Switzerland NGOs and activists call for a ban on the use of autonomous weapons The move comes as the Sixth Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), chaired by ambassador Yann Hwang of France, takes place in Geneva this week. 13/12/2021
Poland Poland reports more migrant crossing attempts from Belarus There were 267 attempts to cross the border fence from Belarus on Tuesday. 24/11/2021
Myanmar Myanmar: Suu Kyi trial 'seriously abridges free and fair standards' Human Rights Watch says gag orders have been imposed on the deposed leader's lawyers and information on her trial is hard to come by. 26/10/2021
France Human rights report denounces French police 'abuse' of Calais migrants The report accuses the police of mass evictions, harassment, and restricting access to humanitarian assistance for migrants on the northern French coast. 07/10/2021
Israel Israel guilty of apartheid and persecution, says rights watchdog Human Rights Watch joins a growing number of rights groups who view the conflict not primarily as a land dispute but as a single regime in which Palestinians are systematically denied basic rights granted to Jews. 27/04/2021
View Russians will look to EU's Borrell for stance on Navalny furore | View Philippe Dam, from Human Rights Watch, on what EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell must tell Russia on his visit to Moscow this week. 03/02/2021
Cult New Press Museum in Vietnam skirts round thorny issues But the Hanoi Museum doesn't appear to address questions about contemporary media freedom, as Vietnam ranks only 175th out of 180 nations in Journalists’ Without Borders press freedom league table 18/07/2020
View How to keep global superpowers China and the US from riding roughshod over human rights ǀ View Despite their differences, China's Xi Jinping and US president, Donald Trump have in common their dislike of any global effort to hold them accountable for their behaviour, including on human rights. 10/06/2020
View Children have become collateral damage with the Philippines’ “Drug War” scarring a generation ǀ View Filipinos cannot expect justice from the perpetrators of this slow-rolling massacre in the name of an anti-drug campaign. The UN’s top human rights body should send a strong rebuke to the Duterte administration when it meets in Geneva this month. 04/06/2020
View Millions of children threatened by violence risk being forgotten amid coronavirus lockdowns ǀ View Many parents are stressed and anxious over their jobs, finances and health, and need to look after their often bored or restless children all day long. Even before the pandemic, children were at the greatest risk of violence when in their own home. Now, the danger of abuse is even greater still. 24/04/2020
View Gunshots, summary trials, deportations: the reality for refugees in the EU-Turkey stand-off ǀ View Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s cynical move to open his western EU borders to allow refugees and migrants to leave - while keeping his southern border to Syria shut to asylum seekers desperate to escape the onslaught there - poses an enormous challenge to Greece and the European Union. 05/03/2020
View The success of Brexit Britain will depend on how well it can stick to its principles ǀ View As the UK exits EU, it should promote rights abroad and defend them at home. 03/02/2020
world news EU praised on human rights despite failures on migration policy While Human Rights Watch says the EU is showing “positive signs”, issues such as migration and growing intolerance were highlighted in the organisations annual global report. 16/01/2020
View Soaring food bank use: the growing reality of hunger in ‘rich’ countries ǀ View More people are going hungry and relying on aid to feed their families in the world’s wealthiest countries. 19/12/2019
View The case of Suha Jbara exposes the corruption and barbarism of the Palestinian Authority ǀ View Too many Palestinians endure inhumane treatment at the hands of the PA. Life on the West Bank can be hard enough and, civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip face a near-systematic campaign of human rights abuses. 19/12/2019
View Targeting environmental activists with counterterrorism measures is an abuse of the law ǀ View Protecting the endangered Asiatic cheetah. Tweeting a satirical poem. Attending a climate conference. Campaigning against a power plant. These actions hardly conjure images of suicide bombers or coup plotters. Yet, they have been labelled “eco-terrorism,” “extremism,” “threats to national security". 28/11/2019
Croatia Migrant shot by Croatian police in mountains near Slovenian border Human Rights Watch called on European authorities to investigate the "shocking and unacceptable" shooting, which left the migrant critically wounded. 18/11/2019
View The chilling inaction on domestic violence in Russia is endangering women’s lives ǀ View Russia has no domestic violence law and does not treat domestic violence as a stand-alone criminal offense. In a dramatic step back in 2017, certain forms of domestic violence were actually decriminalised. 29/07/2019
View The EU must press for an end to repression in Central Asia at its Kyrgyzstan summit ǀ View On her potentially last foreign trip, Federica Mogherini will present the EU’s new Central Asia strategy at a summit with Central Asia leaders in Kyrgyzstan. But she should convey several things in Bishkek, most notably the abuse and repression of citizens that is ongoing in the region. 05/07/2019
View Don’t be fooled: Hungary’s government remains a threat to European values ǀ View The flouting of European values that led to the Fidesz’s suspension from the European People’s Party in March has not changed. What has changed is that the outcome of the elections has made Fidesz realize that it needs to stay in the EPP. 12/06/2019
View Council of Europe at 70 — achievements and concerns ǀ View The Council of Europe, Europe’s leading human rights body, is celebrating its 70th birthday this week, but it’s not a great time for a party. Crisis overshadows the anniversary gathering in Helsinki on 16-17 May of foreign ministers from the 47 member states. 15/05/2019
world news IS-linked children face torture in Iraqi detention: report A new Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday found children with suspected links to the so-called Islamic State were facing torture and charges of terrorism under Iraqi and Kurdish authorities 06/03/2019
Saudi Arabia Human rights campaigners call for tech firms to act over Saudi app The calls came after it emerged that both platforms have hosted a Saudi Arabian government app that allowed men to track women’s activity. 14/02/2019
View Europe should press the UN on North Korea's human rights abuses ǀ View Otto Warmbier and the millions of other victims of North Korea’s brutal leadership deserve justice and an end to these unparalleled atrocities. 11/02/2019
View Kyrgyzstan’s human rights abuses should sound alarm bells over closer ties with the EU | View While [Kyrgyzstan] boasts a very active and engaged civil society, Askarov’s imprisonment, and the government’s abject failure to act on the UN Human Rights Committee’s decision in his case [...] should give EU officials considerable pause. 24/01/2019
Europe News The Brief from Brussels: Rule of law, migration, glyphosate Those are the stories in today's Brief 17/01/2019
