Junior Digest

New York [US], September 21,2021: UN humanitarians said on Monday that 635,000 people in Afghanistan were routed from their homes this year because of violence, with more than 12,000 recently displaced to Kabul, mainly from Panjshir Province.
The world organization and its partners have reached 8 million people in the first half of 2021, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a release.
Some 1,300 displaced people in Kabul are about to receive aid.

The office said the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration handed out relief to more than 9,300 people displaced by the violence in Kunar Province.
The World Food Programme will distribute food rations for the lean months of October to January of next year, OCHA said, reaching hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people. Some 63,000 people in Maidan Wardak province are to receive food aid.
Healthcare is also a priority in the humanitarian response.
A measles outbreak in the Yawan and Raghistan districts of Badakhshan province impacted at least 29 children, the office said.
The World Health Organization aided Nimroz provincial hospital to install a new Polymerase chain reaction machine with a capacity of 70 to 90 tests per day, OCHA said. It allows for significantly increased coronavirus testing.

New York [US], June 29,2021: A UN report published on Monday highlighted that migrants smuggled across borders are often subjected to extreme violence, torture, rape and kidnapping, whether in transit or in captivity, but authorities take little action to address these offences.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) report focuses on transit routes in West and North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and Central America. It also examines the differing types of violence inflicted on men and women, and presents factors and motivations behind abuse committed during smuggling operations, UN News reported.
“Our research showed that violence is used by the smugglers or other perpetrators as a form of punishment, intimidation or coercion, and often inflicted with no apparent reason,” said Morgane Nicot, who coordinated the development of the report.

“We found that male migrants are primarily subjected to forced labour and physical violence while women are more exposed to sexual violence, leading to unwanted pregnancies and abortions. All genders can suffer from inhuman and degrading treatment.”
Migrant smuggling is a profitable criminal activity, UNODC said, with desperate people paying to cross borders to escape natural disaster, conflict or persecution, or to seek employment, education or the chance to reunite with family members.
“This is why we decided to conduct such necessary research,” Nicot said. “Our study also analyses how law enforcement officials respond to cases of aggravated smuggling and highlights how challenging it is to prosecute such crimes.”
The report found violence is widespread on certain smuggling routes, but there is little evidence that such crimes lead to investigations or legal proceedings, especially in the transit countries where the offences are committed.
“The violence that migrants experience during a smuggling venture is not always recorded or there is insufficient evidence to influence the severity of the sentences pronounced by national courts against smugglers,” Nicot explained.

Jul 27,2021:Senior journalists N. Ram and Sashi Kumar have moved the Supreme Court for an independent probe headed by a former or sitting top court judge into the mass surveillance of over 142 potential “targets”, including journalists, lawyers, ministers, Opposition politicians, constitutional functionaries and civil society activists, using military-grade Israeli spyware Pegasus.

“Such mass surveillance using a military-grade spyware abridges several fundamental rights and appears to represent an attempt to infiltrate, attack and destabilise independent institutions that act as critical pillars of our democratic set-up,” the petition said.

It has also sought a full disclosure from the government on whether it had authorised the snooping, which seems be an attempt to muzzle free speech and to chill dissent. The government, the petition said, had still not given a straight answer to whether the illegal hack was done with its blessings.

“Respondents [Ministries of Home, Information Technology and Communications] have not categorically ruled out obtaining Pegasus licences to conduct surveillance in their response, and have taken no steps to ensure a credible and independent investigation into these extremely serious allegations,” the petition highlighted.

The spying had caused serious dents on the rights to free speech and privacy. It had no legal basis. In fact, the legal regime for surveillance under Section 5(2) of the Telegraph Act had been completely bypassed. Civilians had become targets.

“Surveillance/interception is justified only in cases of public emergency or in the interests of public safety, and the existence of such conditions must be inferred reasonably and cannot be determined solely on the assessment of the government… The hack/interception/decryption occasioned by the Pegasus spyware constitutes a criminal offence,” the petition said.

The Pegasus software, manufactured by Israeli cyber-arms firm NSO Group Technologies Limited, is “extremely advanced and capable of infecting a mobile phone/device without any interaction with the owner (also known as a zero-click attack)”.

