Category Archives: Human rights

Palestinian prisoners describe systemic abuse in Israel’s jails

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Guardian interviews back up report by rights group B’Tselem, which says jails should now be labelled ‘torture camps’

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel’s jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that rights group B’Tselem says it must be considered a policy of “institutionalised abuse”.

Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads for women.

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UN calls for foreign security forces to be deployed faster to quash Haiti gang wars

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Armed gangs control much of Caribbean country’s capital with reports of 40 rape victims a day in areas, UN reports

The UN has called for the deployment of international security forces in Haiti to be accelerated after a report that at least 1,379 people were killed or wounded in gang warfare and 428 people kidnapped in the country between April and June this year.

“Service providers report receiving an average of 40 rape victims a day in some areas of the capital,” warns the new report from the UN’s office in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

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Guinea court finds former dictator guilty in stadium massacre trial

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Moussa Dadis Camara convicted of crimes against humanity after ordering 2009 crackdown on unarmed protesters

A court in Guinea has found the former dictator Moussa Dadis Camara and seven other military commanders guilty of crimes against humanity in a long-awaited verdict relating to a notorious massacre and mass rape that took place in 2009.

In a ruling in the capital, Conakry, the initial charges, including murder, rape and kidnapping, were recategorised as crimes against humanity. Afterward, Camara and his former police chief Moussa Tiegboro Camara were given 20-year prison sentences for ordering a crackdown on thousands of unarmed protesters, who were aggrieved that he had decided to stand in the presidential election the following year.

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Somalia arrests another journalist as press clampdown intensifies

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Detention of reporters for covering sensitive news is having a ‘chilling’ effect on free media in Somalia, say rights groups

The arrest of a journalist for reporting on drug use in the Somali military is the latest incident in an apparent clampdown on critical reporting in the country, which is having a “chilling” effect on Somalia’s media, rights campaigners said.

AliNur Salaad was detained last week and accused of “immorality, false reporting and insulting the armed forces”, after publishing a now-deleted video suggesting that soldiers were vulnerable to attacks by al-Shabaab militants because of widespread use of the traditional narcotic khat.

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IDF charges reservist with aggravated abuse of Palestinian prisoners

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Indictment comes as nine other soldiers appear in Israeli military court over allegations of sexual abuse of detainee

Israel’s military has charged a reservist with aggravated abuse of Palestinian prisoners, a spokesperson said on Tuesday, as nine other soldiers appeared in military court for an initial hearing over allegations they had sexually abused a detainee from Gaza.

The new indictment alleges that the unnamed soldier, assigned to escort handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinians, used a baton and his assault rifle to attack prisoners on multiple occasions.

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‘Deep moral deterioration’ being normalised in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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Ministers and mobs protesting at arrests for torture of Palestinians shows diminishing respect for rule of law and human dignity

The far-right mob attack on two Israel Defense Forces bases in support of soldiers accused of sexually torturing a detainee did not come out of the blue – the parallels to a 2016 incident were immediately obvious.

In March that year, Elor Azaria, an IDF soldier serving in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, calmly walked over to Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, an injured Palestinian knife attacker lying on the ground, and shot him in the head. A video of the killing released by a human rights group led to political uproar.

Both the political and military establishments in Israel have been willing to deny or turn a blind eye to the repeated allegations of torture at Sde Teiman

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EU states ‘not properly investigating’ reports of rights violations at borders

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Fundamental rights body warns of flawed approach to credible accounts of ill-treatment and loss of life

Authorities in EU member states are not doing enough to investigate credible reports of violations of human rights, including deaths, on their borders, an EU human rights body has said.

The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) said human rights agencies and NGOs were reporting “serious, recurrent and widespread rights violations against migrants and refugees during border management” but despite “credible” reports many were not investigated.

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Girls as young as nine gang-raped by paramilitaries in Sudan – report

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Human Rights Watch accuses RSF militia of ‘countless’ cases of rape and torture in Khartoum in 15-month civil war

Gunmen from a notorious militia roamed Sudan’s capital gang-raping “countless” women and girls, some as young as nine, according to an investigation documenting the shocking prevalence of sexual violence in Khartoum during the country’s civil war.

Some of the attacks by members of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were so brutal that women and girls died “due to the violence associated with the act of rape”, according to the research by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

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‘Dangerous’ and ‘retrograde’: Māori leaders sound alarm over policy shifts in New Zealand

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Experts say policy changes that include scrapping Māori-led programs will harm communities and put New Zealand’s ‘great reputation’ at risk

Leading Māori figures from across New Zealand have sounded the alarm over the government’s changes to policies that affect Māori, after analysis by the Guardian highlighted the far-reaching scope of the proposals.

The policy shifts proposed by the rightwing coalition have been described by experts as “chilling” and “dangerous” and have created a “deeply fractured” relationship between Māori and the crown, or ruling authorities.

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UK ‘turning a blind eye’ to threats to kill Saudi activists living in exile

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Saudis living in the UK claim Riyadh is targeting them for speaking out on human rights and jailing of female activists

Saudi exiles living in the UK have spoken of threats to their lives and harassment over their support for improvements in human rights in their home country.

