Cameroon's Soldiers Kill, Disappear Citizens: Daily Brief

Cameroonian soldiers summarily killed at least 10 people and carried out a series of other abuses between April 24 and June 12, during counter-insurgency operations in the North-West region. The troops also burned 12 homes, destroyed, and looted health facilities, arbitrarily detained at least 26 people, and are presumed to have forcibly disappeared up to 17 others. The violations were committed during military operations against armed separatist groups seeking independence for the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon, North-West and South-West.

Guinea's government dissolved the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC), a prominent coalition of civil society groups and opposition parties, on politically motivated grounds. The coalition was given no opportunity to effectively challenge the decision, which was based on vague and sweeping allegations, before an independent judicial body with the authority to quash the order. The coalition said the government’s decision is “illegal, unfounded and arbitrary” and called for nationwide protests.

The Taliban have broken multiple pledges to respect human rights and women’s rights since taking over Afghanistan a year ago. After capturing Kabul on August 15, 2021, Taliban authorities have imposed severe restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights, suppressed the media, and arbitrarily detained, tortured, and summarily executed critics and perceived opponents, among other abuses. The economy has collapsed, largely because governments have cut foreign assistance and restricted international economic transactions. More than 90 percent of Afghans have been food insecure for almost a year, causing millions of children to suffer from acute malnutrition and threatening serious long-term health problems.

Police in the Maldives said they are investigating dozens of individuals engaging in same-sex relations. They have sought to frame charges against three men arrested on July 28, including a police officer and the brother of a prominent politician, Mohamed Nasheed, who is a former president and current speaker of parliament. The inquiries and arrests were apparently based on leaked videos and screen grabs that allegedly depicted the men having sex with a Bangladeshi man, who had been arrested on July 12. If convicted, the men face up to eight years in prison and 100 lashes.

In the United States, women of color encounter racism when it comes to their sexual and reproductive health, a situation exacerbated by gender and class discrimination. In a submission to the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and partners laid out three key areas in which racial discrimination thrives in the US and perpetuates health inequities, with particularly devastating impacts on Black women: restricted access to abortion; shackling of pregnant prisoners during labor, delivery, and post-partum recovery; and cervical cancer.