“It can conduct extremely intrusive surveillance, including tracking and recording calls, reading text and WhatsApp messages, collecting passwords, reading emails, accessing photos and videos, activating camera and microphone and enabling them to record events, and harvesting information from apps. It can be installed as simply as by placing a call on the targeted device, even if the call is not picked up,” the petition submitted.

The NSO Group claims to sell its products, including Pegasus, only to vetted governments to fight “crime and terror”. A forensic analysis of several mobile phones belonging to people targeted for surveillance by the Security Lab of Amnesty International has confirmed Pegasus-induced security breaches.

New Delhi , July 13,2021: Chief Executive Officer of Google Sundar Pichai has warned about threats to the free and open internet in several countries where the flow of information is being restricted.
In an interview with BBC on Monday, Google’s boss said that “many countries are restricting the flow of information, and the model is often taken for granted.” He also addressed controversies around tax, privacy, and data and argued that “artificial intelligence is more profound than fire, electricity or the internet.”
Referring to different laws being followed in countries relating to online content which makes “different internets” for different countries,”… it is more a step back… I think a free and open internet is a tremendous force for good and we take it for granted a bit…,” he said in response to a question about “different internets” – a reference to countries having increasingly disparate laws about online content and what kind is “offensive”.

“In each country now there is a debate what speech is OK and what should be allowed… in some ways I think we pull back from the bigger picture (which is that) many countries around the world are restricting the flow of information and drawing much more rigid boundaries,” he said during an exclusive interview to BBC at the Google headquarters at Silicon Valley in California.
Remembering his roots, Tamil Nadu-born CEO of both Google and its parent company Alphabet has said that India is deeply rooted in him and a big part of who he is.
“I’m an American citizen but India is deeply within me. So it’s a big part of who I am,” Pichai said.
He also urged “countries with strong democratic traditions and values” to stand up against the potential fragmenting of the internet while speaking to BBC.

Geneva [Switzerland], July 8,2021: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has warned that Myanmar could plunge into war as despair among the civilian population rises in the wake of the country’s military coup on February 1.
According to the Voice of America (VOA), Bachelet’s report is being discussed as part of a special interactive dialogue on Myanmar at the UN Human Rights Council.
Bachelet said what began as a coup by the Myanmar military has rapidly morphed into an attack against the civilian population.
More than five months have passed since Myanmar’s military leaders derailed the country’s fragile democracy. Since the February military coup in Myanmar that ousted the democratically elected government led by civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other prominent politicians have been detained and hundreds of civilians have been killed by security forces.

Bachelet said nearly 900 people have been killed and some 200,000 forced to flee from increasingly violent military raids on neighborhoods and villages. She warns the widespread and systematic assaults against civilians to risk sparking a broader civil war. She says despair is rising, VOA reported.
“Some people, in many parts of Myanmar, have taken up arms and formed self-protection groups. These newly formed armed opposition groups have launched attacks in several locations, to which the security forces have responded with disproportionate force. I am concerned that escalation in violence could have horrific consequences for civilians,” she said.
The High Commissioner warned Myanmar’s political crisis has evolved into a multi-dimensional human rights catastrophe. This, she said, is causing inestimable suffering for the population and is devastating prospects for sustainable development.
Bachelet is calling on the international community to pressure the military to stop attacking its people and to return the country to democracy, VOA reported.
“ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus is an important starting point for the way forward, but I urge swift action to advance this process before the human rights situation in the country deteriorates further. This should be reinforced by Security Council action. I urge all states to act immediately to give effect to the General Assembly’s call to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar,” Bachelet added.

Aug 4,2021: Saudi Arabia has ramped up executions in the first half of 2021 following a drop during its G20 presidency in 2020, according to United Kingdom-based rights group Amnesty International.

The rights group said on Tuesday that the kingdom executed at least 40 people between January and July 2021 – more than during the whole of last year.

Although Saudi Arabia executed a record 185 people in 2019, the state-backed Human Rights Commission said in January that the kingdom had reduced the number of executions by 85 percent in 2020 compared with the previous year, putting the number for 2020 at 27.

Amnesty said executions had resumed immediately after Saudi Arabia handed over the presidency of the Group of 20 rich nations to Italy, with nine people executed in December 2020 alone.

“The brief respite in repression coinciding with Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the G20 summit last November indicates that any illusion of reform was simply a PR drive,” said Lynn Maalouf, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.
‘Grossly unfair trials’

According to the rights group, executions took place following convictions in “grossly unfair trials, marred by claims of torture during pre-trial detention leading to forced ‘confessions’ which the prosecution systematically failed to investigate.”

