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15 April 2016
News from HART
- Thank you to all those who attended the HART Prize for Human Rights Exhibition and Prize Giving Ceremony this week!
Burma
- A strong earthquake of 6.9 in magnitude struck Burma on Wednesday, but luckily no deaths were reported.
India
Credits: Financial Times, 2016
- The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a political party with a strong Dalit base has launched its own television channel this week. The channel will strive to present the Dalit perspective.
- A 15-year-old Dalit girl in Meerut’s Nangla Rathi village, who was held captive and raped repeatedly for three days, is reportedly under pressure to withdraw the case against the two accused.
- The BBC has published an article questioning why there is such a high suicide rate of housewives in India.
- India sent a water train to relieve a parched region as a severe drought worsens in 10 of the country’s 29 states. Source of photo: Financial Times
Nagorno-Karabakh
- According to Reuters, “Nagorno-Karabakh’s defense ministry said on Friday that one of its soldiers died…after he was hit by gunfire from Azerbaijan’s forces”.
Nigeria
- Thursday marked the two year anniversary of the kidnapping of girls from Chibok by Boko Haram. A woman from Chibok recounts the night the girls were kidnapped in this interview with the Guardian. She says “For me, 14 April is not just a day in the calendar. For the girls abducted and their families, for those of us who were there, 14 April is every day until the terror inflicted by Boko Haram is over, and the remaining girls are freed.” A recent video by Boko Haram shows some of these girls still alive. Boko Haram has reportedly demanded nearly £40m for return of Nigerian schoolgirls
- A freed Boko Haram ‘bride’ tells the BBC of the stigma she faced when returning to her village after being rescued from Boko Haram.
- Amnesty International is calling for an investigation after officials said Nigeria’s military had secretly buried more than 300 Shia Muslims in a mass grave.
- One in five Boko Haram suicide attacks are carried out by children, UNICEF reports.
- An article published in Vanguard questions whether the upsurge of attacks by Fulani Herdsmen are more dangerous than Boko Haram attacks.
South Sudan
- The Guardian reports that, “tensions run high” in South Sudan as the rebels return to Juba, which has been, “a government stronghold throughout the conflict” and, “a milestone in a peace process marred by delays and continued fighting”.
- The International Committee for the Red Cross explores sexual violence in South Sudan, the “tragic and taboo scar” of the conflict.
Lynsey Addario / Getty Images Reportage
Sudan
Sudan’s Bashir has been campaigning in the Darfur region ahead of this week’s referendum. However ongoing instability means that many opponents of the government are boycotting the referendum as they say that the vote is not fair given that many internally displaced people will be unable to vote.
Darfuris concluded voting on Wednesday in a referendum on whether to reunite the states of their arid western region, amid a boycott by rebel groups that accuse the government of rigging the vote to keep Darfur divided. The results are expected next week.
UN Independent Expert on human rights to start second mission to Sudan to assess the situation of human rights and efforts being undertaken by the Sudanese government to comply with its international human rights obligations, focusing particularly on IDPs.
Uganda
Credits: BBC, 2016
After the breakdown of Uganda’s only radiotherapy machine, 400 cancer patients are forced to Kenya to receive their radiation treatment. The BBC has documented the struggle of some of Uganda’s local cancer patients, like that of Victoria Akware.
The BBC has reported that, “at least one body has been recovered after the collapse of a building in the Ugandan capital”.
1,500 of Uganda’s social entrepreneurs will be receiving the support of USAID, claims New Vision.