Saudi Arabia has been attempting to present itself as a reformed state since the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi hit squad at its consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

It has spent billions on sporting deals and promoting tourism in the country and was recently named host of a UN commission on women’s rights, despite what Amnesty International called its “abysmal” record on women’s rights.

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Iranian TV presenter stabbed in London moves abroad for safety

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Exclusive: Pouria Zeraati ‘no longer felt safe in UK’ as Tehran regime steps up threats and attacks on critics in exile

An Iranian television presenter, who was attacked in London by men believed to be acting for the Tehran regime, has moved abroad, saying that he no longer felt safe in the UK.

Pouria Zeraati said the UK’s approach to the threat posed by Iran on British soil could not guarantee his safety.

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Thousands of children swept up in El Salvador mass arrests, rights body says

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Human Rights Watch says ill-treatment of some minors arbitrarily held in gang crackdown amounts to torture

About 3,000 children – including some as young as 12 – have been swept up in El Salvador’s mass detentions since President Nayib Bukele began his crackdown on gangs two years ago, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The report, which draws on case files and almost 100 interviews with victims, police and officials, documents the arbitrary detention of children and ill-treatment that in some cases amounted to torture.

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Fresh scrutiny of free speech in Saudi Arabia after brothers’ convictions over tweets

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Crown prince criticised ‘bad laws’ for Mohammed al-Ghamdi’s death sentence months before second conviction

Fresh questions have been raised about the suppression of free speech in Saudi Arabia after the brother of a man facing the death penalty for tweeting to 10 followers was handed a 20-year sentence for largely innocuous tweets.

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had said Mohammed al-Ghamdi was a victim of “bad laws” after being sentenced to death, yet the crown prince permitted the same laws to be used to sentence Ghamdi’s younger brother, Asaad al-Ghamdi.

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Civil servants obliged to carry out Tory Rwanda deportations, court rules

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Union for civil servants claimed Home Office staff could be open to prosecution if Strasbourg rulings on Rwanda ignored

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Guidance drawn up by Conservative ministers which told civil servants to ignore Strasbourg rulings and remove asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful, the high court has ruled.

The FDA trade union, which represents senior civil servants, brought legal action claiming senior Home Office staff could be in breach of international law if they implement the government’s Rwanda deportation bill.

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NCA failure to investigate imports linked to forced Uyghur labour unlawful, court rules

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Decision could result in retailers being prosecuted if they import goods made through forced labour, campaigners say

The UK National Crime Agency’s decision not to launch an investigation into the importation of cotton products manufactured by forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province was unlawful, the court of appeal has found.

Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), which brought the action, said Thursday’s decision was a landmark win that could lead to high street retailers being prosecuted under the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) if they import goods made through forced labour.

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Sudan’s warring factions using starvation as weapon, experts say

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Special rapporteurs working for UN warn famine is imminent and over 25 million people need urgent help

Human rights experts working for the United Nations have accused Sudan’s warring parties of using starvation as a war weapon, amid mounting warnings of imminent famine in the African country.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the country’s military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.

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Afghan girls accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrests for ‘bad hijab’

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Reports surface days before UN summit on Afghanistan that will exclude Afghan women and debate on women’s rights

Teenage girls and young women arrested by the Taliban for wearing “bad hijab” say they have been subjected to sexual violence and assault in detention.

In more than one case the arrests and sexual abuse that young women faced while in custody earlier this year led to suicide and attempted suicide, reporters from the Afghan news service Zan Times were told.

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EU-funded Egyptian forces ‘rounding up and deporting Sudanese refugees’

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Egypt forcibly returned 800 Sudanese detainees in first three months of this year, Amnesty International reports

The Egyptian authorities have used EU-funded security forces in a campaign of mass arrests and forcible deportations against refugees from the Sudan war, according to a human rights group report.

Amnesty International found Egypt “forcibly returned an estimated 800 Sudanese detainees between January and March 2024, who were all denied the possibility to claim asylum”.

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China has renamed hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns, say human rights groups

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Report finds that religious, historical and cultural references have been removed in crackdown by Beijing

Hundreds of Uyghur villages and towns have been renamed by Chinese authorities to remove religious or cultural references, with many replaced by names reflecting Communist party ideology, a report has found.

Research published on Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the Norway-based organisation Uyghur Hjelp documents about 630 communities that have been renamed in this way by the government, mostly during the height of a crackdown on Uyghurs that several governments and human rights bodies have called a genocide.

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Thailand passes historic bill recognising marriage equality

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Country on track to become third in Asia – after Taiwan and Nepal – to legalise same-sex marriage

Thailand’s senate has passed the final reading of a historic marriage equality bill, paving the way for the country to become the first in south-east Asia to recognise same-sex marriage.

The bill gained the support of nearly all upper-house lawmakers and will be sent to the palace for the pro-forma endorsement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The law will come into force 120 days after it is published in the royal gazette.

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