News Clips- December 9, 2016
The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance
Credit: UN Photo / Jean-Marc Ferré
Civil Society
- 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]
Refugees & Migrants
- 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]
International Criminal Law
- 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]
Environment
- 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]
Activities of Human Rights Bodies & Experts
- 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]