News Clips- June 9, 2017

Activities of International Human Rights Bodies and Experts

• Independent experts from the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a joint statement condemning recent attacks in Brazil on indigenous peoples’ rights and on environmental rights. [OHCHR Press Release]
• This week the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances announced its first visit to the Gambia to take place June 12 to 19, 2017. [OHCHR Press Release]
• The European Court of Human Rights ruled this week that Bulgaria violated the right to freedom of assembly and of association for refusing to register an organization that promotes the rights of Muslims. [COE Press Release]
• In a report recently presented, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health has called for “a revolution in mental health care.” [OHCHR Press Release]

Politics

• After the United States President announced last week that the State will leave the Paris Climate Agreement, cities and states in the country announced that they will still comply with the Paris Agreement. [Guardian; Voice of America]
• This week, the opposition party in Lesotho won a majority of parliamentary seats during a snap election. [Al Jazeera]
• Last Friday, the Prime Minister of Cambodia announced that opposition parties in the State should not attempt to challenge recent local elections or they could be dissolved. [Washington Post]
• The United States warned again this week that it may pull out of the United Nations Human Rights Council unless the UN body reconsiders how States, particularly those with negative human rights records, become members of the Council. [Washington Post]

Civil Society

• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein last Friday called for an investigation into the deaths of five protesters in Bahrain. [OHCHR Press Release]
• After five farmers died at a rally in India, protesters demonstrated on Wednesday, prompting the deployment of troops on Thursday. [Washington Post; ABC News]
• Detainees in Venezuela, including protesters detained for demonstrating, claim they are being beaten and tortured while in custody. [Miami Herald]