Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 31 October

Human Rights Watch is on the ground in the Central African Republic, where a human rights catastrophe unfolds unnoticed, to hand deliver our report documenting abuses by a coalition of rebel groups known as the Seleka. In a report released last month, HRW documented the Seleka's recruitment of children as young as 13 to carry out large-scale attacks on civilians, looting, and murder. Satellite imagery illustrated the large-scale destruction of numerous villages.  In India, nonprofit and advocacy groups, that have been critical of the government, say officials have been harassing them with constant queries and threatening investigations in apparently deliberate efforts to curtail dissent. India is setting a bad precedent in the region because several other countries are contemplating laws similar to India’s to restrict advocacy groups. While the US administration hints at changes to the NSA operation, Prime Minister David Cameron offers nothing of the kind in the UK.  From this morning: Scores have been found dead in the Sahara Desert, suspected of dying of thirst as they tried to get to Europe. The grim discovery follows the October 3 boat tragedy in the Mediterranean that killed 360 migrants on their way north.