This included the June 2021 execution of a man for offences rights groups said he allegedly committed while under the age of 18, although Saudi Arabia has said it has abolished death sentences for many childhood crimes.

The government’s media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Amnesty’s report.

In the report, Amnesty also said there had been an increased crackdown on human rights activists and dissidents. It referred to the cases of 13 activists who were prosecuted, sentenced or had their sentences ratified after what Amnesty said were grossly unfair trials before the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC).

In the first half of the year, many people were also sentenced to many years in prison for satirical internet posts and human rights activism.
After prison, many of them expected travel bans, among other things. Such a ban was also imposed on the famous women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. She had been given a suspended sentence of three years for her advocacy to end the ban on women driving.

At least 39 individuals are behind bars for activism, human rights work or expression of dissent in Saudi Arabia, according to Amnesty.

New Delhi, Aug 19,2021: In an interim order on Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed female candidates to appear for the National Defence Academy (NDA) examination scheduled for September 5.

The apex court also came down heavily on the Indian Army for continuing the gender discriminatory policy.

The bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy said women not being allowed to take the NDA exam is gender discrimination.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appearing for the government and Indian Army told the court that this is a policy decision not to allow women to take the NDA exam.

“Even if it is a matter of policy, you are allowing women’s entry through two sources. Why should you say the one more additional source of entry is closed for women? It is not just a gender principle but discriminatory otherwise also,” the bench said.

The union government had told the court on Tuesday that women are being granted equal opportunity in the armed forces and there is no violation of any fundamental right.

Washington [US] September 12,2021: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Saturday declassified several documents associated with the investigation of the horrific 9/11 attacks on the US.
The documents also carry information related to the suspected Saudi government support to the attacks. The documents were released following an executive order by President Joe Biden, CNN reported.
The newly declassified documents are from 2016 and provide details of the FBI’s work to investigate the alleged logistical support that a Saudi consular official and a suspected Saudi intelligence agent in Los Angeles provided to at least two of the men who hijacked planes on September 11, 2001.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi embassy in Washington expressed acceptance to the release of the FBI documents and also said that “any allegation that Saudi Arabia is complicit in the September 11 attacks is categorically false”.
Biden’s executive order came after more than 1,600 people affected by the attacks sent Biden a letter asking him to refrain from going to Ground Zero in New York City to mark the 20th anniversary unless he release the information, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, the US President on Saturday also commemorated the lives of 2,977 people who lost their lives 20 years ago in the horrific tragedy.
“To the families of 2,977 people from more than 90 nations killed on September 11, 2001, in New York City, Arlington, Virginia and Shanksville, Pennsylvania and a thousand more who were injured. America commemorates you and your loved ones,” Biden said in a video message posted on the Twitter account of the US President.
On September 11, 2001, the United States faced the deadliest terrorist attack in its history. More than 3,000 people were killed in the terror attacks. In a span of just 102 minutes, both towers of New York’s World Trade Center collapsed after planes hijacked by Al Qaeda operatives crashed into them.

New Delhi, July 5,2021: Vice-chairman of National Commission for Minorities Atif Rasheed and a member of the team constituted by the National Human Rights Commission will investigate the post-poll violence in West Bengal.
Rasheed will visit the affected areas in Malda and Murshidabad. He will be there in the state from July 6 to July 9.
” I will be in West Bengal from Tuesday to Friday and will visit Malda And Murshidabad to investigate post-poll violence,” Rasheed said.

On his visit to the state on June 29, Rasheed had alleged that he was attacked in Jadavpur when the NHRC team went to the state to investigate the post-poll violence attacked here.
Earlier, on June 21, the NHRC chairperson Justice (Retired) Arun Mishra has constituted a committee headed by former Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Jain to enquire into the complaints of post-poll violence in West Bengal.
The inquiry was ordered in accordance with the orders of the High Court of Calcutta, NHRC officials said. As per the orders of the High Court, the NHRC Committee shall examine all cases of post-poll violence in West Bengal, complaints about which have already been received in the National Human Rights Commission or which may be received.
A four-member team deputed by the Ministry of Home Affairs has also visited the post-poll violence-affected areas after several incidents of violence have been reported at various places after the declaration of the Assembly poll results on May 2.

