News Clips- August 18, 2017

On Thursday, three young activists in Hong Kong, China were sentenced to six to eight months in prison for their participation in the 2014 Umbrella Movement protests. [Washington Post]
On Wednesday, the president of the Philippines encouraged police officers to shoot activists who obstruct justice. [Guardian]
Last week, Amnesty International reported that at least 66 people detained during protests in Morocco reported being subject to torture and ill-treatment. [AI]

On Thursday, at least 13 people were killed when a van drove into a crowd in Barcelona, Spain. [Guardian]
On Wednesday, police found mass graves containing 36 bodies of victims of a militant attack on a village in Afghanistan; the attack, claimed by the Islamic State, left at least 62 people dead. [Reuters]
On Monday, the United Nations reported seven people killed, and seven wounded, during an attack on UN headquarters in Timbuktu, Mali. [Washington Post]
Over the weekend, gunmen attacked a restaurant in Burkina Faso, killing almost 20 people. [UN News Centre]

This week, Jordan began providing temporary work permits for Syrian refugees in the construction sector. [ILO]
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has increased its humanitarian assistance for families returning to Mosul, Iraq. [UN News Centre]

On Wednesday, Lebanon repealed a law that prevented the criminal prosecution of rapists who subsequently married their victims. [Guardian]
On Monday, the government of Canada announced its core objectives, including protections based on gender and for indigenous peoples’ rights, for the pending North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations. [New York Times]
On Tuesday, the president of the Republic of Guinea Bissau, H.E. José Mário Vaz, pledged to ratify the Protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. [AfCHPR Press Release]