Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 8 November

Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of immigrant women and girls labor to produce the food we eat. These women are highly vulnerable to workplace abuses, including sexual violence and harassment. Human Rights Watch awarded Alina Diaz, a farmworker advocate who works to promote the rights of women farmworkers, the Alison Des Forges Award for her courage in defending their dignity. The Russian prison service claimed today that jailed Pussy Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who has not been heard from in 17 days, is "being convoyed to the institution where she will serve her sentence."  Tolokonnikova recently released a public letter describing “intolerable” prison conditions and a death threat when she complained about those conditions. Her transfer was ordered shortly after she began a hunger strike in protest.   Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, football’s governing body, is off to Qatar, host of the 2022 World Cup,  to talk to the emir about migrant workers’ rights. Blatter should visit the French professional football player Zahir Belounis, whom Qatari officials have trapped in the country for almost two years on account of its inexcusable exit visa system. Six human rights groups wrote to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia calling on the kingdom to signal its willingness to address ongoing human rights concerns by releasing all human rights and civil society activists. From this morning: Thousands of middle-class Syrians are trying to escape their war-torn country to seek asylum in northern Europe. In a special set of reports, the Wall Street Journal tells the story of Fares Ayyub, one refugee stuck in Bulgaria, and Mohamed Simo, who - after 8 months, US$15,000 & 5 forged passports - managed to reach Sweden. Many have called for more EU solidarity with Syrians seeking asylum in Europe.