BARCELONA, Sept 12,2021: Thousands of Catalans chanted, sang and waved flags as they marched through Barcelona on Saturday, calling for the region’s independence from Spain.

The march, organised by the grassroots Assemblea Nacional Catalana ANC, was the first since Spain’s government pardoned nine Catalan separatist leaders who had been jailed for their role in a 2017 botched bid for independence, which was Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Most marchers wore face coverings. Police said about 108,000 people took part. ANC put the figure close to 400,000.

The figure was lower than in 2019, when about 600,000 marched, and last year, when only small static protests were organised to comply with COVID-19 restrictions.

Some of the nine pardoned politicians and activists attended Saturday’s protests. In Catalonia, Sept. 11 marks La Diada, the anniversary of the fall of Barcelona to Spanish forces in 1714 and it has been marked in the past decade by separatist rallies.

New Delhi, Jul 15,2021: The Supreme Court on Thursday raised concern over the alleged misuse of the sedition law, questioning the relevance of the colonial-era law which was being used to suppress the freedom struggle.

“Sedition provision Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code is a colonial law, it was meant to suppress the freedom movement, the same law was used by British to silence Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak, etc. Still is it necessary after 75 years of independence?”, Chief justice N V Ramana observed while hearing a plea challenging the sedition law.

The apex court also issued notice to the Centre and asked to respond to the plea filed by a former Army officer that says the law causes a “chilling effect” on speech and is an unreasonable restriction on free expression.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Centre accepted the notice.

The next date of hearing will be notified later, the court said.

During the hearing, the CJI observed that the history of this section has shown that the conviction rates are very low and there is “enormous scope for misuse of this section”, which, he said, is worrying.

“There is no accountability of executive agencies, much like cases being filed under Sec 66A, which was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2015,” he said.

According to Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code, whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government estab­lished by law in India shall be punished with im­prisonment for life.

On Monday, a division bench of Justices UU Lalit and Ajay Rastogi was also hearing a similar plea challenging Section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, which penalises the crime of sedition.

The plea, filed by two journalists–Kishorechandra Wangkhemcha and Kanhaiya Lal Shukla–working in Manipur and Chhattisgarh respectively, have urged the court to declare Section 124-A as unconstitutional.

The top court will hear their plea on July 27.

New Delhi , June 29,2021: Noting that the world is witnessing a dangerous and worrying trend of an increase in the number of children being recruited and involved in terrorism-related activities, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday said there is need for a more coordinated approach in implementing the child protection and counter-terrorism agendas.
He said there must be greater accountability and sincere efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice by governments from whose territory such entities operate.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) high-level open debate on children and armed conflict on Monday evening through video conferencing, Shringla said COVID-19 pandemic has further negatively impacted children in situations of armed conflict, including by hampering their access to education, health and social services.
“It has made them susceptible to grave violations, particularly through recruitment and abduction. It is, therefore, important that states keep child protection concerns at the core of their pandemic response measures and recovery plans,” he said.
Shringla said the scale and severity of violations perpetrated against children in armed conflict remain on the rise.
He said national governments have the primary responsibility for protecting the rights of the child as mandated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
” We are witnessing a dangerous and worrying trend in global terrorism and that is an increase in the number of children that are being recruited and involved in terrorism-related activities. Terror groups take advantage of the fact that children are the most susceptible to manipulation. School closures due to the pandemic have provided an even greater opportunity to these terrorist groups to target children, including through online avenues, for radicalization and indoctrination in violent extremist ideologies.
“We believe that there is a need for a more coordinated approach in implementing the child protection and counter-terrorism agendas. States need to demonstrate greater political will to hold the perpetrators of terrorism and their sponsors to account, and to fulfil the Council’s child protection obligations,” he said.
The Foreign Secretary also called for ending impunity for all actors responsible for inciting and perpetrating grave violations against children.

