Chronic aid access problems have meant that Caesarean sections have been performed without anaesthetic while other women have been unable to deliver their stillborn babies because medical staff are overwhelmed, the UN agency said....
"We have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them. We are failing them,” UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said in a statement issued alongside the report....
The excessive and disproportionate restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic have compounded the effects of decades of the North Korean government’s violations of the rights to food, health, and to an adequate standard of living; and to freedom of expression and movement, according to Human Rights Watch....
A new report from the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU) provides eyewitness testimony that the Kim regime publicly executed violators of Pyongyang’s draconian COVID-19 quarantine measures.
Reports of shoot-to-kill orders for anyone attempting to cross the North Korean border during the pandemic were previously covered by NKNews in October 2020, but new testimony in the KINU report grants further credence to these dark realities.
Public executions have long been a feature of the Kim regime’s policies – ranging from public executions of Christians for being caught with a Bible to the purging of Pyongyang’s elites to tamp down on any semblance of revolutionary spirit. A 2019 report from the Transitional Justice Working Group put a finer point on the matter – of the 600 defectors interviewed, they documented “323 reports of sites of state-sanctioned killings”. According to the same report, 83 percent of North Koreans surveyed said they witnessed a public execution.
In the midst of a surge in executions in Iran, four ethnic Kurds are on the brink of execution following 18 months of incognito detention since their arrest in July 2022....
After escaping the North, 139 North Koreans reached the South in the January-September 2023 period, sharply up from 42 from the same period 2022, according to Seoul’s unification ministry. In the third quarter, 40 defectors ― three men and 37 women ― came to the South....
A new, in-depth timeline of efforts to help Samer Abu Daqqa reveals that Israel was repeatedly pressed to allow for his rescue, but kept emergency crews at bay for hours.
Jailed Alexey Navalny told a Moscow court of “freezing” conditions inside his prison, as he appeared via video link to outline his case against the authorities at the Siberian penal colony in which he is being held....
In recent years, China’s LGBTQ+ community has been swept up in the Chinese Communist party’s broader crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression. In May 2023, a well known LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Beijing announced it was closing due to “unavoidable” circumstances. Last February, two university students filed a...
The 15-year-old Beijing LGBT Center, one of the pioneers of the “different sexual orientation movement” in China, announced this week that it had terminated its operations without explanation.
Analysts said the closure of the well-known rights center was seen as inevitable and a reflection of the increasingly repressive political environment in China under Xi Jinping.
[…] In 2019, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed the Special Act on Same-Sex Marriage, becoming the first country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage, but the regulations stipulated that married same-sex couples could adopt only children biologically related to one of the partners […] Taiwan is now leading Asia in same-sex marriage legislation.
The evidence suggests LGBTQ+ activists in China have had a particularly tough time since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013. The effects of targeting have spiralled in the past few years, reflected in the abrupt closure of the Shanghai Pride in 2020, and the 2021 shutdown of LGBT Rights Advocacy China – an organisation that held law-based campaigns.
Voters spurned Beijing’s repeated calls not to vote for Lai, delivering a comfortable victory for a man China’s ruling Communist Party sees as a dangerous separatist....
The harsh winter, lack of adequate medical care, shortage of water and poor sanitation have exposed newborns and children in Gaza to infections in refugee camps....
“The Saudi government uses its Public Investment Fund to expand its influence and fund lavish sporting events in an attempt to obscure how it systematically violates human rights,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch....
China’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will take place Jan 23 in Geneva. The UPR is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council to assess the human rights record of every UN member state every four to five years....
Governments’ double standards in applying the human rights framework not only put countless lives at risk, but they chip away at trust in the institutions responsible for enforcing and protecting rights, Human Rights Watch said....
The claims were made by South African lawyers as it presented its case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer for the High Court of South Africa, told the ICJ Israel’s “genocidal intent” was evident “from the way in which this military attack is being...
Protests in Russia Put Spotlight on Wartime Ethnic Grievances: The conviction of an activist in the Ural Mountains sparked one of the biggest outbreaks of social unrest since the start of the war (www.nytimes.com)
Unpaywalled link...
Gaza crisis: Babies being born ‘into hell’ amid desperate aid shortages, UN says (news.un.org)
Chronic aid access problems have meant that Caesarean sections have been performed without anaesthetic while other women have been unable to deliver their stillborn babies because medical staff are overwhelmed, the UN agency said....
Two mothers killed each hour in Gaza conflict, UN says (news.un.org)
"We have seen evidenced once more that women and children are the first victims of conflict and that our duty to seek peace is a duty to them. We are failing them,” UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said in a statement issued alongside the report....
