Will New Leader End UK’s Assault on Rights?: Daily Brief

Will New Leader End UK’s Assault on Rights?

With Liz Truss becoming the UK’s new prime minister today, it’s time to ask if she might bring any change of direction on human rights.

It’s a difficult moment. Truss comes to power against the backdrop of the UK’s worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, and the country is looking at possible energy blackouts, labor unrest, and recession. On fundamental human rights, the UK has been headed in the wrong direction for years.

The previous government under Boris Johnson enacted a raft of measures that have eroded citizens’ freedoms and undermined the UK’s democratic protections. From limiting the right to protest to the introduction of ID cards at the ballot box – a move that will disproportionately impact women and ethnic minorities – the government has made Britain a less open, fair, and democratic society.

Recently, Johnson also introduced the “bill of rights,” a legislative wrecking ball on rights at home. Meanwhile, the government’s cruel and illegal plan to expel refugees to Rwanda has hurt the UK’s reputation abroad and undermined longstanding international protections for some of the most vulnerable globally.

As prime minister, Liz Truss now has an opportunity to reverse this systematic destruction of freedoms. Pessimists will point out that, as foreign secretary in the last government, Liz Truss seems an unlikely figure to reverse the UK’s direction significantly, but we if we don’t have hope, what do we have?

We will be discussing the prospects for change with our UK Director, Yasmine Ahmed at 14H00 UK time TOMORROW (13h00 GMT, 15h00 CEST, 09h00 ET) in a TWITTER SPACE – JOIN US!

Killed by Afghan ISIS, Ignored by the Taliban

Hazaras of Afghanistan are caught between the murderous aims of a brutal armed group and the indifference of de facto authorities.

New reporting shows how the Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate in Afghanistan – known as the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) – has repeatedly attacked Hazaras, a predominantly Shia Muslim ethnic group, and other religious minorities. They’ve carried out suicide bombings and other vicious, unlawful attacks at their mosques, schools, and workplaces.

The Taliban have done little to protect these communities since they took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

In just over a year, ISKP has claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against Hazaras and been linked to at least three more, killing and injuring some 700 people. The Taliban’s growing crackdown on the media, especially in the provinces, means this is likely underestimates the casualties, as additional attacks will have gone unreported.

If the Taliban want to demonstrate that they are responsibly governing Afghanistan – and, I admit, that’s an “if” – then they should at the very least be protecting people against these acts of mass violence.

We will be discussing this new reporting from Afghanistan with Researcher Fereshta Abbasi and Asia Advocacy Director John Sifton TODAY at 09h00 ET (13h00 GMT, 15h00 CET) in a TWITTER SPACE – JOIN US!

 

A Ruinous Ruling in Russia

Yesterday, a court in Moscow sentenced a journalist to 22 years in prison, the longest sentence we can recall in a politically motivated treason case in post-Soviet Russia.

Nearly everything about the case against Ivan Safronov would qualify as laughable if the reality of the punishment he faces was not so grave.

The Russian investigative journalism group Proyekt analyzed the indictment and examined the specific accusations against Safronov, which were mostly concerned with revealing planned Russian military cooperation with other states. They demonstrated that in every instance, the information Safronov provided to third parties came from open sources.

Even more absurdly, witnesses for the prosecution stated that they did not tell Safronov anything secret. All the people the state says were Safronov’s sources ended up testifying, in essence, that the state had its case wrong.

As my colleague, Rachel Denber, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, tweeted last night, the verdict against Safronov is, “a ruinous injustice against him and yet another sign of how grotesquely far Russia has strayed from the rule of law.”

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Take Note

(curated today by Lisa Maier)

• How humanitarian law applies to conflict and nuclear power plants (ICRC)
• Minsk Court will pronounce verdict today in politically motivated case against human rights defenders (HRW)
• Human Rights Watch statement on the deaths of two Guajajara men in Brazil (HRW)
• Thousands flee as Typhoon Hinnamnor hits South Korea (DW)
• Burning forests are not renewable: EU’s classification of wood fuels is accelerating the climate crisis (The Guardian)
• At least 35 civilians killed in Burkina Faso after bus hits IED (Al Jazeera)
• The rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s authoritarian President (The New Yorker)
• Israel: military admits “high possibility” of Shireen Abu Akleh being killed by Israeli fire​​​​, but won't charge soldiers (CNN)

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Coming Up in September and October

Here’s a quick look at some of the major reports Human Rights Watch has planned for this month and the next. (Journalists can email me or contact me on Twitter for an embargoed version, which we can usually get to you a few days before publication.)

• Syria: Impact of the Armed Conflict on Children with Disabilities
• Bahrain: Death Sentences Follow Forced Confessions, Sham Trials
• US: Underfunding Public Housing Jeopardizes Rights
• Turkey: Health Impacts of Plastic Recycling
• El Salvador: Widespread Violations During State of Emergency

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Ask Our Expert: Elaine Pearson

Elaine Pearson has just been named executive director of HRW’s Asia Division, which means she’s overseeing our work in more than 20 countries across the region. Elaine’s been with us since 2007, first as deputy director of the Asia Division and then as the founder and head of our office in Australia. She’s also just published a new book: Chasing Wrongs and Rights, a human rights travelogue, influenced in part by how her Chinese maternal grandmother had been sold to an opera troupe to save the family from starvation.

We thought this would be a good moment for readers to ask Elaine questions about her career over the years and about her plans and priorities for our work in Asia.

Please email me or contact me on Twitter with your questions.