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[Premium Times] The MRA also wants the perpetrators of such attacks punished.
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has announced the holding of an \"urgent\" debate on systemic racism and police brutality on Wednesday, June 17, 2020.
The U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva said, it will examine the \"current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and the violence against peaceful protests\" this Wednesday.
In a letter to Tichy-Fisslberger obtained by CBS News, Burkina Faso's representative to the U.N. Dieudonné W. Désiré Sougouri called for the debate Friday in the wake of the protests that have spread throughout the world since the death of George Floyd.
\"The tragic events of 25 May in Minneapolis in the U.S. which led to the death of George Floyd led to protests throughout the world against injustice and police brutality that persons of African descent face on a daily basis in many regions of the world,\" Sougouri said.
Several high profile U.N. officials, including Secretary General António Guterres, have denounced racism, while more than 20 senior U.N. officials who are African or of African descent also published a statement titled, \"On the Black Lives Matter Protests and other Mass Demonstrations against Systemic Racism and Police Brutality.\"
[Nation] The British government is seeking clarification on the circumstances under which Nigeria extradited Nnamdi Kanu, a dual citizen of both countries, over crimes related to his secessionist movement, even as his family insists Kenya played a role in his capture.
The Judicial Conduct Committee was tasked with probing several complaints against Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, and also whether he had contravened the Code of Judicial Conduct.
[Vanguard] Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja \"to order the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to perform their statutory functions to review downward the remuneration and allowances of President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, 36 governors and members of the National Assembly.\"
Human rights violations are still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder, a report by a UN watchdog said.
Hopes had been pinned on new President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who was elected in May. He took over from his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza, who was in office for 15 years.
During his tenure, at least t 1,200 people were killed and more than 400,000 displaced during unrest between April 2015 and May 2017, according to the UN.
It was hoped the new leader could change the face of the central African country.
But the Commission of Inquiry on Burundi described evidence of killings and disappearance in recent weeks.
It also said during the election there was evidence of summary executions, torture and sexual violence.
“In recent weeks there have continued to be killings, there have continued to be arbitrary detentions and there have continued to be disappearances,” said Commission of Inquiry member Francoise Hampson.
\"It’s slightly surprising that it is continuing as it was even though elections have finished. And that is a matter of very grave concern.”
The investigators also looked at serious violations committed on youngsters under 18, who they said were \"specifically targeted.”
“They are forcibly recruited into the ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, other times they were harmed when other family members are the real targets,” the commissioners said.
“We very much fear the consequences of the 2015 crisis for Burundi’s future, not least because of the long-term impact it will have on the children”, said Commissioner Lucy Asuagbor.
Over the past four years, the commission has been the only independent mechanism to report on human rights violations in Burundi
The panel is concerned that this oversight will disappear when it ends its mandate this year.
The report will be presented to the Human Rights Council on 23 September.
UN chief António Guterres is encouraging Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to persevere with efforts to overcome their differences and reach agreement on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Negotiations centre on the pace at which Ethiopia fills the 74 billion cubic metre reservoir behind the dam and the impact that could have on water supplies downstream in Sudan and Egypt.
UN experts say that Egypt wants to put international pressure on Ethiopia to agree to a proposal - put forward by the United States and World Bank - on the dam's first filling and annual operation.
Egypt also insists that Ethiopia must not start filling the reservoir until an agreement is reached, in line with its interpretation of the Declaration that Ethiopia is contesting.
According to news reports, Egypt also dismissed the Ethiopian proposal on the initial filling, writing a letter to the Security Council on 1 May calling on Ethiopia to respect its obligations and resume talks.
On Wednesday, the United States seized a shipment of $800,000 worth of weaves and other hair products, according to the Associated Press. The hair, which was made by Lop County []
The post That Hair You Just Bought Could Be From A Chinese Prison appeared first on Essence.
A letter signed by all 54 African nations requested the UN Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police violence as protests over George Floyd's death grow around the world.
African countries on Friday called on the United Nation Human Rights Council to urgently debate racism and police impunity, amid growing protests over George Floyd's death in the United States and other parts of the world.
Burkina Faso's ambassador to the UN in Geneva wrote the letter on behalf of the 54 African countries, asking the UN's top human rights body for an \"urgent debate\" on \"racially inspired human rights violations, police brutality against people of African descent and the violence against the peaceful protests that call for these injustices to stop.\"
The appeal comes after Floyd's family, relatives of other victims of police brutality, and nearly 600 NGOs urged the council to urgently address the issue of systemic racism and police violence.
