Human Rights Watch (HRW) called Monday on the EU’s border agency, Frontex, to use aerial surveillance not only to detect and monitor migrant vessels in distress but also to facilitate timely rescues in the Central Mediterranean. The appeal follows a meeting between HRW representatives and Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens earlier in April, during which [...]
Hundreds of people in northern Ghana, mostly older women, continue to live in fear and extreme hardship after being accused of witchcraft and forced from their communities, according to a new report published Monday by Amnesty International. The report, “Branded for Life: How Witchcraft Accusations Lead to Human Rights Violations of Hundreds of Women in [...]
Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City has been forced out of service following a devastating Israeli airstrike early Sunday morning, amid what UN agencies describe as an escalating humanitarian catastrophe. Until the strike, Al Ahli had been one of Gaza’s few partially functioning hospitals, treating casualties from Israel’s renewed military campaign. Forty patients who [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday welcomed the UN Human Rights Council’s first-ever resolution on anti-personnel landmines that was passed on April 4. The Ottawa Convention defines an anti-personnel mine as “a mine designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or [...]
Pennsylvania police arrested a suspect Sunday following an arson attack at Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence while he and his family were inside. Police identified the suspect as 38-year-old Cody Balmer of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s capital. Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo announced that Balmer will be charged with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault [...]
The US and El Salvador have subjected more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to forced disappearance and arbitrary detention, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Friday. In a dramatic escalation of immigration practices, authorities removed 238 Venezuelans from US detention on March 15, transferring them directly to El Salvador’s Center for Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), a facility [...]
The United Nations Human Rights Office on Friday called upon Myanmar’s military to immediately halt its ongoing attacks and allow urgent humanitarian aid to reach communities devastated by last month’s earthquake. The UN emphasized the military’s obligation to comply with international law and ensure aid reaches those in dire need. The United Nations has denounced [...]
UN experts on Friday welcomed the unilateral ceasefire declared by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) on March 1 after more than four decades of armed conflict with Türkiye, calling it a “significant step” toward peace and reconciliation in the region. The experts, including members of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and [...]
Amnesty International called Friday for the immediate and unconditional release of Tanzanian opposition party chairman Tundu Lissu, who they say was arbitrarily arrested. Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, Tigere Chagutah, implored Tanzania to “focus on upholding fundamental human rights in the country, including the right to freedom of expression and peaceful [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday condemned the inaction of both the international community and the warring parties, as the conflict on civilians in Sudan continues into its third year. Türk stated, “Two years of this brutal and senseless conflict must be a wake-up call to the parties to lay down [...]
