On 29 August 2018, Venezuela’s intelligence services detained freelance photographer Jesús Medina Ezaine at a subway station in Caracas after covering a demonstration and he’s been imprisoned since. Medina worked for the website Dólar Today, which is based in the US and publishes articles critical of Venezuela’s socialist government and focuses on monitoring the Venezuelan … Read more →
A French-Iranian academic has been detained in Iran and the French government has demanded immediate consular access. The French foreign ministry called on the Iranian authorities to “shed full light” on Fariba Adelkhah’s situation and allow diplomats to visit her. Adelkhah is best known for her book “Being Modern in Iran”, about changes in the … Read more →
On 11 July, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the Philippines that requests the UN human rights office to present a comprehensive report on human rights in the Philippines to the council next June. The resolution also expresses concern about the range of rights violations in the country and calls on … Read more →
On 10 and 11 July, the first Global Conference on Media Freedom took place in London. The event, organised by the UK government and the government of Canada, is the first of its kind and over 60 ministers attended as well as over 1,000 reporters and members of civil society. The conference is part of … Read more →
The UK responded to the report by the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur on racism by commending the acknowledgement of the UK’s strong legal framework for combatting racism. But the UK government were however quick to criticise the UN’s findings that suggest that UK policies entrench racial inequality in the UK. A 2018 report … Read more →
Prominent rights lawyer Amal Clooney has said she will join the legal team defending Philippines journalist Maria Ressa, whose news site has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte. Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2018 for her journalism, faces several criminal charges along with her website Rappler, in what … Read more →
According to new research from the BBC, China is deliberately separating Muslim children from their families, faith and language in its far western region of Xinjiang. Records show that in one township alone more than 400 children have lost not just one but both parents to some form of internment, either in the camps or … Read more →
On 2 July, at the 41st session of the Human Rights Council, the UK stated its deep concern that hospitals and schools have been attacked in Idlib and called for the urgent return to the Sochi ceasefire. With over 300 killed and 330,000 displaced since the end of April, the UK Mission to the United … Read more →
The US government has removed most of the children from a remote border patrol station in Texas, following reports that more than 300 children were detained there, caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation. I've been heartbroken and horrified to read the news of children at the border being detained in appalling … Read more →
Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu state, has become the first major Indian city to face an acute water shortage. Every morning, its four million residents line up daily to fill cans and pots of water from state water trucks across the city. Some residents get their rationed quota of water daily, while others get … Read more →