“There must be greater accountability and sincere efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice by governments from whose territory such entities operate. Close cooperation between the UN and its Member States concerned is critical for developing an effective and sustainable policy for repatriation and reintegration of children affected by armed conflict.”
He expressed concern that the report includes situations that are not of armed conflict.
“Despite the Council’s clear mandate, we note with concern that the Secretary General’s report includes situations that are not situations of armed conflict or threats to the maintenance of international peace and security. We must be cautious as attempts to selectively expand the mandate politicizes the agenda, diverting attention from real threats to international peace and security and to children in armed conflict.”
Shringla said states should adopt an inclusive approach to provide protection to child victims during the rehabilitation and reintegration process in post-conflict situations.
“We encourage Member States to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and to adopt robust legal frameworks for protection and promotion of child rights. The aim should not be merely protecting children from child-related crimes but also to provide them with holistic development opportunities, including free and compulsory education.”
He said assistance to national governments for capacity building and strengthening legal and operational tools for child protection is vital.
“The monitoring and reporting mechanism of the UN should ensure continuous involvement of and close cooperation with the Member States concerned, including ensuring the veracity and reliability of data collection.”
Referring to India’s experience in UN peacekeeping over the decades, he said there is a need to have sufficient resources and a requisite number of child protection advisers in peacekeeping missions for the effective implementation of child protection programmes.
“The Council may consider incorporating adequate child protection provisions and capacities in all relevant mandates of UN peacekeeping operations.”
Shringla said engagement of the UN, particularly the office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, with parties engaged in armed conflict has resulted in the release of 12,643 children over the last year.
“This positive trend must continue,” he said, adding that India is firmly committed to supporting the UN in its endeavours to protect children in situations of armed conflict.

Kabul [Afghanistan] September 28,2021: The Socialists and Democrats Group on Monday nominated eleven Afghan women for the 2021 Sakharov Prize in the European Parliament.
This prize is the highest honour by the European Union to human rights defenders who are also the victims of human rights abuses.
These Afghan women are both human rights defenders and have been victims of human rights abuses. The nominated women are activists, politicians, journalists and teachers who have been fighting for women’s rights, and were themselves part of the political and associative life in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover of Kabul, The Socialists and Democrats Group informed in a tweet.
“Today we presented our nominees for the 2021 #SakharovPrize: A collective of 11 prominent Afghan Women who have been bravely fighting for equality and full enjoyment of human and fundamental rights in Afghanistan,” the tweet said.

“By nominating them, we are sending a message to the international community: We must defend the rights and freedoms of women and the whole population of Afghanistan,” the European group said in a series of tweets.
The Sakharov Prize was awarded for the first time in 1988 to Nelson Mandela and Anatoli Marchenko.
The Sakharov Prize for ‘Freedom of Thought’ is the highest tribute paid by the European Union to human rights work.
It gives recognition to individuals, groups and organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to protecting freedom of thought. Through the prize and its associated network the EU assists laureates, who are supported and empowered in their efforts to defend their causes.
These women have been nominated for the prize to send a message to the international community that the world should defend the rights and freedoms Afghans at stake after the Taliban’s takeover, The Socialists and Democrats Group informed.

Jul 15,2021:Dutch crime journalist Peter R. de Vries has died after being shot in Amsterdam on July 6 2021. He was 64 years old.

Renowned for his dedication to unsolved crimes and support to the families of crime victims, he investigated more than 500 murder files and played a pivotal role in solving several cold cases.

Peter added the R. (short for Rudolf, his second name) to his name to distinguish himself. In a radio interview, he once said that his name was otherwise quite ordinary.

He started his career as a 20-year-old trainee at De Telegraaf, the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper.

He was still a young journalist in 1983 when he followed the kidnapping of Freddy Heineken, the magnate of the famous beer brand.

Heineken was eventually released and several kidnappers were caught and sent to jail, including Cor van Hout and top Dutch criminal Willem Holleeder. De Vries later befriended Van Hout, which saw him criticised.

Van Hout was assassinated in 2003. Holleeder was released but is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted of five murders and one count of manslaughter.
De Vries wrote two books about the investigation. One was later adapted into Kidnapping Freddy Heineken, a 2015 film starring Sir Anthony Hopkins.

It was the start of a long and impressive career as a crime journalist. He worked for several newspapers and magazines before getting his own television programme, named after himself, which lasted for 17 years.

De Vries received worldwide attention for his investigative work around the disappearance of US citizen Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005, for which he won an International Emmy Award.

De Vries famously revealed undercover footage in which a Dutch man, Joran van der Sloot, claims he was present when Holloway died and says he discarded her body.

While Van der Sloot became a prime suspect, he was never convicted. Holloway’s body was never found.

