Detained Migrant Kids Sleep Next to Rats in Greece: HRW Daily Brief

The police in Greece routinely lock up unaccompanied migrant children in small, overcrowded, and unhygienic cells for weeks and months, in violation of international and Greek law. “Greece says it has to detain children for their own protection, but being locked up in cramped and filthy cells is the last thing these kids need,” says Rebecca Riddell, co-author of a new Human Rights Watch report, released today. The New York Times highlights the plight of people with disabilities in Japan after July's knife-attack in a care facility outside Tokyo, which left 19 people dead and many more injured. Disability rights groups have criticized the decision not to reveal the victims' names, saying it was part of a culture that sees disabled people as "lesser beings," who should be separated from the rest of society. Egypt's parliament has approved more stringent penalties for female genital mutilation. That may be a step toward eliminating the practice, but further legal and other reforms are needed. Child marriage has been illegal in Nepal since 1963, yet 37% of girls marry before they reach the age of 18. The country still hasn't done enough to enforce the law and ensure that kids can attend school instead of being forced to work and get married. James Ross, HRW's Legal and Policy Director, warns of Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte's declaration of a "state of lawlessness" in the wake of last week's bombing of a popular night market in Davao City, by unidentified assailants. "Unless Philippine lawmakers demonstrate political will, the Davao City bombing could become Mr. Duterte’s Plaza Miranda, an atrocity of convenience to justify presidential usurpation of power." Sad news from Indonesia, where little or nothing has changed in mental asylums since a Human Rights Watch report in March unveiled dreadful conditions under which people with mental health conditions live in the country.
And The Economist explains the dangers of 'post-truth' politics...