Racism’s Role in Attack on US Democracy: Daily Brief

United States President Joe Biden will lead sombre commemorations today, one year after the attack on the Capitol building in Washington DC and US democracy. Human Rights Watch has stressed the need for full accountability, for everybody involved, and we are emphasizing how racism was at the root of that event and remains embedded in this movement.

A verdict by a court in Koblenz, Germany, in a watershed case for Syria's torture survivors and international justice is expected on Thursday, January 13. The trial, involving charges of crimes against humanity against Anwar R. an alleged former Syrian intelligence officer, is the first anywhere in the world for state-sponsored torture in Syria. Anwar R. is the most senior alleged former Syrian government official to be put on trial for serious crimes in Syria. German prosecutors accuse him of overseeing the torture of detainees in his capacity as head of the investigations section at the General Intelligence Directorate’s al-Khatib detention facility in Damascus, also known as “Branch 251.”

Today, HRW published the multimedia feature, "Seeking Justice for Syria", and an extensive Q&A document about this groundbreaking trial. “This trial is a reminder that Germany will not shelter war criminals and that those responsible for atrocities will be held accountable,” says Balkees Jarrah, HRW's associate International Justice director.

Dozens of people have been killed during a police operation in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty, according to a police spokesperson. Media reports say over one thousand people have been injured, 400 of whom have been hospitalized. The United Nations has called for all parties to "exercise restraint, refrain from violence, and promote dialogue." President Kasym-Jomart Tokaev has declared a two-week state of emergency in Almaty, Nur-Sultan, and the western Mangystau region, where the protests started, including a night curfew and ban on mass gatherings. He has replaced his government with an interim administration.

New HRW research documents how the authorities in Ethiopia have arbitrarily detained, mistreated, and forcibly disappeared thousands of ethnic Tigrayans recently deported from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia should stop holding Tigrayans in abhorrent conditions and deporting them to Ethiopia, and instead help the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to provide them with international protection.

The Beijing Winter Olympics open in a month and the FIFA World Cup kicks off in November in Qatar. With the world’s two biggest sporting events being hosted by major human rights abusers, this year is forcing an overdue reckoning for powerful sports bodies that for years have sidelined their formal commitments to human rights.

And as we enter the third year of the pandemic, leaders of some of the richest countries in the world still refuse to do the right thing and make sure vaccines against Covid can be produced on the widest possible scale.