By Boris Dittrich Campaigners protest for LGBT rights in Chechnya outside the Russian embassy in London, Britain, June 2, 2017. © 2017 Reuters I recently met two Chechen gay men living as refugees in Western Europe in a bustling café. Both were in their early twenties, both looked around nervously. After we shared some pleasantries, "Bula" and "Zelim" (not their real names) cut to the chase. “We were abducted, tortured in Grozny. The police extorted us for money because we are gay. They threatened to disclose our sexual orientation to our families. We paid them a lot to avoid that,” Bula and Zelim said. They had fled Grozny before this year’s purge against gay men. Bula, handed me his cell phone, showing me a picture of himself with a broken nose and a black eye. “This happened in Moscow where I was hiding after I fled from Grozny. I was attacked by two Chechens who came to look for me. After that I escaped to Western Europe in 2016.” Even then, the threats continued. “A few days ago,” Bula said, “the police came to my parent’s house in Chechnya. They demanded that I come back. If not, they said they would return to take revenge and arrest my father. Arrest means torture or worse.” I tried to grasp at something positive. “This is really terrible for your mother, but fortunately you are safe here.” That proved naïve. “We received text messages from people we met only once or twice in Grozny. They say they want to meet with us here in this country or elsewhere in Western Europe. But we suspect they want to trick us and abduct us to Chechnya.” Bula wiped the sweat from his palms with a napkin. They had fled far from home. But it seemed Chechen authorities knew where to find them. Bula’s eyes filled with tears. “We violated the honour and reputation of our country by asking for asylum based on our sexual orientation and now they want to punish us. If not the government, then our families are expected to kill us. This happened to some of our friends.” We were quiet for some time, letting these words sink in. Then Zelim said: “I miss my mother.” Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands all accepted gay refugees from Chechnya after pressure from human rights organizations. It’s a small success, but safety is relative. Although Bula and Zelim have escaped immediate danger, their problems are far from over. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

By Boris Dittrich Campaigners protest for LGBT rights in Chechnya outside the Russian embassy in London, Britain, June 2, 2017. © 2017 Reuters I recently met two Chechen gay men living as refugees in Western Europe in a bustling café. Both were in their early twenties, both looked around nervously. After we shared some pleasantries, "Bula" and "Zelim" (not their real names) cut to the chase. “We were abducted, tortured in Grozny. The police extorted us for money because we are gay. They threatened to disclose our sexual orientation to our families. We paid them a lot to avoid that,” Bula and Zelim said. They had fled Grozny before this year’s purge against gay men. Bula, handed me his cell phone, showing me a picture of himself with a broken nose and a black eye. “This happened in Moscow where I was hiding after I fled from Grozny. I was attacked by two Chechens who came to look for me. After that I escaped to Western Europe in 2016.” Even then, the threats continued. “A few days ago,” Bula said, “the police came to my parent’s house in Chechnya. They demanded that I come back. If not, they said they would return to take revenge and arrest my father. Arrest means torture or worse.” I tried to grasp at something positive. “This is really terrible for your mother, but fortunately you are safe here.” That proved naïve. “We received text messages from people we met only once or twice in Grozny. They say they want to meet with us here in this country or elsewhere in Western Europe. But we suspect they want to trick us and abduct us to Chechnya.” Bula wiped the sweat from his palms with a napkin. They had fled far from home. But it seemed Chechen authorities knew where to find them. Bula’s eyes filled with tears. “We violated the honour and reputation of our country by asking for asylum based on our sexual orientation and now they want to punish us. If not the government, then our families are expected to kill us. This happened to some of our friends.” We were quiet for some time, letting these words sink in. Then Zelim said: “I miss my mother.” Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands all accepted gay refugees from Chechnya after pressure from human rights organizations. It’s a small success, but safety is relative. Although Bula and Zelim have escaped immediate danger, their problems are far from over. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

By Belkis Wille A woman fleeing the fighting between the Islamic State and Iraqi Security Forces in Intisar neighbourhood in eastern Mosul on November 7, 2016.© 2016 Reuters The world needs a plan to deal with the wives and children of the Islamic State's defeated jihadis. Since Aug. 30, Iraqi authorities have been holding about 1,400 foreign women and children who escaped from Islamic State-controlled territories during recent battles to free areas around Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, and surrendered to military forces in the area. The families — who together are from at least 10 countries, including European states such as France and Germany — have been shuffled among various sites in Iraq, but authorities have not clarified why they are holding them or what they plan to do with them. No one seems to have a plan. We interviewed some of these women in early September in a set of large tents in the transit hall of a camp housing tens of thousands displaced by the battle in Mosul. (Authorities have since transferred the whole group to an overcrowded prison in the area.) Many told us they had loved raising their children in what one woman