Tag Archives: rights

At least nine Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken. The detentions come as the Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and …

The United Nations is condemning the Taliban after it publicly flogged more than 60 people at a sports stadium in northern Afghanistan. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan wrote on X that 63 people were “publicly lashed” by “Afghanistan’s de facto authorities” on Tuesday in the Sari Pul province. “UNAMA reiterates its condemnation of corporal punishment and calls for …

Turkey’s foreign minister has urged Chinese authorities to protect the cultural rights of minority Muslim Uyghurs in China’s western Xinjiang province and allow them to “live their values,” a Turkish official said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Wednesday concluded a three-day visit to China, where he met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, Vice President Han Zheng and other …

The leader of the United Arab Emirates met Tuesday with an official in the Taliban government still wanted by the United States on an up-to $10 million bounty over his involvement in an attack that killed an American citizen and other assaults. The meeting highlights the growing divide internationally on how to deal with the Taliban, who seized control of …

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) suffered a legal blow recently after a federal judge ruled the agency’s so-called “knock-and-talk” tactics, which involve engaging illegal immigrants and other migrants subject to arrest, to be unconstitutional. California U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II, a President George W. Bush appointee, issued a motion for summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs last week …

A Catholic monk in Kentucky has come out publicly as a transgender man and claims to be the first person in his position to do so. Brother Christian Matson, 39, a Catholic hermit in the Diocese of Lexington in Kentucky, made the declaration on Sunday, the diocese announced Tuesday. Hermits are a small subset of religious persons who mostly spend …

Vietnam’s top security official, To Lam, was confirmed Wednesday as the nation’s new president. He oversaw police and intelligence operations over a period when rights groups say basic liberties have been systematically suppressed, and the country’s secret service was accused of violating international law. Lam was confirmed by Vietnam’s National Assembly after his predecessor resigned amid an ongoing anti-corruption campaign …

An Islamist group operating in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province used boys as young as 13 in attacks on a town last week and residents who were forced to flee the fighting recognized some of the child soldiers as their missing relatives, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. Al-Shabab, which is affiliated to the Islamic State group, has previously …

A leading rights group said on Thursday that attacks by Sudanese paramilitary forces and their allied militias, which killed thousands in the western region of Darfur last year, constituted a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the area’s non-Arab population. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has been fighting Sudan’s military for over a year, allied with armed militias to carry …

Afghanistan’s Taliban face criticism over their human rights record at a U.N. meeting on Monday, with Washington accusing them of systematically depriving women and girls of their human rights. However, in an awkward first for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the concerned country’s current rulers will not be present because they are not recognized by the global body. Afghanistan will …