Civil Society In Kenya, five people have been killed since Raila Odinga, an opposition leader, declared the recent presidential election fraudulent. [Al Jazeera] On Thursday, authorities in Turkey issued 35 detention warrants for journalists and other individuals connected to Fethullah Gulen, who has been accused of involvement in the attempted coup last year. [Washington Post] On Sunday, Russia passed a
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, condemned last week the recent violence and arrests that occurred in response to demonstrations around Venezuela’s election for a National Constituent Assembly – a powerful entity intended to replace the current legislature and rewrite the Venezuelan constitution. The election was reportedly tampered with by the Venezuelan government, prompting
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Last week, three United Nations independent experts – the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; and the Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children – made an urgent appeal to the government of the Philippines concerning grave human rights violations, including murder; threats against human
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Civil Society This week, a source confirmed that the government of Syria executed activist and Internet entrepreneur, Bassel Khartabil Safadi, in October 2015. [Washington Post] On Thursday, it was reported that activists launched a public appeal asking the prince of Saudi Arabia to dismiss terrorism-related offenses against 14 Shiite men. [Washington Post] On Tuesday, two Venezuelan opposition leaders were taken
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Violence & Humanitarian Crises On Wednesday, several international aid organizations in the Central African Republic halted operations due to violence between armed groups and the targeting of aid workers. [Reuters] On Monday, suicide attacks targeted two camps for internally displaced persons in Nigeria resulting in the deaths of at least eight people. [UN News Centre] On Monday, at least 24
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Civil Society Around the world, people went to the ocean this week to commemorate the death of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident who recently died in custody, after his ashes were spread in the sea. [Guardian] A journalist in Russia reported this week that he received threatening text messages demanding he halt his current work. [CPJ] A court in Turkey
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Civil Society Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese dissident who previously won the Nobel Peace Prize, died from cancer on Thursday. [New York Times] On Wednesday, protesters in Zimbabwe demonstrated in favor of fair elections but were met with tear gas and water cannons. [Al Jazeera] Last weekend, tens of thousands of protesters in Istanbul, Turkey demonstrated against the state of emergency
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The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) recently published the Cotonou Declaration on strengthening and expanding the protection of all Human Rights Defenders in Africa that recommends repealing harmful and discriminatory laws, ensuring compliance with existing international standards that impact human rights defenders, and developing standards on women human rights defenders, among other recommendations. Adopted earlier this year during the 2nd
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On June 20, 2016, a chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that legislation in Russia banning the promotion of homosexuality, especially to minors, violated three gay activists’ rights to the freedom of expression and the prohibition of discrimination, enshrined in articles 10 and 14, respectively, of the European Convention on Human Rights. See ECtHR, Bayev and
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Civil Society On Thursday, several civil society organizations urged for the prompt and independent investigation into the “barrage of assaults and threats” against human rights lawyers in Pakistan. [ICJ] On Saturday, thousands of protesters in Madrid, Spain marched to demand that the government fulfill its pledge to take in 17,000 refugees. [Al Jazeera] Violence & Humanitarian Crises On Thursday, the
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