called “an Islamic paradise,” and that Iraqi forces had been mistreating them since they had surrendered. Mostly they seemed exhausted, anxious, and unsure of what would now happen to them and their children. “Will they keep us here forever?” one foreign woman asked us. “I think our country doesn’t want us back.” She had one child; her sister had three and was visibly pregnant. The question of what happens to these foreign women and children will not go away. And the number of families related to Islamic State fighters who are detained in Iraq will most likely grow in the coming months, as Iraqi security forces take more territory from the organization. Those in detention now face the risk of unfair trials, torture, and the death penalty. The children caught up in detention, meanwhile, risk being treated like criminals rather than being offered rehabilitation. Iraq has proven incapable of conducting basic screening of Islamic State members and their family members — most of whom carry no identification — much less providing fair trials for those charged with crimes. The truth is that it would be politically toxic for Iraqi authorities to treat Islamic State affiliates and their families “well.” Many Iraqi citizens are resentful of the foreign families that came to the country to live under a regime that abused their own communities, and they want to see them pay a price. The international community could go a long way toward resolving this problem by developing a unified position on what to do about these families. Instead, in private conversations we had with four European diplomats, they used technical arguments to emphasize how little responsibility their countries wanted to take toward their own citizens who had chosen to go to Islamic State-held territory. The diplomats noted that their governments had issued travel warnings for Iraq and Syria, and that they had no consular obligations to people who had chosen to travel there. This comes in stark contrast to efforts countries usually make to protect and rescue their nationals in countries on travel ban lists. These European diplomats also said that consular procedure requires their nationals to request assistance, which can be transmitted through a third party like a detaining force or an organization like the International Committee of the Red Cross. Only the individuals themselves can make such a request, though — family members cannot. But the embassies do not seem to have instructed Iraqi authorities or anyone else to inform the women and children from their countries of their rights to seek consular access. Are they hoping that these women and children will not request assistance so that it won’t be their problem? The home countries of these women have an important role to play in finding solutions, including potential third-country resettlement. They should not hide behind procedure. If home countries don’t take steps to bring these women and children home, there is every reason to fear for their safety. The Iraqi authorities have so far not conducted individual assessments to determine whether they have committed crimes, nor released those they are not going to charge. In fact, it seems that no detainees have been brought before a judge. Our research has already shown how detainees can spend months in inhumane conditions, and that children are exposed to torture and a range of other violations. Iraq cannot conscionably condemn these women and children to an indefinite, arbitrary detention. Membership in the Islamic State is an offense under the country’s terrorism law, but the women may have been coerced to come to Iraq with husbands who belonged to the organization. Other women may have come willingly but may have done nothing to support the Islamic State and simply joined it in name only. Still others may be responsible for serious crimes, such as acting as enforcers against other women or detaining captured members of Iraq’s minority communities, like the Yazidis, in their homes. Meanwhile, children who became members of the Islamic State are obviously victims of child recruitment in need of rehabilitation, not prosecution. It is illegal under international and Iraqi law to punish someone for the alleged crimes of their spouse or their parents. But for now, Iraqi authorities are doing nothing to draw such distinctions. The prospects for those who eventually face trial are grim. Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional Government authorities are pursuing prosecutions against thousands of detainees under counterterrorism legislation for crimes tied to their alleged affiliation with the Islamic State in proceedings undermined by serious due process violations. Our research, however, shows that this process has been marred by rampant abuse, including allegations of torture and due process violations in the current screening, detention, and prosecution campaign. In addition, defendants face the death penalty — one of only two sentences allowed for those convicted under the Iraqi counterterrorism law. Charging the adult women with crimes will also pose further legal and political questions with no clear answer. If Iraqi authorities convict and imprison some of the women who cannot be repatriated, what will happen once they have completed their sentence? And what will happen to those the government does not charge, if they have nowhere to go? Meanwhile, there is no reason not to cooperate to assist children without identity documents. All countries should offer to work with Iraqi authorities to determine the children’s parentage (including through possible DNA testing) and to grant citizenship and possibly repatriate them to their parents’ countries. For children born in Iraq who would otherwise be stateless, Iraqi authorities will have to grant them nationality in accordance with Iraqi and international law. And what will happen to the children of women who are convicted and given a prison sentence or the