Category Archives: Human rights

UN highlights ‘psychological harm’ to UK man jailed since 2012 for phone theft

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Exclusive: Expert repeats call to review indefinite sentences such as Thomas White’s, whose family says now suffers from psychosis

A UN torture expert has called the case of a man driven to psychosis after being jailed in the UK for more than a decade for stealing a mobile phone “emblematic of the psychological harm” caused by indeterminate sentences.

Thomas White was handed an imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence in 2012 for stealing a mobile phone – four months before such prison terms were abolished. He has been in jail ever since after initially receiving a minimum two-year tariff.

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UK solar could be ‘dumping ground’ for products of Chinese forced labour, ministers warned

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Energy bill amendment requires large solar energy projects to prove supply chain free of slave labour

The UK risks becoming a dumping ground for the products of forced labour from Xinjiang province in China if it rejects reforms proposed by members of the foreign affairs select committee with cross-party support, ministers have been warned.

An amendment to the energy bill, due to be debated on Tuesday, would require solar energy companies to prove that their supply chains are free of slave labour. The Xinjiang region is the source of 35%-40% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, the key raw material in the solar photovoltaic supply chain.

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‘Astonishingly cruel’: Alabama seeks to test execution method on death row ‘guinea pig’

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Nine months after Kenneth Smith’s botched lethal injection, state attorney general has asked for approval to kill him with nitrogen

Kenneth Smith is one of two living Americans who can describe what it is like to survive an execution, having endured an aborted lethal injection last November during which he was subjected to excruciating pain tantamount, his lawyers claim, to torture.

Nine months later Smith has been singled out for another undesirable distinction. If the state of Alabama has its way, he will become the test dummy for an execution method that has never before been used in judicial killings and which veterinarians consider unacceptable as a form of euthanasia for animals – death by nitrogen gas.

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Grief and anger after Johannesburg blaze that killed at least 74

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Mourners gather outside 80 Albert Street amid criticisms of government response and lack of support for victims and families

South African authorities were on Friday still searching for clues behind the cause of the most deadly fire in the country’s history, with at least 74 people confirmed to have died and dozens more being treated in hospital.

About 400 people are thought to have lived in informal settlements in the building at 80 Albert Street in central Johannesburg, which relied on illegal electricity connections for power and had no emergency exits. It is owned by the City of Johannesburg.

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Germany says it ended training of Saudi border forces after abuses reported

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Statement comes amid concern about allegations Saudi forces have killed hundreds of migrants

Germany ended a training programme for Saudi border forces, who have been implicated in the mass killing of migrants at the country’s border with Yemen, after it was alerted to reports of “possible massive human rights violations”, the German interior ministry has said.

In a statement to the Guardian, the ministry said training undertaken by the federal police service for the Saudi border force had been “discontinued after reports of possible massive human rights violations became known and, as a precaution, are no longer included in the current training programme [for Saudi security forces]”.

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Travel firms urged to halt trips to Uyghur region over China rights abuses

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Exclusive: Report says optics of western firms organising Xinjiang tours amid ‘crimes against humanity are disastrous’

Uyghur advocates have called on western tourism companies to stop selling package holidays that take visitors through Xinjiang, where human rights abuses by authorities have been called a genocide by some governments.

The request comes as China reopens to foreign visitors after the pandemic, and as its leader, Xi Jinping, calls for more tourism to the region.

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Video shows woman lying dead on floor of migration detention centre in Libya

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Footage provides latest shocking glimpse of conditions endured by refugees in north African country

Footage has emerged showing a woman lying dead on the floor of a migration detention centre in Libya in the latest shocking glimpse of the conditions endured by refugees in the north African country.

The clip, believed to have been filmed two weeks ago and shared with the Guardian by a group who arrived in Tunisia from Libya, shows a room inside the Abu Salim detention centre in Tripoli.

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Suella Braverman restates wish for UK to leave European court of human rights

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Home secretary calls the court ‘politicised’ and refuses to rule out mass tagging of asylum seekers

Suella Braverman has reiterated her wish to leave what she called the “politicised” European court of human rights (ECHR) and refused to rule out the mass tagging of asylum seekers, a move one refugee charity said would treat people as “mere objects”.

Marking a return to the political fray after a summer recess in which a series of Home Office policy hiccups prompted speculation she could be replaced as home secretary, Braverman said the government would “do whatever it takes” to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

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Suella Braverman says ‘we will do whatever it takes’ if Strasbourg thwarts Rwanda plan

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Home secretary confirms government considering fitting some migrants with electronic tags

Suella Braverman has said the government will “do whatever it takes” if its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is “thwarted in Strasbourg”, and confirmed the government is considering fitting some migrants with electronic tags.

In an interview with the BBC, the home secretary stepped up her attack on the European court of human rights (ECHR), calling it politicised and interventionist.

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Taliban ban women from national park in Afghanistan

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Minister says women visiting the lakes of Band-e-Amir have not been wearing their hijabs properly

The Taliban have banned women from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks, adding to a long list of restrictions aimed at shrinking women’s access to public places.

