Girls Enslaved in Mozambique: Daily Brief

New Human Rights Watch research published today shows how 'Islamic State'-linked militants have kidnapped and enslaved hundreds of women and girls in Mozambique since 2018. Mozambican and regional forces have rescued some of the women and girls, but many remain missing in the northernmost province of Cabo Delgado. The group, known locally as Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah (ASWJ) and Al-Shabab (or mashababos) forced younger, healthy-looking, and lighter-skinned women and girls in their custody to “marry” their fighters, who enslave and sexually abuse them. Others have been sold to foreign fighters for between 40,000 and 120,000 Meticais (US$600 to US$1,800).

The ordeal of an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after repeatedly being raped by a family member briefly brought to the fore the myriad barriers to obtaining a legal abortion in Bolivia. After weeks of publicity and thanks to the intervention of the Ombudsperson’s Office, the child was finally, on November 6, able to terminate her pregnancy. Since then, the issue has disappeared from public discussion, as if the case were exceptional. It absolutely is not.

Pope Francis has repeatedly made news this autumn, calling for a Catholic Church that is more welcoming toward LGBTQ+ people. Yet it appears that in Ghana, the Pope’s remarks have fallen on deaf ears...

The World Health Organization’s declaration that omicron is a “Variant of Concern” delivers another stark reminder that severely unequal access to COVID-19 vaccines poses grave danger to the world’s population. The pandemic has laid bare the dangers of having manufacturing capacity for life-saving vaccines concentrated in a few countries where governments have refused to prioritize and mandate sharing intellectual property and technology for rapid diversified and global production.

As a major United Nations disarmament conference is set to be held in Geneva from December 13-17, healthcare professionals and burn survivor organizations from around the world are adding a compelling voice to the diplomatic debate around incendiary weapons. Members of these groups, who best understand the cruel effects of incendiary weapons, have signed an open letter urging governments to reevaluate and strengthen international law on these weapons, which burn people and set fire to civilian structures and property.

A military court in Pakistan has reportedly sentenced human rights defender and political activist Idris Khattak to 14 years’ “rigorous imprisonment” on charges of espionage after anonymous sources claimed he had provided sensitive information to a “foreign intelligence agency.” Khattak (57) was taken into custody on November 13, 2019, when armed men intercepted his car near Swabi, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He has since been held incommunicado.

And we end with very welcome Olympics news: the United States has announced it will send no officials to the Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, because of the crimes against humanity that the Xi Jinping regime is committing in the Xinjiang region. Much more action is needed though, to make sure those responsible are held to account.