Police in Belarus have arbitrarily arrested journalists, bloggers, and political activists as part of a massive crackdown ahead of the August 9, 2020 presidential election. They also pressed charges against two potential candidates, Human Rights Watch reported Thursday. These arrests raise concerns regarding freedom of expression, particularly of the media.
India’s Muslim minority has long been subjected to discrimination and religious violence, particularly under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narenda Modi. This past year, a controversial new citizenship law blatantly excluded Muslims, sparking unrest across the nation. The current COVID-19 pandemic is working to stoke the hatred. Muslims,
On March 23, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, abruptly announced that the entire country would be put on a 21-day lockdown in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, 17 Indians have died of the virus and over 700 have been infected, though some healthcare experts fear the numbers are
In a recent ruling, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has declared it unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their lives may be threatened by the climate crisis. This judgment is centered around the case on Ioane Teitiota from the Pacific Island of Kiribati, which is threatened
The northern Chinese region of Xinjiang, where the country’s Muslim population is concentrated, has long been victim to repressive policies and strict securitization. More recently, the situation has worsened and attracted international attention, as the Chinese government has reportedly detained more than one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hui, and other
A controversial citizenship law, the Citizen Amendment Act, has sparked protests across India, with demonstrators fearing that it could endanger the nation’s Muslim minority. The new legislation will provide an expedited path to citizenship for migrants who entered India illegally before 2014 if they are Hindu, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, or
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi defended Myanmar’s government against accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague during three days of hearings that went from December 10th to the 13th. Addressing 17 judges from around the world, the leader dismissed the claims
Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was once seen as a champion for human rights, is preparing to defend her country against accusations of genocide. Myanmar’s military has committed atrocities against the ethnic Rohingya Muslims, including mass murder, rape, and arson. The Gambia, a West African state, backed by
Seven people were killed on Thursday when Iraqi security forces shot live ammunition, rubber bullets, and tear gas canisters at unarmed protesters in Baghdad in a renewed attempt to crush anti-government protests. According to Al Jazeera, the cause of death was live fire and tear gas canisters aimed directly at
A 61-year-old white man accused of throwing battery acid in the face of a Peruvian immigrant and telling him to “go back to your country” was charged with a hate crime on Wednesday. According to a criminal complaint, the victim, Mahud Villalaz, was walking toward the entrance of a Mexican
Human Rights Watch released a report on Thursday documenting how Afghan paramilitary forces backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) have carried out extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances, indiscriminate airstrikes, and other human rights abuses without accountability. The report, a culmination of nearly two years of reporting, details 14 deadly
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh on Monday, marking his first state visit to the country in over a decade and signalling Russia’s growing influence in the Middle East. Putin has only made one other trip to Riyadh, in 2007, and Saudi King Salman bin
On Monday, 21-year-old Abrar Fahad, a student at the Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET), was tortured and killed over his Facebook post critiquing Bangladesh’s recent water-sharing agreement with India. Several members of the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) – a student political organization loyal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and
The Trump administration has capped the number of refugees to be admitted to the United States, announcing on Thursday that it would accept a maximum of 18,000 refugees during the 2020 fiscal year, down from the current limit of 30,000 and a fraction of the 85,000 refugees President Obama admitted
