End “double standard approach” on refugees, UN expert urges Poland
Geneva, Swizterland/Warsaw, PolandReuters Polish authorities must stop locking up migrants near the Belarus border and put an end to their “very different” treatment of Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian refugees, the UN Special Rapporteur on migrants’ rights said this week. Felipe Gonzalez Morales praised the actions of Polish authorities and citizens who have given protection and assistance […]
Amnesty International says Syrian refugees tortured on return
Beirut, LebanonReuters Amnesty International said on Tuesday Syrian refugees who returned home were subjected to torture, detention and disappearance by security forces, urging governments to protect them from deportation and forcible return. In a report titled You’re going to your death the London-based human rights group documented violations by intelligence officers against 66 returnees, including […]
Police hold children in “dire” conditions in Ethiopia’s Oromiya: rights commission
Nairobi, KenyaReuters The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission said on Thursday that police from the Oromiya region are holding a large number of detainees, including babies and children, without charge, in “unhygienic and overcrowded” police stations across the region. The state-appointed commission said children aged between five months and 10 years were being held along with […]
THE INTERVIEW: ANDREW BRUNSON TELLS OF “FIGHT FOR MY FAITH” IN TURKEY
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, speaks with freed American missionary Andrew Brunson about a new book detailing his final two years in Turkey where he spent months in a cramped cell before he was released following a campaign by US politicians and Christian leaders…
Trump imposes rule allowing US to detain migrant families indefinitely
Washington, DCReuters The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled a rule that allows officials to detain migrant families indefinitely while judges consider whether to grant them asylum in the United States, abolishing a previous 20-day limit. The rule, which is certain to draw a legal challenge, would replace a 1997 court settlement that limits the amount […]
BREXIT: HOMELESS EUROPEANS LIVING IN BRITAIN AT RISK OF FURTHER DEPRIVATION
ADELA SULIMAN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports from London on the uncertain future facing thousands of Europeans living on the streets in the UK…
Andrew Brunson, back in US after detention, hopes to return to Turkey one day
RNS Pastor Andrew Brunson, the American evangelical imprisoned in Turkey for almost two years, says he’d like to return to that country someday. For now, he is grateful to be on US soil. Andrew Brunson speaks during a US Commission on International Religious Freedom event in Washington. He was joined by his wife, Norine, and […]
Iranian officials interrogate 65-year-old Christian woman for 10 days – report
World Watch Monitor Iranian authorities continue to arrest Christians, among them a 65-year-old woman who was held in detention and interrogated for ten days, day and night. Security officials raided Ruhsari Kamberi’s home in Karaj, 50 kilometres west of the capital Tehran, a few days before Christmas while she was there with four other female […]
Thousands held in “unlawful and arbitrary” detention in Libya facing torture and abuse, says report
Thousands of people being held in unlawful arbitrary detention by armed groups in Libya are being tortured and abused, according to a UN report released this week. Released on Tuesday, the report – compiled by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in cooperatioon with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, estimates that […]