US Needs to Switch Gears on Yemen War: Daily Brief

  • Why is Biden stalling on his promise to end support for coalition in Yemen war?
  • Child protection law needed to safeguard kids’ rights in Nigeria’s Kano state;
  • Hungary’s onslaught on LGBT rights harms children;
  • Detained father of Egyptian human rights defender in poor health:
  • India should focus on protecting all women’s rights, not regulating hijab wearing;
  • EU court rules to tie funding to rule of law!
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U.S. President Biden initially indicated an intention to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Early in the conflict, the U.S. began providing weapons, logistics and intelligence support to the Saudi- and UAE-led coalition. In addition to potentially violating U.S. law, continuing arms sales to the coalition puts the U.S. at risk of complicity in possible war crimes.

Children in Kano state, Nigeria, are at risk of many child rights abuses, including widespread child marriage and sexual violence, including at school. The state lacks important safeguards to protect children who are married off as young as 10 years old. Human rights organizations led a peaceful protest demanding that a long-delayed Child Protection Bill finally becomes law in Kano state.

Seeking to justify its anti-LGBT rhetoric as “child protection” Hungary’s ruling party plans to hold a referendum on its anti-LGBT law on April 3. In recent years, lawmakers have ended legal gender recognition for transgender and intersex people and amended Hungary’s Constitution to define marriage as a heterosexual union prohibiting same-sex adoption.

Salah Soltan, 63, an official in the government of former President Mohamed Morsy the father of human rights defender Mohamed Soltan, appeared to be in poor health during a recent prison visit. Soltan who was subjected to enforced disappearance, has been in detention since 2013. His detention appears to be reprisal for Mohamed’s advocacy in the US.

The recent protests in India’s Karnataka state over the wearing of the hijab, or headscarf, in educational institutions have exposed communal rifts in India that are increasingly fuelled by divisive political campaigns. These rifts are so strong, they have even led to temporary school closures in the state over the hijab issue.

Amnesty International reports that, in the ongoing Ethiopia crisis, fighters affiliated with the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) deliberately killed dozens of people, gang-raped dozens of women and girls – some as young as 14 – and looted private and public property in Amhara region in late August.

And finally, great news from Europe! The court of Justice in EU has ruled allowing EU institutions to tie funding to EU states to respect for rule of law. This ruling sends a clear message that EU funds should be used in ways that uphold EU values.