Van der Sloot remains in custody today after he was convicted of killing a Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores Ramírez, in Lima in 2010.

Brussels, Mar 29,2021: European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has condemned Saturday’s crackdown by Myanmar’s security forces’ on protestors that reportedly left dozens of people dead.

Borrell said in a statement on Sunday

“I am following the worrying events in Myanmar. The escalation of violence with more than 100 civilian killings perpetrated by the military against its own people on its ‘Armed Forces Day’ is unacceptable. Far from celebrating, the Myanmar military has made yesterday a day of horror and of shame,”

Calling for an end to violence in Myanmar he said that the EU is making efforts to start a political process in the country.

“We will continue to use the EU’s mechanisms, including sanctions, to target the perpetrators of this violence, and those responsible for turning back the clock on Myanmar’s path of democracy and peace,” Borrell said.

The Pentagon on Saturday released a joint statement from the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, and the defense chiefs of Australia,

Germany, Greece, Canada, Italy, Japan, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and the UK, condemning the use of force against protesters in Myanmar.

US President Joe Biden described the violence at Myanmar protests as “terrible.”

“It’s terrible, it’s absolutely outrageous, and based on the reporting I’ve got an awful lot of people have been killed totally unnecessarily,” Biden told reporters on Sunday, as broadcast by MSNBC.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) in Myanmar, over 90 people, including children, were killed during Saturday protests against the military rule in Myanmar. Fatalities were reported in the cities of Yangon, Bago, Mandalay and surrounding regions.

ROMA, Texas ,Aug 4,2021:The number of migrant children in Border Patrol facilities has been steadily rising, an analysis of U.S. government data shows, as record numbers crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in July, renewing a politically sensitive issue for President Joe Biden.

On Aug. 1 there were more than 2,200 unaccompanied children in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody, more than double the number just a month earlier, according to daily statistics provided by the government since March and compiled by Reuters.

A CBP spokesperson said that number includes Mexican children who are quickly returned to their home country, as well as Central American children who are transferred to U.S. federal shelters.

The average time unaccompanied children are spending in CBP custody is around 60 hours, according to one source familiar with matter, which is just under a 72-hour limit set by a long-standing court settlement. However, as of Tuesday there were 877 kids who had been held for over 72 hours, according to another source familiar with the data.
The recent rise is alarming migrant advocates, who say the facilities are not appropriate for young children, even though levels are still below those seen in mid-March when CBP held more than 5,700 unaccompanied kids at border stations.

Record numbers of unaccompanied children, more than 19,000, were likely encountered by border patrol agents in July, said David Shahoulian, a top U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, in a court declaration filed on Monday.

At the same time, overall apprehensions, including of families and single adults, are on pace to be the highest ever recorded this fiscal year, he said. The numbers include individuals who may have crossed multiple times.

The situation is straining resources, Shahoulian said, with Border Patrol facilities filled way over capacity limits set during COVID across the Southwestern border and more than 10,000 people in custody in the Rio Grande Valley alone as of Aug. 1.

New Delhi, Jul 16,2021: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday hailed the Supreme Court’s observation about the sedition law asking the Centre whether it was still needed the colonial-era law even after the 75 years of Independence.

“We welcome this observation by the Supreme Court”, Mr Gandhi said in a tweet attaching a slider of the news.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister Arun Shourie has also filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the Sedition provision Section 124A of IPC.

Taking to her Twitter handle, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra said, “Finally hoping this archaic law misused by the GoI will be thrown out”.

“Sedition law is a colonial law, it was meant to suppress the freedom movement, the same law was used by British to silence Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak, etc. Still is it necessary after 75 years of independence?”, Chief justice N V Ramana observed during the hearing of a plea.

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 20,2021: Worried over their future under the Taliban regime, women in Afghanistan protested against the terrorist group expressing concerns over how they would be represented in any future government in the war-torn country.
A number of women who have been working in government and non-government agencies demonstrated and demanded that their rights should be protected in any future government, according to TOLO News.
This development comes after the Taliban said that it has begun discussing the formation of a new government.
“The people, the government, and any official who is to form a state in the future cannot ignore the women of Afghanistan. We will not relinquish our right to education, the right to work, and our right to political and social participation,” TOLO News quoting Fariha Esar, a human rights activist reported.
“Afghan women fought and achieved these rights and these values,” said Rahima Radmanesh, another activist.

