Category Archives: Human rights

EU ‘covered up’ Croatia’s failure to protect migrants from border brutality

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Exclusive: Brussels officials feared disclosing Zagreb’s lack of commitment to monitoring would cause ‘scandal’

EU officials have been accused of an “outrageous cover-up” after withholding evidence of a failure by Croatia’s government to supervise police repeatedly accused of robbing, abusing and humiliating migrants at its borders.

Internal European commission emails seen by the Guardian reveal officials in Brussels had been fearful of a backlash when deciding against full disclosure of Croatia’s lack of commitment to a monitoring mechanism that ministers had previously agreed to fund with EU money.

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Julian Assange indictment fails to mention WikiLeaks video that exposed US ‘war crimes’ in Iraq

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‘Shameful’ Collateral Murder footage shows Apache helicopter mowing down 11 civilians – including two Reuters journalists – in Baghdad

US prosecutors have failed to include one of WikiLeaks’ most shocking video revelations in the indictment against Julian Assange, a move that has brought accusations the US doesn’t want its “war crimes” exposed in public.

Assange, an Australian citizen, is remanded and in ill health in London’s Belmarsh prison while the US tries to extradite him to face 18 charges – 17 under its Espionage Act – for conspiracy to receive, obtain and disclose classified information.

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UN chief expresses shock at discovery of mass graves in Libya

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Fears grow of further atrocities in areas controlled by Khalifa Haftar forces

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has expressed deep shock at the discovery of mass graves in Libyan territory recently recaptured from forces commanded by Khalifa Haftar, and called for a transparent investigation.

Guterres also called on Libya’s UN-backed government to secure the mass graves, identify the victims, establish the causes of death and return the bodies to the next of kin. He offered UN support in carrying out the measures, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

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Zoom admits cutting off activists’ accounts in obedience to China

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Meetings on Tiananmen Square massacre and Hong Kong crisis were taken down because Communist government complained

Zoom has admitted it suspended the accounts of human rights activists at the behest of the Chinese government and suggested it will block any further meetings that Beijing complains are illegal.

On Thursday the video conferencing platform was accused of disrupting or shutting down the accounts of three activists who held online events relating to the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary or discussing the crisis in Hong Kong. None were given an explanation by Zoom.

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Shamima Begum’s UK citizenship should be restored, court told

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Woman who fled as schoolgirl to join Isis cannot fight fair appeal from Syria, lawyers say

Shamima Begum, the woman who left Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State, cannot effectively challenge the government’s decision to deprive her of British citizenship while she is in a detention camp in northern Syria, the court of appeal has been told.

At the start of a two-day online hearing, her lawyers challenged a ruling by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) this year that she has not been rendered stateless because she is entitled to Bangladeshi citizenship.

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Global protests throw spotlight on alleged police abuses in West Papua

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The Black Lives Matter actions have given renewed impetus to the campaign against injustices in the Indonesian province

Student Eden Armando Bebari, 19, was allegedly shot and killed by Indonesian security forces while fishing in his home town in West Papua in April.

Indonesian media described Bebari as a member of an armed criminal group, a claim denied by his parents. Many residents in Papua, the eastern-most province of Indonesia, now fish and tend crops to ease food shortages brought about by coronavirus lockdowns.

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Notorious Sudanese militia chief in Darfur conflict arrested in CAR

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Ali Kushayb, wanted for human rights abuses and war crimes, faces trial in The Hague

One of the most notorious Sudanese militia leaders in the brutal conflict in Darfur has been arrested in the Central African Republic and handed over to the International criminal court.

Ali Kushayb, who had been on the run for 13 years, surrendered to authorities in a remote corner of northern CAR near the country’s border with Sudan, said a spokesman for the ICC.

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‘What does the UN stand for?’: anger follows memo on anti-racism protests

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Secretary general has clarified staff are ‘not banned’ from demonstrations after previous guidance warned support for action on George Floyd killing risked reputational damage

The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, sought to defuse a row over guidance to staff suggesting they should not participate in protests triggered by the police killing of George Floyd. He clarified that staff were “not banned” from joining anti-racism demonstrations, as long as it was in an “entirely private capacity”.

In a letter to staff that followed public pushback from the UN’s own special rapporteur on freedom of assembly, Guterres insisted that a memo from its ethics board did not mean that staff were required to “remain neutral or impartial in the face of racism”.

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Afghan car blaze deaths prompt fury over mistreatment of refugees in Iran

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Protest comes amid investigation into death by drowning of dozens of Afghans who crossed Iranian border illegally

The deaths of three Afghan refugees in a car blaze in Iran have prompted an outpouring of anger in Afghanistan, after reports that the vehicle caught fire after it was shot at by Iranian police.

Tens of thousands of Afghans have protested on social media against the mistreatment of the refugees. Dozens more have protested on the streets in Kabul and in eastern Nangarhar province, with more demonstrations planned for major cities like London, Washington DC and Toronto in mid-June. 

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Jailed Australian democracy activist has ‘disappeared’ inside Vietnam’s prison system

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Chau Van Kham’s family has lost contact with him for nearly four months and fear the Australian government has ‘forgotten about him’

A 70-year-old Australian democracy activist has “disappeared” inside Vietnam’s prison system: no one from his family or the Australian government has been allowed to see or speak with him for nearly four months. 

Human rights advocates, lawyers and Chau Van Kham’s family said the charges against him are baseless and politically motivated, his single-day multiple-defendant trial was grossly unfair, and his failing health means his 12-year prison sentence is “effectively a death sentence”.

