Tag Archives: rights

Beijing, China | AFP | China said Monday it would welcome UN officials to the restive western region of Xinjiang with the condition that they stay out of the country’s internal affairs. This comes after UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in December her office was seeking access to …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP |  Saudi courts will notify women by text message when they get divorced, in a new regulation that took effect on Sunday, officials said. The measure approved by the justice ministry appears aimed at curbing seemingly rampant cases of men secretly ending marriages without informing …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday sent a rights activist to prison for two years over charges including “spreading false news”, her lawyer and a court official said. The court also fined Amal Fathi, who was released three days previously in another case, 10,000 Egyptian …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Tanzania’s tough-talking president John Magufuli has earned respect by fighting corruption, but international donors are now concerned by crackdowns on human rights. The European Union, Tanzania’s biggest development partner, and the World Bank have recently taken measures to sanction repressive policies. Magufuli’s reputation was boosted …

Colombo, Sri Lanka | AFP | Some 278 skeletons have been found at one of the biggest mass graves uncovered in Sri Lanka since the end of the country’s civil war almost a decade ago, a top investigator said Friday. Dozens of women and children as well as men were …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | A Burundian court has acquitted three civil rights activists who had been handed 10-year jail terms for undermining state security, their organisation said Thursday. The decision is a rare victory for rights activists in the troubled nation. Emmanuel Nshimirimana, Aime Constant Gatore and Marius Nizigiyimana, …

Beijing, China | AFP | China has confirmed the death of former government spokesman Yuan Mu, who denied anyone was killed on Tiananmen Square during the bloody 1989 crackdown, nearly two weeks after his passing. A former Communist propaganda official, Yuan defended the Chinese government after soldiers of the People’s …

Havana, Cuba | AFP | Cuba will leave out of its new constitution changes that would have paved the way for legal same-sex marriage, despite majority support in local assemblies, a government official said Tuesday. It was a surprising twist given public popular support shown nationwide — and earlier remarks …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | An Egyptian court on Tuesday ordered the release of a rights activist jailed since May after she criticised sexual harassment in the country in a video posted online, her lawyer said. The decision to free Amal Fathi came as her husband Mohamed Lotfy, also a …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has yet again taken to the international scene the fight for equal representation of women in leadership. Kadaga told legislators and key leaders in Ghana that states can increase participation of women in leadership and power through legislation and …