According to TOLO News, the protesters said the Taliban cannot ignore the progress of women and their struggles over the past 20 years.
“We have worked hard for twenty years and will not go back,” said human rights activist Shukria Mashaal.
“We do not want an imposed government. It must be based on the will of the Afghan citizens,” said another activist.
Taliban in their first press conference after taking control of Afghanistan said that the rights of women will be “respected with the framework of Islamic law.” Despite it, several women journalists in Afghanistan have said that they are being barred from working by the group.
The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid assured that the group is committed to providing women with their rights based on Islam. “Taliban are committed to providing women with their rights based on Islam. Women can work in the health sector and other sectors where they are needed. There will be no discrimination against women.”
Taliban had also announced a “general amnesty” for all Afghan government officials and urged them to return to work, including women corresponding with Sharia law.

New Delhi , August 19,2021: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) India on Wednesday organised the first meeting of Core Group on Criminal Justice System that expressed “serious concerns over the slow pace of reforms in the criminal justice system to ensure speedy justice”.
It was felt that delays in disposal of cases result in human rights violations of both the under-trials and convicted prisoners and others related to the cases, read the release by the NHRC.
Chairing the meeting, Justice M M Kumar said that policing is important in speedy trials in criminal justice system. He said that despite so many efforts, including the Supreme Court directions seeking police reforms, the ground reality hasn’t changed much.
He added that crowding of complaints at every police station can be reduced if certain offences in IPC are replaced with special laws and fast track courts are created to clear the pendency.
Making a brief interjection, Justice A K Mishra, Chairperson, NHRC said that the digitisation of documents will help in speedy investigation and trials. He said that not only the delayed trials but also the implementation of courts’ orders convicting a person takes years, which is a matter of rights violation.

Earlier, Dr D M Mulay, Member, NHRC said that poor conviction rate is a result of the lack of required police and administrative reforms. He said that there is also shortage of judges.
Setting the agendas for deliberations, Bimbadhar Pradhan, Secretary General, NHRC said that as per an estimate, there are about 4.4 crore pending cases across the Supreme Court, High Courts and District Courts.
Since March 2020, about 70 lakh more cases have been added to the pending cases, read the release.
He said that in the Criminal Justice System, the focus needs to be tilted more towards the victim’s rights and smart policing.
Santosh Mehra, DG, Investigation, NHRC said that the shortage of police personnel at various police stations in proportion to the population needs to be considered on priority in the interest of ensuring timely justice to the people.

Palghar (Maharashtra) [India], June 29 (ANI): With the aim to empower and provide more opportunities, an NGO in Vasai of Maharashtra’s Palghar district opened a school that provides free education to transgender people.
The school was started after the transgender community in Vaisai expressed that they had very little access to education and very few were willing to teach them.
The founder and chairperson of the NGO, Rekha Tripathi, said she strongly believed that everyone should have equal access to education, regardless of their gender.
About 25 adults and a few children have been admitted to the school so far.
“A few years back, a transgender person explained to me that several people from this community were facing problems in getting jobs as they did not have access to even basic education. Social stigma paired with poor economic conditions have contributed to this issue,” Tripathi told ANI on Monday.
She added, “Irrespective of their gender, everyone should be given equal access to education and opportunities. About 25 adults and a few children have taken admission to the school so far.”

London [UK] July 28,2021: Economic prospects between rich and poor countries have had an even bigger gap due to different approaches to the COVID-19 vaccine, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.
In a new assessment of the global outlook, the IMF stated that the world is increasingly divided into two blocs.
It has improved growth forecasts for developed economies for this year, including Britain, but forecasts for many developing countries are weaker than expected, reports the BBC.

The IMF states that there is a division between those countries “that can hope for further normalization of activities later this year (almost all advanced economies) and those that will continue to face recurrent infections and an increasing number of deaths from COVID-19”.
The report states that in rich countries, almost 40 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. In emerging market economies (more advanced developing countries) this is less than half and only a “small fraction” in low-income countries.
For rich countries combined, growth is projected at half a percentage point this year. But for the rest of the world, there is a compensatory decline, leaving the global forecast for 2021 unchanged at six percent. An upgrade to 4.9 percent follows next year.
However, the IMF warns that even in countries with a very low level of COVID-19 infection, economic recovery is not ensured as long as the virus is circulating in other countries.