death penalty? I have heard Western diplomats discussing the potential option of separating children from their mothers and sending the children to live with relatives back home. International law requires that authorities examine each child’s case and, with the child’s participation, determine what arrangement is in his or her best interest. A blanket policy to separate young children from their politically undesirable mothers and deport the children is not a legitimate default plan. In all cases, Iraq should ensure that women and children are not deported or repatriated if they would be at risk in their home countries of persecution, torture, or unfair trials for their alleged Islamic State affiliation. Children deserve a chance at a future, not detention for their parents’ alleged crimes. Their mothers deserve to be presumed innocent and tried promptly if there is evidence of guilt of serious crimes. And Iraq deserves international support to resolve this issue. But so far, everyone is passing the buck. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Human Rights Watch

Accountability Needed for Clear Abuses By Aya Majzoub A policeman strikes a protester during anti-government demonstrations on August 8, 2020 in Beirut, Lebanon.© 2020 Marwan Tahtah/Getty Images Lebanese security forces, including the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the Internal Security Forces (ISF), and the Parliament Police, fired live ammunition, metal pellets, and kinetic impact projectiles such as rubber balls at mostly peaceful protesters in downtown Beirut on August 8, 2020. More than 700 people , who turned out to demand accountability for the devastating explosion at Beirut’s port , were injured. However, in letters to and meetings with Human Rights Watch (HRW), all the security institutions denied wrongdoing and instead several blamed each other for abuses they admit occurred. And while it is encouraging that security agencies have been engaging more with human rights groups recently, the overwhelming evidence we gathered contradicts many of their claims. All three denied firing metal pellets, which caused many serious – in some cases, life-threatening– injuries. The LAF commander, General Joseph Aoun, in a letter to HRW on November 3, stated that the army strictly prohibits the use of metal pellets in any assemblies –violent or not –and that units tasked with preserving order are not equipped with weapons that use them. In a letter dated September 14, the ISF commander, Major General Imad Othman gave a similar answer and also blamed the Parliament Security Force. The Parliament Security Force, comprising Parliament Police, an Army unit, and an ISF unit, however, said these allegations are “absolutely false” in a September 21 letter . During a meeting on October 19, the Parliament Police commander, Brigadier General Adnan Sheikh Ali, explained away the injuries, saying that protesters had created improvised explosive devices filled with metal pellets and nails, some of which exploded among the protesters. All the medical evidence HRW reviewed from doctors and protesters supports injuries from metal pellets, which, unlike other metal fragments, create uniform round wounds, depending on their size and velocity. Moreover, we visited the protest site the day after the protest and found scores of empty shotgun cartridges labeled “Nobel Sport 12.” These cartridges contain spherical metal pellets known as “birdshot” or “buckshot,” which are often used for hunting game, discharged from shotguns. There isn't any evidence to suggest that protesters were armed with shotguns. But numerous photos, videos, and testimony indicate that security forces in civilian clothes in the parliament compound were pointing pump-action shotguns at protesters.We can’t confirm the identity of these men, but the ISF identified them as “civilian employees of the Parliament Police.” Both the LAF and the ISF denied shooting live ammunition at or toward protesters. Brigadier General Sheikh Ali admitted that some of his members did fire live ammunition, but insisted that they only fired in the air or on the ground, and not at protesters. Here again, the evidence tells a different story. We verified an incident in which two soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms with the insignia of the Lebanese Army’s Airborne regiment fired at least eight live rounds from their M4 assault rifles, either over their heads or at the ground in front of them. We also verified an incident in which security forces inside the parliament compound were shooting live ammunition at the head level, narrowly missing one protester. We also interviewed and reviewed the medical records of a protester who had been hit by gunfire in his upper left thigh in parliament’s vicinity. There is no doubt that the recurring protests have posed a challenge for security forces, who have the dual responsibility of protecting the right to protest while also maintaining order. And while it is true that a small group of protesters attacked them with stones, fireworks, and even Molotov cocktails, the use of violence by some protesters does not justify the excessive and at times unprovoked use of force by security forces that I witnessed and experienced . The Lebanese authorities’ abject failure to address the worsening economic crisis and the ensuing political gridlock is likely to fuel more protests in the coming months. Security forces should demonstrate that they are protecting the rights of the public rather than the interests of the corrupt political elite . So what can security forces do to improve the balance between respecting rights and maintaining order? First, their members should be given adequate time to rest. Since the protests began, they have had to work for longer shifts than usual without overtime pay and very few days off. Such working conditions increase the likelihood of mistakes and of a disproportionate reaction to protesters. Second, they