Thousands of people visit Band-e-Amir national park each year, taking in its stunning landscape of sapphire-blue lakes and towering cliffs in the country’s central Bamiyan province.

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‘Fired on like rain’: Saudi border guards accused of mass killings of Ethiopians

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Report by Human Rights Watch details alleged attacks using explosive weapons and small arms on Saudi Arabia-Yemen border

Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians using small arms and explosive weapons in a targeted campaign that rights advocates suggest may amount to a crime against humanity.

The shocking claims are made in a detailed investigation by Human Rights Watch, which interviewed dozens of Ethiopian people who said they were attacked by border guards while they tried to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen.

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George Soros foundation’s retreat from Europe could ‘turn off the lights’ for human rights

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Activists fear the billionaire’s legacy will be lost as his Open Society Foundations curbs its activities across the EU

He survived the Nazi occupation of his native Hungary, made a fortune on Wall Street and became one of the most steadfast backers of democracy and human rights in the eastern bloc.

But human rights activists and independent media fear the legacy of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, 93, could be about to be undone in his homelands, as his donor network announced it will curb its activities across the EU from 2024.

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At least 500 Bahraini prisoners on hunger strike over conditions

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Detainees at Jau prison that mainly houses prisoners of conscience began refusing food on 7 August

At least 500 prisoners are on hunger strike inside a Bahraini prison primarily used to detain prisoners of conscience, refusing food in protest at their detention conditions.

Detainees began refusing food on 7 August, and increasing numbers have joined since.

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Chinese social media filled with anti-black racist content, says watchdog

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Analysis by Human Rights Watch finds the country’s major platforms ‘do not routinely address’ pervasive online racism

Chinese social media is littered with racist videos, particularly content that mocks black people or portrays them through offensive racial stereotypes, research by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

The human rights watchdog analysed hundreds of videos posted on Chinese social media since 2021 and found that major platforms, including Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo and Xiaohongshu, “do not routinely address racist content”.

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Vice blocked news stories that could offend Saudi Arabia, insiders say

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Exclusive: Media company recently signed lucrative deal with Saudi government-controlled MBC Group

Vice has repeatedly blocked news stories that could offend the Saudi government, leaving its reporters unsure if they are still able to report freely on the kingdom’s human rights abuses, sources have said.

The media company recently signed a lucrative partnership deal with the MBC Group, a media company controlled by the Saudi government, to establish a joint venture in the Middle Eastern country. Of the 29 jobs currently advertised on Vice’s careers page, 20 are based in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

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Thousands of Afghan judges and legal staff remain at risk post-Taliban takeover

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Two years on, people who worked in the country’s now-defunct legal system remain in grave danger from reprisals for their work

Nearly 4,000 prosecutors and legal staff members face the threat of violence from the Taliban in Afghanistan, where at least 28 prosecutors and their families have reportedly been killed.

When the Taliban seized back power in the country in August 2021, Sara*, who was 28 at the time, was just a few weeks shy of completing three years serving as a prosecutor in the Afghan attorney general’s office.

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Australia settles with family of refugee Reza Barati, murdered on Manus Island in 2014

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Exclusive: The government has reached a confidential settlement with Barati’s family, who say they ‘fought for justice for Reza’

The Australian government has reached a confidential settlement with the family of the refugee Reza Barati, nine years after he was murdered by guards inside the Manus Island detention centre, and two years after his parents sued over his death.

Barati was 23 when he was beaten to death by guards and other contractors during a violent rampage inside the Australian-run offshore detention centre in February 2014. His assailants attacked him with a length of timber spiked with nails, repeatedly kicked and punched him once he had fallen and dropped a large rock on his head.

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We risk being seen as the ‘nasty party’ again, warn senior Conservatives

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Moderate Tories fear the party’s attack on human rights will alienate many voters and damage the UK’s global standing

The Conservatives risk being seen once again as the “nasty party” by trying to win votes with a divisive attack on human rights, senior party figures have warned.

Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure from his party this weekend over his pledge to stop the boats crossing the Channel. It follows another week that ended in Channel deaths after the capsizing of a boat, while the total number of people making the dangerous crossing since 2018 rose above the 100,000 mark.

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At least 17 people dead after boat carrying Rohingya refugees capsizes off coast of Myanmar

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Search for survivors continues in latest tragedy as persecuted Muslims make perilous sea journeys in search of better lives

At least 17 people have drowned and 33 are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Malaysia capsized on Monday.

The bodies of 10 women and seven men have been recovered after being washed up on the coast of Myanmar, said Bya Latt, a spokesperson for the rescue group Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation. Eight people who were rescued are being held at a local police station, Latt said.

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Uganda’s president under attack over closure of UN human rights office

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Forced closure described as ‘a huge blow’ to human rights as country fosters hostile environment for activists, journalists and LGBTQ+ people

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has come under attack from campaigners and activists for forcing the closure of the UN human rights office in the country.

The head office in the capital, Kampala, closed at the weekend. Two field offices, in Gulu and Moroto, had already ceased operating over the summer, after the government’s decision not to renew a host agreement allowing the agency to operate.

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