Human Rights Watch Daily Brief, 26 October 2015

At least two air strikes in northern Homs, Syria - apparently by Russia - killed a total of 59 civilians, residents said, including 33 children. The Saudi-led coalition continues to bomb Yemen, with devastating effects on civilians. People with mental health conditions in Somaliland are increasingly forced into institutions, where they face serious abuses and poor conditions, according to a new report. The European Union and Western Balkans countries met yesterday, 25 October, with leaders announcing a 17-point action plan that would boost border management and offer some new support to refugees and migrants. Unless EU member states start working together to address the refugee crisis, people will die at Europe’s borders this winter. Hostility towards refugees remains strong in some parts of Europe, and the language of some leaders only seems to be encouraging xenophobia. Two men have died in custody in Tunis under suspicious circumstances in separate incidents. Relatives of both men provided photographs showing marks and bruises on their faces and bodies, and said that authorities had failed to inform them promptly about the deaths. New legislation in Russia could mean arrests for LGBT people who "come out." The jailed son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said that he had been held in solitary confinement and suffered due process violations during pretrial detention at Tripoli’s al-Hadba prison. Al-Saadi Gaddafi made the allegations in a private meeting at al-Hadba with Human Rights Watch, its first meeting with him since his extradition from Niger in March 2014 and apparently his first meeting with an international human rights organization. There are now 53 million domestic workers worldwide, many travelling from poorer countries to richer ones to work in private households. The International Trade Union Confederation says some 2.4 million are "enslaved" in Saudi Arabia, Qatar,Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.