need to be more appropriately equipped. We saw many soldiers deployed only with rifles and without the proper protective gear – such as body armor, shields, and helmets appropriate for crowd control – which can help ensure that security forces do not resort to firing their weapons when faced with crowds. However, the key – missing so far – is accountability. Law enforcement officials who use excessive force should face disciplinary action as well as criminal prosecution. Accountability needs to go up the chain of command to any senior officers who gave such orders, or failed to take steps to prevent or punish subordinates responsible. And the results should be made public. The ISF, LAF, and Parliament Police declined to provide any information on the investigations and resulting accountability measures for the violence we documented on August 8. The ISF said that they did not open an investigation because “the ISF members did not use excessive or unlawful force.” The LAF said that “all mistakes, if they happen, are individual and are subject to an investigation and accountability from the competent authorities, and there is no current inclination to publish the investigations or disciplinary proceedings.” The Parliament Police commander said he deals with mistakes when they occur, and that the military judiciary has jurisdiction over his members, but provided no additional information. In meetings with us, all of them insisted that making the results of accountability proceedings public would harm the “morale” and “prestige” of the security forces. These answers are inadequate. Deflecting blame instead of taking responsibility will only inflame tensions, while admitting mistakes and taking steps to rectify them would go a long way toward restoring faith in the security apparatus and diffusing tensions. At a time when the political and economic order in Lebanon seems to be unraveling, the security institutions have an opportunity to present a different model for carrying out their mandate. A model based on the rule of law, accountability, and transparency is essential in a country that suffers from a chronic accountability deficit. © 2020 Human Rights Watch

By Andreas Harsono On November 27, Islamist militants attacked the Christian-majority village of Lembantongoa in Sulawesi, Indonesia, killing the village elder and three other Christian farmers. The attackers burned a Salvation Army church and six houses, prompting about 750 villagers to flee their homes . This horrific attack is the latest example of increased threats faced by religious minorities in Indonesia. Survivors told police that the leader of the East Indonesia Mujahideen , Ali Kalora, and about 10 others arrived in the village and accused the elder, Yasa, of informing the police about the group’s whereabouts. Kalora reportedly killed the elder with a knife in front of his family before attacking his son-in-law and two other relatives who tried to intervene. President Joko Widodo condemned the murder s as “beyond the limits of humanity,” ordering the police and the military to find those responsible. This is important, but the problem runs much deeper than one attack. An affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS), the East Indonesia Mujahideen has previously attacked those they claim to be “non-Muslims” and “Muslims who worship other than Allah.” Since 2012, the group has killed at least 20 people . The victims have been Muslim, Christian, and Hindu farmers the group has accused of helping police. National police chief Idham Azis told parliament last year that authorities have difficulty arresting members of the group because they have “the support of the local population. The people are sympathetic to the Ali Kalora group.” In 2016, police killed Kalora’s predecessor, Santoso, in a gun battle . Thousands of mourners attended his burial as a “martyr.” Attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia have been a largely overlooked crisis for the past decade. Human rights monitors each year record hundreds of increasingly violent attacks by militants. There is no easy answer, but the problem will only get worse so long as the government lacks a coherent strategy that includes education, awareness raising, countering hate speech including by officials, disrupting illicit weapons sales, and ensuring that police actions are rights-respecting. Foreign governments should publicly support administration efforts to ensure Indonesia’s religious minorities are protected. © 2020 Human Rights Watch

Several recent attacks carried out by armed jihadists have dealt a blow to President Muhammadu Buhari's promise to end the Boko Haram insurgency. His government says it is doing its best to protect vulnerable citizens. By Chrispin Mwakideu Published by DW on December 1, 2020. Nigeria Region Borno Boko Haram (Audu Ali Marte/AFP/Getty Images) Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari came to power promising to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency and end the insecurity in Nigeria's restive northeastern region. Five years after Nigerians swore in Buhari as president of Africa's most populous nation, an Islamist insurgency in the north, armed banditry and insecurity remain a huge challenge. Last weekend's slaughter of civilians by jihadists , for which Boko Haram has now claimed responsibility, has raised questions on Buhari's ability to fulfill his promises. The United Nations said gunmen brutally killed "tens" of civilians and wounded many other workers who were harvesting rice in Koshobe village, near Maiduguri, capital of Borno State. Edward Kallon, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, said he was concerned about reports of women being kidnapped. Buhari's strong reaction In a series of tweets, President Muhammadu Buhari condemned what he described as "insane and senseless killings by terrorists." No one has yet claimed responsibility, but residents