\"The protests the world is witnessing are a rejection of the fundamental racial inequality and discrimination that characterize life in the United States for black people, and other people of color,\" the letter said.
AN informal network of European non-governmental organisations, the Zimbabwe Europe Network (ZEN) has called on the European Union Parliament to pass a resolution condemning ongoing human rights violations in the southern African country.
ZEN co-ordinator Hugo Knoppert accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of being a tyrant hiding behind COVID-19 lockdown restrictions to perpetuate human rights abuses.
“ZEN calls upon the EU Parliament to adopt a resolution condemning the recent human rights violations in Zimbabwe,” Knoppert said.
“Therefore, ZEN welcomes recent statements by the EU delegation, EU embassies, and individual diplomats, and urges them to continue to speak out on human rights and democracy issues.”
Knoppert urged the EU institutions to use the upcoming planning summit of their Multi-annual funding framework to rethink its strategies of engagement and supporting Zimbabwe.
[allAfrica] African citizens and local community groups which campaign on environmental issues are increasingly being sued by corporations in what activists regard as attempts to silence them. In South Africa, environmental attorneys and community activists are defending a defamation action in which an Australian mining company is claiming damages totalling more than U.S. $830,000.
[Namibia Economist] The Namibia Diverse Women's Association (NDWA) commemorated International Day Against Bi-phobia, Homophobia, Inter-sexism and Trans-phobia (IDAOBIT) on 17 May with the theme,'together: resisting, supporting, healing'.
[Premium Times] The lawyer asks the court to reverse the ban, prohibit the government from suspending other social media platform, and declare as illegal the threat of criminal prosecution issued by the government.
[HRW] Human Rights Watch thanks the Commission of Inquiry for a much-needed update on the grave human rights violations that Burundian state agents, most notably the National Intelligence Service and administrative authorities, and members of the Imbonerakure, have committed against the population since May 2019.
United Nations — The combination of rife insecurity, food insecurity and more than 7.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance has left the Sahel a region in crisis, with the global coronavirus pandemic expected to exacerbate the situation.
The briefing, titled 'They Executed Some and Brought the Rest with Them: Civilian Lives at risk in the Sahel', details the grave reality in the region, especially across Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, including \"at least 57 cases of extrajudicial executions or unlawful killings, and at least 142 cases of enforced disappearances\" that have allegedly been committed by soldiers between February and April.
Rajasingham noted that between 2019 and now, the region experienced an exponential rise in its need for humanitarian assistance: with 7.5 million people in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali requiring assistance -- up from 6.1 million just a year ago.
According to Ousmane Diallo, a Sahel researcher at Amnesty International, the COVID-19 pandemic \"is not the defining feature in the region due to its emergence but it constitutes another challenge that different governments must contend with\".
\"The governments of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have mobilised their security structures in an effort to respond to the rise in militant Islamist group violence,\" the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies said.
[DW] Nigeria's justice minister Abubakar Malami said Nnamdi Kanu was seized with Interpol's help. Local media claim the leader of the Biafra independence movement was picked up in Ethiopia.
When the Tanzanian newspaper, Mseto, was controversially banned for three years in 2016, the move sparked years of litigation at the East African Court of Justice, litigation that now seems to have been brought to an end by an appeal decision from that court delivered last week.
This particular court is not very well known outside the region, but its findings in the two Mseto cases, not to mention other judgments delivered by the EACJ, indicate that its decisions are worth reading – and, if you are a judge or counsel, worth citing.
However, a year went by without anything further being done to file the appeal, and Mseto eventually applied to the court's appellate division to strike out the appeal notice.
Counsel explained that, despite the ban lapsing, Mseto was unable to resume publication because Tanzania's Registrar of Newspapers had refused to issue a new licence on the basis that an appeal was pending.
Closely examining the relevant timelines, however, the appeal judges said the restructuring of the AG's office began in February 2018, while the trial court's Mseto decision was delivered more than four months after this.
Threats to kill women and babies, while corpses of fighters paraded in grotesque incidents
Banned anti-personnel landmines planted in civilian homes, with Russian military company Wagner implicated
'Commanders must publicly condemn these acts' - Diana Eltahawy
New evidence obtained by Amnesty International indicates that war crimes and other violations may have been committed between 13 April and 1 June by warring parties in Libya during the latest surge in fighting near Tripoli.
Amnesty is calling on all warring parties and associated forces in Libya to immediately halt attacks against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law, including those being carried out to punish civilians for their perceived affiliations with rival groups.