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Global alliance formed to counter China threat amid rising tensions

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Lawmakers from EU parliament and eight other countries create new body

International cooperation is needed to protect democratic values from an increasingly assertive communist China, a new group made up of lawmakers from eight countries and the EU parliament has said.

The legislators, representing parties across the political spectrum, have formed a global alliance, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, to push their governments to take a stronger stance on relations with the country.

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Family fears grow for activists detained in notorious Saudi prison

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Reports of Covid-19 cases and allegations of withheld medical treatment have sparked concern for those held in al-Ha’ir prison

Relatives of prisoners held in a sprawling complex outside Riyadh say they fear prison conditions and denial of medical treatment are risking the lives of detainees including members of the Saudi royal family. 

Two sources close to the family of Princess Basmah bint Saud bin Abdulaziz al-Saud say the senior royal, known as an outspoken advocate for reform, is in a life-threatening condition inside al-Ha’ir prison south of Riyadh. Concerns grew following the death in a Riyadh hospital last month of prominent rights activist Abdullah al-Hamid, formerly held in al-Ha’ir.

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Ethiopia’s security forces accused of torture, evictions and killings – report

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Prime minister Abiy Ahmed has been lauded for his democratic reforms. But Amnesty International are now urging him to investigate allegations of serious human rights abuses

Ethiopia’s Nobel peace prize-winning prime minister Abiy Ahmed has been urged to investigate allegations that state security forces have committed a raft of serious human rights abuses including torture and unlawful killings since he came to power in 2018.

According to a report by Amnesty International, published on Friday, Ethiopia’s military and police in its two most populous regions arbitrarily detained more than 10,000 people, summarily evicted whole families from their homes – some of which were burnt and destroyed – and in some cases were complicit in inter-communal violence targeting minorities.

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Fast fashion: Pakistan garment workers fight for rights amid Covid-19 crisis

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Protesters demand wages at factory supplying global fashion brands, as coronavirus leads to layoffs in textile industry


Police in Karachi last week allegedly shot at hundreds of unarmed garment workers protesting outside a factory supplying denim for global fashion brands.

Garment workers such as Abdul Basit, 35, claimed to have been charged by police with batons outside a factory which is reported to have fired more than 15,000 workers since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Nasir Mansoor from the National Trade Union Federation. He said some workers had been terminated without written notice.

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UK behind Yemen and Sudan in global index of children’s rights, report finds

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Report also warns of ‘dire impact’ of pandemic worldwide with large number of children failing to return to school after lockdowns ease

The suspension of vaccination programmes, school closures and a surge in domestic violence during coronavirus lockdowns are likely to derail a decade’s worth of progress for children, according to new global research.

The Kidsrights Foundation on Tuesday published its annual rankings of children’s rights in 182 countries with Iceland scoring top for the second year running followed by Switzerland, Finland and Sweden.

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Relatives of Armenian axed to death by Azeri officer call for justice

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ECHR is examining actions of Hungary and Azerbaijan over release of killer Ramil Safarov

Relatives of a murdered Armenian army officer killed with an axe by an Azerbaijani counterpart on a Nato training programme in Budapest are hoping the European court of human rights will hand down rulings against Hungary and Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

Gurgen Margaryan was murdered in February 2004 by Ramil Safarov, while both men were attending a three-month Nato English-language training course in the Hungarian capital.

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Lockdown gives asylum seekers reprieve and hope for change in policy

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After Covid 19 pauses threat of detention and deportation, campaigners call for rethink on UK immigration

As Britain takes its first small steps out of lockdown, there is one group of people quietly wishing that it wouldn’t.

For many asylum seekers, the two-month hiatus has meant reprieve. Freed from detention centres, liberated from the threat of imminent deportation and no longer obliged to report to the Home Office, many have welcomed the relief. And all this at a time when the general population have learned something of what it is like to live with severe curbs on civil liberties.

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Myanmar army accused of new atrocities in attack on Rakhine village

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Less than three years since a crackdown against Rohingya, troops are again accused of war crimes – this time against Rakhine Buddhists


Kyaw Thu* waited until night fell before taking his family to the bank of a river not far from their village. While millions across the world were told to remain at home to stay safe from the coronavirus pandemic, he and his neighbours were forced to flee.

That night in March, he recalls, residents from Tin Ma village, in Rakhine state, clambered anxiously into boats, crossed the river, then trekked through foothills to seek refuge in the relative safety of a nearby town. No one switched on a torch or even lit a cigarette for fear of drawing the attention of Myanmar’s army.

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Global outrage erupts over China’s ‘draconian’ security law for Hong Kong

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Top lawyers and politicians from 23 countries express grave concerns over ‘assault’ on city’s rights and freedoms

Senior foreign policy lawmakers and senior politicians from 23 countries, among them the former Hong Kong governor, Chris Patten, have warned that a new Chinese security law for the city is a “comprehensive assault” on its rights and freedoms and “cannot be tolerated”.

In a strongly worded statement, the 186 signatories said they had “grave concerns” about the legislation and feared it would jeopardise the city’s future.

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Hong Kong’s security laws: what are they and why are they so controversial?

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Campaigners object to Beijing’s proposed laws against ‘treason and subversion’, which follow months of protests

Beijing’s parliament has announced that it will discuss controversial national security laws for Hong Kong in a dramatic escalation of China’s efforts to place the semi-autonomous territory under its control and curtail pro-democracy protests.

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