The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution accusing the Taliban of violating the human rights of Afghan women and girls, failing to establish a representative government and plunging the country into “dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions”. The resolution also pointed to persistent violence in the country since the Taliban takeover 15 months ago […]
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The Foreign Secretary has placed diplomatic pressure on the United Nations to respond to China’s “appalling treatment” of the Uighur Muslims and people in Hong Kong. Addressing the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Dominic Raab said “no-one can ignore the evidence any more” of a deteriorating human rights situation in China and called for […]
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Saudi Arabia, for years one of the world’s most prolific executioners, dramatically reduced the number of people put to death last year, following changes halting executions for non-violent drug-related crimes, according to the government’s tally and independent observers. The Saudi government’s Human Rights Commission said on Monday it documented 27 executions in 2020. That is […]
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Polish leaders have rejected suggestions that LGBT people are deprived of any of their rights in the country. The rejection follows an open letter from 50 ambassadors and international representatives citing a need to work for “non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual acceptance”. The ambassadors’ appeal comes as an increasingly visible LGBT community in Poland has faced […]
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Sometimes things have to be reread in a different climate and context to be appreciated properly. Disparaging an idea is easy when there isn’t anything intellectually pressing you or requiring some sort of ethical and moral legwork on your beliefs. That also itself involves introspection and the willingness to analyse and identify mistakes. That is […]
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Turbulence in China’s restive far western region of Xinjiang has been caused by “external factors”, a state-run newspaper said Saturday in an editorial responding to calls by a group of U.S. lawmakers for sanctions on Chinese officials. “Western accusations of Xinjiang governance seriously misled the extremists, making them believe they were launching religious Jihad and […]
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Punjab’s new information minister, Islamist politician Fayaz-ul-Hasan Chohan, has announced a ban on “vulgar” movie billboards in the Pakistani province, angering those who fear the growing influence of hardliners under new Prime Minister Imran Khan. Since Khan’s party appointed him last week, Chohan has caused a number of rows, including with his visit to the […]
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The Zion Church in Beijing, one of the city’s largest unofficial Protestant “house” churches, has operated with relative freedom for years, hosting hundreds of worshippers every weekend in an expansive, specially renovated hall in north Beijing. But in April, city authorities asked the church to install 24 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the building for […]
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British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt accused Google on Thursday of abandoning its moral values by failing to remove child abuse content while launching a version of its search engine in China that will block some websites. The British government has repeatedly criticized online platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook for failing to remove abusive […]
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Social media, including Facebook, must proactively block content inciting hatred and prevent online campaigns which target minorities, such as those undertaken in Myanmar, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, was speaking after U.N. experts accused Myanmar generals of “genocidal intent” and said Facebook […]
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