News Clips- December 9, 2016

This week, seven Tibetans in China were given prison sentences that ranged from five to 14 years. [HKFP]
Egyptian authorities arrested a prominent human rights activist, Azza Soliman. [AI]
Harsh winter weather forced demonstrators to temporarily evacuate the protest site at Standing Rock where they have been protesting the construction of a pipeline. [Washington Post]
A Human Rights Watch report reveals that torture is regularly used by authorities in China to fight corruption. [HRW]
A province of Pakistan passed a resolution to ask the federal government to guarantee the right to vote for transgender women in the country. [HRW]
An opposition leader and 18 protesters were released from detention by court order in the Gambia. [Washington Post]

A recently published civil society report indicates that between 2011 and 2015 of over 2,000 requests, only one Syrian refugee’s asylum application was granted in Russia. [Yahoo]
Authorities in Paris announced that they will sell the love locks – locks placed on bridges in Paris to symbolize a couple’s love – cut down from bridges in recent months and hand over the proceeds to refugee groups. [Guardian]
The Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees released new guidelines this week on recognizing those who leave their country of origin due to war as refugees. [UN News Centre]

The prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia are pursuing life imprisonment for Ratko Mladić. [Guardian]
Following Yahya Jammeh’s defeat in Gambia’s most recent election, it is believed that the new government will seek to prosecute Jammeh and to rejoin the International Criminal Court. [Guardian]
The trial of Dominic Ongwen started this week at the International Criminal Court as the first trial involving a member of the Lord’s Resistance Army. [HRW]
A French court confirmed the prison sentence of a former Rwandan intelligence chief who was convicted of genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity. [HRW]

Due to a spike in pollution, authorities in Paris have banned certain cars from driving this week depending on license plate number. [Guardian]
Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Côte d’Ivoire introduced new standards for cleaner fuel and lower emissions. [UN News Centre]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern over the construction of Israeli outposts on privately owned Palestinian land. [OHCHR Press Release]
A report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the separation of families on the Korean peninsular calls for the humane reunification of those families. [UN News Centre]
The UN Committee Against Torture issued its concluding observations on Sri Lanka, finding that torture is a common practice by the police. [NY Times]
The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance called on senior political leadership and media in Australia to play a role in ending xenophobia and racism in the country. [OHCHR Press Release]