Dozens of people marched in New Orleans today, chanting and carrying signs that read “Prevention Not Punishment” and “Needle=10 cents, HIV=$400,000.” The state of Louisiana has one of the worst HIV epidemics in the country.
John Kerry begins a three-day trip to Vietnam Saturday, his first trip there as U.S. Secretary of State. In a country where security forces have assaulted people for attending a “human rights picnic”, brave Vietnamese activists need and expect full-throated US support of their rights.People in the Central African Republic are facing mass violence, as vicious attacks have driven many to flee into the bush or to the relative safety of refugee camps. Both the mostly Muslim ex-Seleka forces that now rule the country, and the Christian anti-balaka militias backed by defecting soldiers still loyal to the ousted president, Francois Bozizé, are responsible for the bloodshed in tit-for-tat atrocities. Photographer Marcus Bleasdale has produced an outstanding collection of photos, and Human Rights Watch’s Peter Bouckaert has been reporting from the ground.
In Azerbaijan, already ranked 156 out of 179 countries by Reporters Without Borders for media freedom, the authorities seem determined to deliver a final blow to the country’s two most vocal pro-opposition daily newspapers.
From this morning: Syria's refugees are facing "Fortress Europe". In a new briefing released today, Amnesty International details how EU member states have only offered to open their doors to around 12,000 of the most vulnerable refugees from the war-torn country: just 0.5 per cent of the 2.3 million people who have fled the country.
