• Russian missile attack hits busy shopping mall in central Ukraine;
  • Indian authorities should immediately release prominent human rights activist;
  • Human Rights Watch video series gives voice to Sudan’s resistance movement;
  • Calls for investigation of deaths of migrants at Melilla-Morocco border;
  • Greek police use foreigners to forcibly return asylum seekers to Turkey;
  • Warsaw court ruling gives hope for end of pushbacks at Polish-Belarus border.
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Policy makers around the world have condemned Russia’s deadly strike on a busy shopping center in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, on Monday night. In a joint statement, the leaders of the G7, gathered for their annual summit in Germany, called the attack "abominable" and noted that indiscriminate strikes against civilians constitute a “war crime”. Those responsible will be held to account, the statement says. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the attack was "deplorable". More than 1000 people were at the mall when cruise missiles hit. So far, 18 people are known to have been killed, according to Ukraine’s emergency services. Many more have been injured, and dozens are still missing. The search for survivors continues. Russia has stepped up missile strikes on targets across Ukraine in recent days. On Sunday, missiles slammed into an apartment block and landed close to a kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, killing one person and wounding several more. On Monday, a strike in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv killed five people and wounded 22, according to the local authorities. Previous Russian targets have included a theater, a maternity hospital and people waiting in line for bread. The United Nations Security Council will meet today at Ukraine's request to discuss Russia's latest strikes, including the one on the Kremenchuk mall. 

Authorities in India should immediately release prominent human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, drop all charges against her, and stop their relentless attacks against her. Setalvad was detained on June 25, in a move that clearly smacks of a reprisal for pursuing justice for victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots and for attempting to hold those who were in power accountable. Setalvad is well known for her work in supporting the victims of the riots, which killed more than 1,000 people, and for seeking the prosecution of senior officials. The Gujarat authorities have been hounding her for nearly two decades, filing a slew of false charges, many of which remain pending, manipulating the criminal justice system as a threat. Her arrest, which is part of escalating attacks on civil society and human rights activists in India meant to send a chilling message to all who dare to seek accountability, has prompted condemnation from opposition political parties, media associations, and human rights groups.  

Ever since the military coup in Sudan in October last year resistance committees – grassroots protest groups – have continued to take to the streets to press the military to hand over power and for civilian rule. In return, they’ve faced the military’s organized repression, including the use of lethal force, and widespread unlawful detentions. To express our solidarity with Sudanese from all walks of life bearing the brunt of this ongoing repression and to encourage decision makers and people across the globe to take some time to listen to the hopes and calls of Sudan’s tenacious street protesters, Human Rights Watch is rolling out a series of videos, “Voices from Sudan,” in which five Sudanese who are part of the struggle for a fairer future describe their very different stories, hopes, and fears.

At least 23 African men died at the Melilla-Morocco border last June 24, as a group of about 2,000 migrants tried to cross the border into Spain by climbing the high chain-link fences surrounding Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves in north Africa. While Moroccan authorities claim some of the men were armed and violent, and that people died in a stampede, there are indications of excessive use of force by Moroccan security forces, including beatings. Video footage taken by the Moroccan Human Rights Association in Morocco and analyzed by the New York Times shows a Moroccan security agent beating obviously injured men prone on the ground and another agent throwing a limp body onto a pile of people. The UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW) deplored the incidents and urged the two states to carry out immediate and thorough investigations and to hold those responsible to account. To avoid the repeat of such tragedies, the committee also asked Morocco, Spain and the other EU States to expand the availability of pathways for safe and orderly migration, and to take measures to guarantee and respect the right to seek and receive asylum.

A new Lighthouse Report investigation confirms what Human Rights Watch documented earlier this year: that Greek police are using foreigners to forcibly return asylum seekers to Turkey. A months-long joint investigation with The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and ARD Report München has for the first time identified six of these third country nationals used by Greek security forces to push asylum seekers back at the Greece-Turkey land border, interviewed them and located the police stations where they were held. Some of the men were forcibly recruited themselves after crossing the border but others were lured there by smugglers, the Lighthouse investigation found. In return for their “work” they received papers allowing them to stay in Greece for 25 days. The men said they worked alongside regular police units to strip, rob and assault refugees and migrants who crossed the Evros river into Greece — they then acted as boatmen to ferry them back to the Turkish side of the river against their will. Between operations the men, the report says, are held in at least three different police stations in the heavily militarised Evros region. The Greek government routinely denies involvement in pushbacks, labeling such claims “fake news” or “Turkish propaganda” and cracking down against those reporting on such incidents.

A Warsaw court has renewed hope that Poland’s practice of summary push backs of asylum seekers attempting to cross the Polish-Belarus border might end by ruling that a November expulsion order which forced a Syrian refugee back to Belarus after being hospitalized in Poland was unlawful. The man had faced serious human rights abuses in Belarus, including beatings, rape, and restriction on his movement. The court noted that border guards denied the refugee his express wish to apply for asylum in Poland and ruled that this violates the right to seek asylum as guaranteed by international and EU law. Although not final, the judgment should prompt the border guard authority to halt unlawful summary returns to Belarus and ensure that people who wish to apply for asylum in Poland can do so. 

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