In another video posted on social media on 30 April, again verified by Amnesty, a Government of National Accord-affiliated fighter is seen threatening \"Kaniyat forces\" (aligned with the Libyan National Army) that they would \"not to leave a single woman alive\" when they capture the town of Tarhuna, south-east of Tripoli.
Amnesty verified one video showing the Libyan National Army first infantry brigade parading fighters' corpses in a pick-up truck, while calling a captured Government of National Accord fighter a \"Syrian dog\" on 18 April.
Witnesses and a medical source confirmed to Amnesty that an attack launched by Libyan National Army forces on Souq Al-Talat on 31 May left at least three civilians dead and 11 wounded, including a child whose leg was amputated.
Rep. Gregory Meeks etched his name in history as was elected the first Black Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs... View Article
The post Rep. Meeks elected first Black Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee appeared first on TheGrio.
Yenagoa — A Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, Thursday convicted Mr. Yunusa Dahiru for the abduction, raping and impregnating a teenager, Miss Ese Oruru, in 2015.
The abduction of Oruru said to be the youngest child of Mr. Charles Oruru and Mrs. Rose Oruru occurred on 12 August 2015 at her mother's shop in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Following public outcry and the intervention of the then Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mr. Solomon Arase, Ese was reportedly rescued by Kano State Police Command on February 29, 2016 and placed in the custody of the government.
Dahiru was arraigned on March 8, 2016 before the Federal High Court in Yenagoa on charges of criminal abduction, illicit sex, sexual exploitation and having unlawful carnal knowledge of the minor.
Dahiru was arraigned and charged with abduction, kidnapping, unlawful carnal knowledge and sexual exploitation by the police on March 8, 2016.
Huawei has been barred from fully using Android for at least another 12 months, after Donald Trump extended his executive order banning US firms from working with companies deemed a national security risk.
This resulted in Huawei not being able to use all of Google’s Android operating system on future devices, meaning no access to the Google Play app store, and no direct availability of popular apps such as YouTube and Google Maps.
Newer handsets, like the Mate 30 and P40, have relied on a modified operating system using Huawei’s own app store, AppGallery
The order was set to expire on 15 May 2020.
Newer handsets, like the Mate 30 and P40, have relied on a modified operating system using Huawei’s own app store, AppGallery.
‘Serious legal issues’
Huawei responded saying it is “ready and willing” to engage with the US government and come up with effective measures to ensure product security.
Speakers Urge the Council to Establish an International Commission of Inquiry to Investigate Systemic Racism in Law Enforcement in the United States
The Human Right Council this afternoon began an urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests.
It heard calls from speakers for the Council to establish an international commission of inquiry to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States.
E. Tendayi Achiume, Special Rapporteur on racism, via video message, on behalf of other mandate holders, urged the Council to create an international commission of inquiry with the necessary authority to investigate systemic racism in law enforcement in the United States.
The Council will next meet on Thursday, 18 June at 10 a.m. to conclude the urgent debate on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests.
Statement by the President of the Human Rights Council
ELISABETH TICHY-FISSLBERGER, President of the Human Rights Council, recalled that on Friday, 12 June 2020, she had received a letter from Burkina Faso on behalf of the African Group containing the formal request to hold this urgent debate on \"the current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality against people of African descent and violence against peaceful protests\".
Below, Black community activists and their allies share how to turn your empathy into action in the wake of police brutality.
Now more than ever is the time to take action to support Black, Indigenous and other people of color ― even if you’ve been slow to get involved in the past.
(The group Perkal is involved with, Showing Up For Justice, is a perfect example of that: They’re a nonprofit that works to bring more white communities and people into multiracial, antiracist movements for justice.)
In the clip, Elliott asks an audience of mostly white people a very, very simple question: Would you want to be treated like a Black person in America?
“Then you can show up at the police precinct and let the chief of police know you are outraged by the treatment of Black people,” she said.
Even before COVID-19, many African countries used libel and defamation laws, and internet shut downs to limit the freedom of expression of citizens and the media.
This recommendation can still be used to combat fake news as long as the impact on freedom of expression is minimal.
The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa issued a recently press statement expressing concerns about internet shutdowns in African countries in the time of COVID-19.
And the African Commission recently published its Revised Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa.
Finally, African governments must not use fake news during this pandemic as a shield to violate the freedom of expression of its citizens, or settle old scores with the press.
