Human Rights Watch - The African Mirror

Oct

11

2020

Rights group blasts Argentina for using face recognition tech on kids

WORLD

HUGH BRONSTEIN HUMAN Rights Watch wants the city of Buenos Aires to stop using live facial recognition to identify children accused of committing crimes, the rights group has said. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Buenos Aires started using the technology in April 2019, making Argentina the only country in the world to deploy it against people under the age of 18. Although no minors are known to have been arrested yet, the group says the methodology is riddled with misidentifications that could unjustly limit job and educational opportunities for kids wrongly accused of theft and other crimes. HRW…

Oct

07

2020

By The African Mirror

Hundreds of thousands of people shackled for mental health issues globally

NEWS

PAUL CARSTEN and ANGELA OKUMADU HUNDREDS of thousands of men, women and children with mental health conditions are living chained up in roughly 60 countries, Human Rights Watch has revealed. Without mental health support or awareness, families or institutions shackle people against their will - often believing their condition is because they are bewitched, possessed or have sinned - and leaving them eating, sleeping, urinating and defecating in one small space, the rights watchdog said in a report. In the run-up to World Mental Health Day on October 10, the report documents almost 800 interviews describing how people with psychosocial…

Nov

27

2020

By The African Mirror

African peace envoys meet Ethiopian PM in bid for peace in Tigray

NEWS

AFRICAN peace envoys have met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a day after he said the military was beginning the "final phase" of an offensive in the northern Tigray region that rights groups fear could bring huge civilian casualties. The government had given the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) until Wednesday to lay down their arms or face an assault on Mekelle, the regional capital of 500,000 people. The United Nations says 200 aid workers are also in the city. The African Union envoys were in Addis Ababa "with a view to helping to mediate between the parties to the…

Dec

08

2020

By The African Mirror

Eritrea frees 28 Jehovah’s Witnesses prisoners, some after 26 years in jail

NEWS

ERITREA has released 28 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses group after they served prison terms of up to 26 years, the Christian denomination has announced. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Picture: Wikipedia In 1994 Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a decree revoking citizenship for members of the group for reasons including their conscientious objection to military service. Eritrea has maintained conscription for more than 20 years. Since that decree, Jehovah's Witnesses members have been subjected to detentions, torture and harassment in Eritrea, in part to compel them to renounce their faith, according to the group and international human rights organisations. In…

Jan

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly canes two gay men

WORLD

AUTHORITIES in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly caned six people accused of breaching Islamic law, including two men who received 77 lashes for having a same-sex relationship, in a punishment Human Rights Watch called “public torture”. Aceh is the only province in majority-Muslim Indonesia to follow Islamic law, and this was the third such caning since Aceh outlawed homosexuality in 2014. The province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, also imposes caning for crimes such as theft, gambling and adultery. A hooded religious police officer carried out Thursday’s floggings, watched by a crowd wearing face masks. One of the men…

Jan

22

2021

By The African Mirror

‘French bombs hit wedding’

NEWS

AARON ROSS THREE villagers in northern Mali told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that a French airstrike this month hit a wedding party attended by civilians, disputing French claims that only Islamist militants were hit. Different sides have offered contradictory accounts of the Jan. 3 strike outside the village of Bounti. The French military said it killed about 30 Islamist fighters - a version backed by Malian authorities. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the HRW report. It has previously said its intelligence before and after the strike allowed it to exclude the possibility of…

Sep

05

2021

By The African Mirror

How Chadians torture victims faced ex-president

NEWS

RICCI SHRYOCK CLEMENT Abaifouta, 55, has been waiting nearly 25 years to put one question to Hissène Habré, the former president of Chad: “Why did you arrest me?” Video: The Gravedigger and the President https://youtu.be/G1Lh4w6Bj3g Film by Aida Grovestins and Ricci Shryock Abaifouta was arrested on 12 July, 1985, when he was 23 years old. He had won a scholarship to study in Germany and reckons his travel plans raised suspicions in Habré's government that he was an opposition supporter. Instead of going to university, he first spent two weeks at the headquarters of the political police, known as the Documentation…

Feb

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Angolan security forces kill protesters

NEWS

ANGOLAN authorities should immediately ensure a prompt, independent, and thorough investigation into the killing by security forces of at least 10 unarmed protesters on January 30, 2021 during a protest organized by the Lunda Tchokwe Protectorate Movement in Lunda Norte province, Human Rights Watch said today. Four witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Angolan security forces indiscriminately fired at protesters who had peacefully gathered to demand better public services, including water and electricity supply, in the diamond-rich town of Cafunfu. The Angolan police reported that 6 people were killed, more than 20 were injured, and 16 were detained after officers…

Feb

07

2021

By The African Mirror

International Criminal Court rules it has jurisdiction over Palestinian Territories

WORLD

THE International Criminal Court has ruled that it has jurisdiction over war crimes or atrocities committed in the Palestinian Territories, paving the way for a criminal investigation, despite Israeli objections. Judges said their decision was based on jurisdictional rules in the Hague-based court's founding documents and does not imply any attempt to determine statehood or legal borders. Israel, which is not a member of the court, has rejected its jurisdiction. The court's prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in December 2019 there was "a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including…

Jul

21

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Kenya plan to help poor plagued by irregularities’

COVID-19

GEORGE OBULUTSA A Kenyan government programme intended to help the capital's poorest citizens weather the pandemic was crippled by irregularities including cronyism and benefited just a fraction of those in need, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday. President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the 10 billion-shilling ($92.51 million) cash transfer programme in May 2020, two months after the East African nation entered a strict lockdown. A report by the U.S.-based rights group found that officials in charge of enrolment frequently ignored eligibility criteria "and directed benefits to their relatives or friends, even in cases where they did not meet the criteria".…