Citizens for Justice and Peace
US Supreme Court ruling means immigrants can be detained indefinitely
28-Feb-2018
The United States’ Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, February 27, that immigration authorities can hold immigrants indefinitely without bond hearings, even if they are permanent legal residents or asylum seekers, The Hill reported. The court ruled that immigrants did not have the right to periodic bond hearings, although immigration activists had maintained that immigrants should…
Syria could face two million lawsuits over lost and damaged property: NRC
28-Feb-2018
According to experts, Syrians will likely file more than two million lawsuits to secure compensation for lost and damaged property, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported. Syria’s civil war will soon be in its eighth year, and has displaced around 23 million people. According to Laura Cunial, a legal and housing expert with the Norwegian Refugee Council…
Bangladesh’s newborn death rate dramatically reduced since 1990
28-Feb-2018
UNICEF recently released a report documenting the “alarmingly high” rate of newborn deaths around the world. However, Bangladesh features as one of the positive stories. Bangladesh has managed to reduce its newborn mortality rate from 64.2 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 1990, to 20.1 for every 1,000 live births currently. In 1990, 241,000…
More than 6,000 migrant deaths documented in 2017
27-Feb-2018
According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Missing Migrants Project (MMP), 6,142 disappearances and deaths were documented around the world in 2017, making it the third straight year in which more than 6,000 fatalities were documented by the MMP. The IOM started monitoring migrant deaths in 2014, with almost 26,000 fatalities being documented thus far. However,…
Nearly two-thirds of South Sudan’s population under threat of acute food insecurity
27-Feb-2018
Three United Nations bodies–the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Programme (WFP)–have cautioned that more than 7 million people in South Sudan, nearly two-thirds of the country’s population, could struggle with acute food insecurity in the following months if they do not have access to consistent humanitarian…
UN names South Sudan military officials allegedly responsible for war crimes
26-Feb-2018
The Guardian reported that investigators from the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan say they have singled out more than 40 military officials from South Sudan who could be accountable for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes. The findings stem from several hundred witness interviews, satellite images, and almost 60,000 documents that date back…
Prosecutors come together to combat modern slavery
26-Feb-2018
Prosecutors from around the world joined hands at a three-day summit in London last week that was intended to bolster efforts against modern slavery, the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported. Britain’s Crown Protection Service (CPS) said the prosecutors intend to collaborate more closely to convict those engaging in slavery and human trafficking. The prosecutors also planned to…
UN rights experts criticise Iran’s detention of environmentalists
26-Feb-2018
After members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF) were detained for alleged spying, United Nations human rights experts have said that they are “concerned that Iranian authorities now seem to be arresting and investigating peaceful scientific activists for their invaluable conservationist work.” They added, “It is hard to fathom how working to preserve the Iranian flora…
Amnesty: “Hate-filled narratives by governments” threaten minorities
23-Feb-2018
Amnesty International, in its newly released annual report, has said that “hate-filled narratives by governments around the world” have enabled discrimination and bigotry against people who are already vulnerable, the Guardian reported, saying that the report depicts a situation in which human rights declined in 2017. Salil Shetty, the organisation’s secretary-general, said that there are “few governments…
Poor and Dalit women in India struggle with illiteracy, early death: UN
23-Feb-2018
A UN Women report on gender equality as part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals SDGs) has underscored how poorer women in India struggle compared to their wealthier counterparts, according to The Hindu. According to data from Demographic and Health Surveys, an Indian women, aged between 20 and 24 and from a poor rural home is…