The US department of commerce on Saturday expanded its so-called Entities List, which restricts access to American technology and other items, to include 24 Chinese companies and universities it said had ties to the military and another nine entities it accused of human rights violations in Xinjiang.
It shows the US intention to politicise commercial ties, curb China’s technology development and expand its long-arm jurisdiction
“The move marks a US-China technology decoupling 2.0 or 2.5.
‘Unreliable entity list’
“The message sent from the US is more important than the Entity List itself,” said Li Yong, a senior fellow at the China Association of International Trade, which is connected to the ministry of commerce.
“It shows the US intention to politicise commercial ties, curb China’s technology development and expand its long-arm jurisdiction.”
China announced it was preparing the blacklist in mid-2019 at the height of the trade war with the US, but never said who was on the list.
[allAfrica] As of July 10, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 55 African countries have reached 541,923. Active cases have reached 266,619 after 5,420,815 tests.
[Namibian] Namibia Diverse Women's Association (NDWA) continues to believe that the systemic biphobia, homophobia, intersexism and transphobia in Namibia leads to the lack of service delivery and the protection of LGBTQ+ community rights.
“Police still want to interrogate them over violating the lockdown rules, and if they have a complaint on allegations of abductions, then government can look into that,” Ziyambi responded.
Yesterday, the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) raised concern over arbitrary arrests, abduction and torture of citizens by alleged State security agents, saying such behaviour coming from a police service had no place in a democratic nation.
This came as police on Wednesday arrested MDC Alliance Harare youth chairperson Stanley Manyenga for violating lockdown regulations when he participated in the flash protest that landed Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marowa in trouble.
The alleged physical and sexual abuse of the MDC Alliance activists has attracted international attention, with the heads of mission of the European Union, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States delegations calling for a credible government investigation on the abduction of the trio.
The US Senate Foreign Relations committee chairperson Jim Risch said: “I join the heads of mission in calling for thorough and credible investigations and prosecutions of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, to include the abduction and torture of Hon Joanah Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova last week.”
BY LORRAINE MUROMO PARTICIPANTS, who contributed during public hearings on the Independent Complaints Bill, which is currently before Parliament, yesterday said the
The post ‘Complaints Bill, must address State-sponsored rights violations’ appeared first on NewsDay Zimbabwe.
EDITORIAL COMMENT THE realisation of “The Africa We Want” or Agenda 2063 will remain a mirage with several African countries, including Zimbabwe dented by reports of human rights abuses, human trafficking, police brutality on citizens, torture and several other vices that will never lead to achievement of Africa’s 50-year development trajectory. There have been so many hashtags calling for sanity and an end to brutality in Africa which include #ZimbabweanLivesMatter, #EndSarsNow, #CongoIsBleeding, #AmINext, #AnglophoneCrisis, #RapeNationalEmergency, and several others that show the deep-seated problems bedevilling Africa and that will retard its economic and human development agenda. Of course, one may argue that even Europe and the United States have their own problems and there are several hashtags pertaining to those, but the difference is that their economies are developed, and besides, it is always good to copy the best practices. For Zimbabwe in particular, what is saddening is that the government seems to be focusing on the wrong priorities. While it is true that sanctions hurt a nation, it is an open secret that the biggest sanction is government itself which has outrightly refused to listen to the complaints of its citizens. The fact that the government does not want to listen to teachers, doctors and other civil servants when they cry about their poor working conditions, means that the government is their biggest sanction from achieving the development they want. What is more disturbing is that while government will lure other African countries to support its October 25 anti-sanctions agenda, and is also counting on citizens to do so, it is the same government that denies civil servants and other dissenting voices in the country the right to air their own grievances. In Parliament last week, Norton MP Temba Mliswa bluntly said if the Zanu PF government wants MPs to join their cause, then they must first sort out the welfare issues of MPs who are earning $18 000 which is far below the poverty datum line of $20 000. It is sad that Zimbabwe and other African countries like Nigeria which are experiencing human rights abuses are signatories to different African Union (AU) charters like the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the African Continental Free Trade Area, and several other AU and United Nations charters that emphasise democracy and respect for human rights, but none of those provisions are being implemented. The country has come up with economic blueprints, like the Transitional Stabilisation Programme and its successor the National Development Plan which emphasise re-engagement, democracy and achievement of economic development. This can only be possible if there is a buy-in from citizens. After all, those that implement government policies are mostly the underpaid civil servants that have been crying out for living wages. Africa needs to increase peace and reduce conflicts if it is to achieve the objectives of Agenda 2063. All development should be people centred.
