Mourning Hong Kong’s democracy
29/6/2022: July 1, 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty from British to Chinese rule. Beijing has broken the 1997 promise to respect the city’s freedoms and imposed a draconian National Security Law on the city.
Source: Human Rights Watch
New government in Philippines must confront human rights crisis
29/6/2022: Amnesty International is calling on incoming President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to end the catastrophic disregard for human life and dignity shown under the Duterte administration. Extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detention committed in the name of the ‘war on drugs’ must end.
Source: Amnesty International
Five takeaways from the 2022 State of Civil Society report
27/6/2022: In a year of immense disruption, mayhem and contestation, concerned citizens and civil society organisations are responding by campaigning for justice and helping out those worst affected. CIVICUS’s 2022 State of Civil Society Report takes stock of the role of the sector.
Source: Inter Press Service
The UK government’s Bill of wrongs
22/6/2022: The UK government has proposed legislation to replace the Human Rights Act with a so-called “British” Bill of Rights. Designed to reduce constraints of the European Convention on Human Rights, the new Bill would significantly weaken rights across the board for all.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Is Tunisia’s democracy slipping away?
16/6/2022: President Saied has been running Tunisia unilaterally for almost a year. The July referendum will further strengthen his rule without resistance.
Source: African Arguments
Ethiopia’s invisible ethnic cleansing
16/6/2022: The Executive Director of Human Rights Watch chronicles the largely invisible campaign of ethnic cleansing that has played out in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray since the civil war began in November 2020.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Statement to the Human Rights Council on Eritrea
13/6/2022: Eritrea’s Human Rights Council membership has not led to greater respect for international standards, according to Human Rights Watch. The government has taken no steps to end its widespread forced labor and conscription and continues to severely restrict basic freedoms.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Cycle of human rights violations continues in Myanmar
14/6/2022: The UN Human Rights Council has been briefed that Myanmar is still suffering from the devastating consequences of the February 2021 military coup, with at least 1,900 killings by the military and one million internally displaced people. Many experts are critical of the international community for its inadequate financial and ethical response.
Source: UN News
Cambodia convicts opposition figures in mass trial
14/6/2022: A Phnom Penh court has convicted around 60 opposition figures as long-serving leader Hun Sen cracks down on dissent ahead of national elections next year. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, in exile in France, had another eight years added to his existing sentence.
Source: CNA
UN mission in China fails to address crimes against humanity
28/5/2022: Amnesty International remains unconvinced that two days spent by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region will result in acknowledgement of the scale and gravity of human rights violations being committed by the Chinese government.
Source: Amnesty International