Doha – Qatari authorities should implement labor reforms to protect migrant workers from serious human rights abuses; proposed reforms in 2014 are a welcome step but need to go further, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2015.…
Category: Human rights
Jordan’s executions are not the answer to ISIS brutality: HRW
Eric Goldstein The brutal murder of Jordanian pilot First Lt. Muath al-Kasasbeh by the extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS) set off a wave of outrage and sadness across Jordan, sparking calls in the streets and media for…
Excessive police force not answer to petrol bomb attacks
The Bangladeshi authorities risk exacerbating an already violent situation by giving police carte blanche to use excessive force in response to a recent wave of horrific petrol bomb attacks amid ongoing violent political protests, Amnesty International said on Friday. Media…
Govt protests UN rights body’s 16-Jan statement
The government has protested the statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a UN body, over the country’s present situation on 16 January last. A formal letter in this regard has been sent to…
Law enforcers remain unaccountable: Human Rights Watch
Security forces carried out abductions, killings, and arbitrary arrests, particularly targeting opposition leaders and supporters. In a positive development, after years of impunity for the security forces, several members of the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were arrested following the…
Firing shots in self-defence not HR violation: BGB chief
Director General of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed on Sunday said it will not be the violation of human rights if BGB members fire shots in self-defence and for protecting the lives and property of people. The…
Bangladesh HR agency finds Amnesty, AHRC reports not factual
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the government to take tough legal measures against those responsible for the violence unleashed amid the countrywide blockade. In a statement on Friday, the commission expressed concern and said brutality against ‘innocent…
Interview: Women unequal under Lebanon’s law
Lima Fakih and Ami Braunschweiger When Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire – before it was even a country – its religious groups were allowed to oversee the equivalent of family law. French colonizers upheld this system, and today…
After Charlie Hebdo, tackling intolerance against Jews, Muslims
Izza Leghtas Last Sunday people filled the streets of Paris and other French cities and towns in an overwhelming expression of solidarity with the victims of the brutal attacks last week that left 17 people dead. People of all ages…
What’s next for France?
Jean-Marie Fardeau France is still in shock. On January 10 and 11, millions of people around the world rallied to express their outrage after the murder of 17 innocent people – some because they worked at the satirical weekly Charlie…
Burma needs to amend biased citizenship law: HRW
The Burmese government should accept the United Nations call to amend the discriminatory law that deprives Rohingya Muslims of Burmese citizenship, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday in a letter to President Thein Sein. On December 29, 2014, the UN General…
Crackdown on opposition, media – HRW: Securing life, property – Matia
New York – The Bangladesh government should immediately end its use of excessive force, stop arbitrary arrests of members of opposition parties, and lift restrictions on the media, Human Rights Watch said on Friday. Hundreds of opposition activists, including from…
France: An Attack on Free Expression
Response to Charlie Hebdo Killings Should Protect Rights French authorities should bring to justice those responsible for the horrific attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should guard against…
Investigate deaths, release prisoners held this week: Amnesty
‘Bangladeshi authorities must investigate the killing of protesters and release prisoners , including a prominent journalist and an opposition leader, arrested this week as part of an apparent crackdown against the opposition Bangladesh National Party (BNP),’ Amnesty International said. In…
India’s ‘manual scavengers’ up against caste discrimination
By Shai Venkatraman Mumbai, Jan 2015 (IPS) – Watching Bittal Devi deftly weave threads of different colours into a vibrant patchwork quilt, it’s hard to imagine that this 46-year-old’s hands have spent the better part of their life cleaning toilets.…
BNP head office locked, Khaleda confined, Rizvi hauled
Police on Saturday night confined BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to her Gulshan political office, 36 hours before her party-led 20-party’s scheduled January-5 rally. “Madam Khaleda Zia is confined at her office by the members of law-enforcement agencies, including police, of…
State lose sense of humanity, rulers detached: Dr Kamal
Gono Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain on Friday said the Sate now has lost the sense of humanity as the rulers have got detached from people. “The state has lost the sense of humanity. Why? Those who are running the…
Crossfire rose 80pc in 2014. HR situation alarming-ASK
Non-governmental human rights watchdog Ain O Salis Kendra (ASK) in its report for 2014 said on Wednesday that the human rights situation in Bangladesh was alarming in 2014, and that the incidents of “crossfires” have sharply increased in the year.…
Gayeshwar put under 2-day fresh remand
A Dhaka court yesterday (Tuesday) placed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Standing Committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy on a two-day fresh remand in a case filed with Turag Police Station under the Special Power Act 1974. Magistrate Rezaul Karim of the…
Police did question, not torture Jihad’s father, claims IGP
The inspector general of police (IGP) has defended the questioning of ‘Jihad’s father Nasir Fakir but denied allegations that he was tortured in custody. Hassan Mahmood Khandker says they interrogated Fakir in a ‘friendly manner’ to ‘crack the mystery’. Fakir’s…
BNP accuse Govt of crimes against humanity, comfort victim families
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday accused the government of crimes against humanity including enforced disappearance, killing and abduction. “The monster government has destroyed all the achievements of Bangladesh. Carrying out enforced disappearance is treated as crimes…
51 noted Bangladeshis decry curving freedom using court contempt
Fifty-one noted citiznes, writers and activists from home and abroad have expressed deep concern over the use of contempt of court law in curbing freedom of expression. In a joint statement released globally on Friday, they also expressed concern over…
Uniting against the Pakistan school massacre
Zama Coursen-Neff The attack on a school in Peshwar in northwestern Pakistan that left at least 145 dead – almost all of them children – sets a new low of depravity for the Pakistani Taliban. Tragically, the attack, while horrific…
Javan migrant workers’ advocate wins rights award
Migrant workers’ rights activist Anis Hidayah received the 2014 Yap Thiam Hien human rights award for being “the voice for millions of Indonesian migrant workers”, as described by the award committee. One of the judges, lawyer and human rights activist…
Burning Down the House in Chechnya
Tanya Lokshina “If a rebel kills a policeman or another person, his family will be immediately expelled from Chechnya with no right to return, and their house will be razed to the ground.” These were the words that Chechnya’s leader,…
US Senate report slams CIA torture, lies
Washington, DC – The US Senate Intelligence Committee’s report summary on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) detention and interrogation program is a powerful denunciation of the agency’s extensive and systematic use of torture, Human Rights Watch said today. The 525-page…
Climate negotiators urged to integrate human rights
John H. Knox Over 70 human rights experts of the United Nations, including the special rapporteurs on the rights to food, health, water, and an adequate standard of living, as well as the special rapporteurs on the rights of indigenous…
World Human Rights Day observed
The World Human Rights Day was observed in the country on Wednesday as elsewhere across the globe. The UN General Assembly proclaimed December 10 as Human Rights Day in 1950 with a view to bringing to the attention ‘of the…
World Human Rights Day observed
The World Human Rights Day was observed in the country on Wednesday as elsewhere across the globe. The UN General Assembly proclaimed December 10 as Human Rights Day in 1950 with a view to bringing to the attention ‘of the…
Human rights in Bangladesh on verge of ruination: BNP
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday alleged that now the human rights in the country is not only under threat but also on the verge of ruination. “The government itself is violating the human rights,” he said…