

As dozens of people drowned on Wednesday as they tried to cross the Channel between France and the United Kingdom, politicians seem to be sticking to their failed migration policies. The International Organisation for Migration said that the incident, that claimed 27 lives, was the biggest single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014.

Tech-enabled control of a persecuted population. Abusive facial recognition. Severe restrictions on movement. Branding peaceful dissent as “terrorism”. For many readers, the scenario brings to mind China’s mass human rights violations against millions of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim people. Yet this description would also apply to Israel’s treatment of millions of Palestinians living under occupation.

As Qatar prepares to host the 2022 FIFA football World Cup, the government has assured prospective visitors it will welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) tourists and that fans will be free to fly the rainbow flag at the games. But is openly expressing their sexuality really an option for LGBT+ Qataris? 

Parties in Germany have announced a deal to form a new coalition government composed of the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats. Will the new leadership break with the country's failed, deadly policy of blocking wider Covid vaccine production globally? The question goes beyond German policy, too: for more than a year, Berlin has been the leading force in EU policymaking on this issue. As chancellor, Angela Merkel, has stood in the way of the “TRIPS waiver” proposal at the World Trade Organization that would lift some intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines and other health products. This has made it harder for the world’s poor to swiftly get vaccines, treatments, and testing kits. We hope that the new chancellor, expected to be Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, will reverse course.

HRW research has found that globally hundreds of thousands of people with real or perceived disabilities have been shackled – chained, tied, or locked in confined spaces – at least once in their lives. Men, women, and children, some as young as 10, have been shackled for weeks, months, and even years, in more than 60 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. The latest example of these horrible practices comes from Finland. See here what you can do to help end shackling everywhere.

Finally, there's excellent news from Tanzania, as the government has announced it will lift its discriminatory ban on attending school for pregnant girls and teenage mothers.