North Korean government in 2023 continued to use the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext to maintain “shoot on sight” orders on its northern border, rights group says (www.hrw.org)
The excessive and disproportionate restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic have compounded the effects of decades of the North Korean government’s violations of the rights to food, health, and to an adequate standard of living; and to freedom of expression and movement, according to Human Rights Watch....
China's ageing population threatens switch to new economic growth model, state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences sees the pension system running out of money by 2035 (www.reuters.com)
Cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/11191188...
Rights group calls for pressure of international community on Iranian regime to "halt imminent execution" of four ethnic Kurds (iranhumanrights.org)
In the midst of a surge in executions in Iran, four ethnic Kurds are on the brink of execution following 18 months of incognito detention since their arrest in July 2022....
Number of North Korean defectors entering South Korea more than triples in Jan.-Sept. 2023 period (m.koreatimes.co.kr)
After escaping the North, 139 North Koreans reached the South in the January-September 2023 period, sharply up from 42 from the same period 2022, according to Seoul’s unification ministry. In the third quarter, 40 defectors ― three men and 37 women ― came to the South....
Israel Bombed an Al Jazeera Cameraman — and Blocked Evacuation Efforts as He Bled to Death (theintercept.com)
A new, in-depth timeline of efforts to help Samer Abu Daqqa reveals that Israel was repeatedly pressed to allow for his rescue, but kept emergency crews at bay for hours.
China, new series of forced televised confessions highlights CCP’s increased crackdown over vast swathes of society under the guise of “anti-corruption” work, rights group says (safeguarddefenders.com)
Cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/11137234...
China's population drops for second year, with record low birth rate (www.reuters.com)
Cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/11127623...
Some wealthier Chinese say they can't afford marriage as economy slows (www.reuters.com)
Cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/11100201...
China: No Letup in Xi Jinping’s Repressive Rule, Amid Economic Showdown, Mourning for Ex-Premier Shows Discontent - Beehaw (www.hrw.org)
Cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/11086495...
“If you eat every day within 10 minutes, then this meal turns into a rather complex process:" Kremlin critic Navalny tells Russian court of ‘freezing’ conditions inside his Arctic prison (edition.cnn.com)
Jailed Alexey Navalny told a Moscow court of “freezing” conditions inside his prison, as he appeared via video link to outline his case against the authorities at the Siberian penal colony in which he is being held....
‘It’s difficult to survive’: China’s LGBTQ+ advocates face jail and forced confession (www.theguardian.com)
In recent years, China’s LGBTQ+ community has been swept up in the Chinese Communist party’s broader crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression. In May 2023, a well known LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Beijing announced it was closing due to “unavoidable” circumstances. Last February, two university students filed a...
Taiwan’s vote is a crack in the new axis of autocracy - (Opinion) (www.afr.com)
Unpaywalled link: web.archive.org/…/taiwan-s-vote-is-a-crack-in-the…...
'Return to the right track' - Taiwan tells China to 'face reality' and respect election results (www.france24.com)
Voters spurned Beijing’s repeated calls not to vote for Lai, delivering a comfortable victory for a man China’s ruling Communist Party sees as a dangerous separatist....
‘She cries all the time’: Gaza children grapple with a mental health crisis (scroll.in)
The harsh winter, lack of adequate medical care, shortage of water and poor sanitation have exposed newborns and children in Gaza to infections in refugee camps....
Taiwan election, China urges US, UK and Japan not to interfere in ‘China’s internal affairs’ after they congratulate Lai Ching-te for election win as Beijing hoped to see Taiwan’s ruling party ousted (www.theguardian.com)
Cross-posted from: beehaw.org/post/11038232...
Despite Image Campaign: Human Rights Watch Accuses Saudia Arabia of Mass Killings, Death Sentences, Unfair Trials And Abusive Detention Practices (www.hrw.org)
“The Saudi government uses its Public Investment Fund to expand its influence and fund lavish sporting events in an attempt to obscure how it systematically violates human rights,” said Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch....
UN Must Include Strong Language on Tibet in China Review, exiled Tibetans say (tibet.net)
China’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will take place Jan 23 in Geneva. The UPR is a mechanism of the Human Rights Council to assess the human rights record of every UN member state every four to five years....
Global Rights Crises Deepen as World Leaders Shy Away, Human Rights Watch Says In World Report 2024 (www.hrw.org)
Governments’ double standards in applying the human rights framework not only put countless lives at risk, but they chip away at trust in the institutions responsible for enforcing and protecting rights, Human Rights Watch said....
Israel's plan to "destroy" Gaza comes from "the highest level of state", the UN's top court has heard (www.bbc.co.uk)
The claims were made by South African lawyers as it presented its case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer for the High Court of South Africa, told the ICJ Israel’s “genocidal intent” was evident “from the way in which this military attack is being...