News Clips- September 30, 2016

Civil Society

• A court in China sentenced three activists to three years imprisonment in one case and over a year for the other two individuals. [Jurist]
• The Facebook accounts of Palestinian journalists who work in occupied Palestinian territories were frozen last week. [Al Jazeera]
• United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association called for an investigation into the death of a protestor last year in Seoul, South Korea after the police used a water cannon against the demonstrator. [UN News Centre]

Activities of International Bodies

• The United Nations Working Group of experts on people of African descent released a report this week that recommended that the United States provide reparations to black Americans due to a history of racial inequality, segregation, and enslavement. [Washington Post]
• The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced that it has filed applications with Inter-American Court of Human Rights in four cases. [IACHR Press Release: Mexico; IACHR Press Release: Chile; IACHR Press Release: Nicaragua; IACHR Press Release: Guatemala]
• The International Criminal Court convicted Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi for the war crime of the intentional destruction of several historically and culturally significant sites in Mali. [Washington Post]

Conflict and Violence

• A team of investigators have determined that the missile that shot down flight MH17, a Malaysian Airlines flight, and killed 298 people originated in Russia. [Guardian]
• Two hospitals in Aleppo were bombed this week, putting both out of service and following a pattern of hospital bombings in Syria. [Guardian]
• Hate crimes have increased in London since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. [Guardian]
• Several bombs early this week killed 15 people and injured over 50 individuals in Baghdad. [Al Jazeera]

Persons with Disabilities

• Four United Nations Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement calling on Pakistan to stop the planned execution of Imdad Ali who has a psychosocial disability. [UN News Centre]
• Police officers in San Diego, California in the United States shot and killed an unarmed black man with a psychosocial disability this week adding to the ongoing pattern of police shootings of unarmed black men and women in the U.S. [Al Jazeera]

Politics

• United States President Barack Obama this week nominated the first U.S. ambassador to Cuba in over 50 years. [Al Jazeera]
• The Colombian government and the Farc, a guerrilla force, signed a peace deal this week ending over 50 years of conflict. [Guardian]
• Ali Bongo was sworn in as president in Gabon this week after overcoming opposition groups’ legal challenges alleging vote fraud. [Al Jazeera]

Environment

• Research recently released indicates that the United States will not reach its emission reduction commitment by 2025 as established in the Paris climate accord. [Guardian]
• The Committee on the Rights of the Child discussed this week the intersection of the environment and children’s rights. [OHCHR Press Release]