suspect Boko Haram of being behind the attack. "The last week was largely an appraisal of the performance of the president or the current administration in terms of security," Awwal Faruq, a Nigerian security analyst, said. "The killings and the kidnappings of worshippers in Kanoma, Zamfara State and the slaughter of peasant farmers in cold blood, are another appraisal of what is happening," Faruq told DW. "There is no need to say the government is underperforming. It has been now more than ten years, and the insecurity is becoming bigger." Audu Bulama Bukarti, a security analyst specialized in violent extremist groups in sub-Saharan Africa at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said no one could blame the communities for expressing their anger and frustrations. "As a leader, you take credit for every good thing achieved by your government, but you also take the blame when there is a mistake from your government," Bulama Bukarti told DW. The deadliest attack in 2020 The Koshobe incident is Nigeria's deadliest this year. Nearly 36,000 people have died and more than two million have fled their homes since Boko Haram launched attacks in 2009. "What this attack in northeastern Nigeria underlines is the fact that previous suggestions by the Buhari administration that the insurgency has been ended or technically defeated seem to be very much misplaced," Ryan Cummings, a political and security analyst on Nigeria said. Although Cummings noted that Nigerian troops had made significant progress as far as recapturing territory once held by the Islamists is concerned, he added that the war was "far from over." Joseph Atan, a Nigerian resident in the capital, Abuja, believes that Buhari has fallen victim to the same problem he had accused the previous government of Goodluck Jonathan of. "In 2015, when the campaigns were on, the president [Buhari] came out and said the then government was not capable and was not doing enough," Atan told DW. "He said that when he came in, he would eradicate insecurity. That was the reason why Nigerians elected him, but things seem to be getting worse," Atan added. Security expert Audu Bulama Bukarti said the war against Boko Haram has dragged on for nearly a decade, partly because Nigeria's military is poorly equipped. "There is a need for the federal government to invest more money in the Nigerian military by buying 21st-century military equipment, including telecommunications and intelligence equipment," Bulama Bukarti told DW, adding that the money brought into the military should be spent transparently. Nigeria ranked third in the Global Terrorism Index According to the 2020 Global Terrorism Index, which gauges the degree and frequency of violence by terrorist groups across several countries, Nigeria was ranked third only after Iraq and Afghanistan. Essentially, Nigeria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were described as being in a state of war. "That statistic alone really emphasizes that this war is certainly ongoing and that any defeat or victory against jihadists specifically is very far from occurring at this time," Cummings stated. "The Nigerian government and state security apparatus still need to make significant headway to neutralize the lethal threat that insurgents continue to pose within the region." The Koshobe attack in Borno State happened the same day voters cast their ballots in local elections that had been delayed. According to Cummings, this was more of a coincidence than a deliberate plan. "The key takeaway is that we see quite a significant frequency in militant violence within the region. It's very difficult to often assign these acts of violence as being unique to a specific event or occurrence," Cummings said. Government 'doing its best' to protect citizens While attending the funeral of 43 victims on Sunday, Borno Governor Babaganan Umara Zulum warned that the death toll could rise. Many of the dead included laborers from Sokoto State in northwestern Nigeria — 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away — who went to Borno to search for work. Last week, suspected Boko Haram insurgents killed at least 22 farmers working on their irrigation farms in two separate attacks. Sadiya Umar Farouq, Nigeria's minister for humanitarian and disaster management, said the authorities were doing everything possible to provide security for the citizens. "We are very concerned about the life and livelihood of citizens, especially vulnerable ones, who have been affected by this insurgency for a very long time," Farouq told DW. "It is just unfortunate." Despite the anti-Boko Haram Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) comprising Nigerian, Nigerien, Chadian, and Cameroonian soldiers, Boko Haram and its splinter faction, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), continue to carry out terrorist attacks in northeastern Nigeria and the broader Lake Chad region. "The security situation in northeastern Nigeria and specifically in Borno state remains highly precarious," Cummings said. © 2020 Deutsche Welle

By Belkis Wille A woman and her daughter walk through a street filled with rubble in the town of Ariha in the southern countryside of Idlib governorate on April 5, 2020. © 2020 Aaref Watad/AFP via Getty Images The Russian military marked the fifth anniversary of its intervention in the armed conflict in Syria on September 30. The consequences have been devastating for many Syrian civilians, with hundreds of thousands killed and millions more forced to flee their homes. While all sides to the conflict have committed serious laws-of-war violations, Russia’s intervention has been characterized by the indiscriminate bombing of schools, hospitals, and markets – the civilian infrastructure essential to a society’s survival. The cost for Syrians who have lost loves ones and whose entire lives have been uprooted – often for the second, third, or fourth time since the war started – is incalculable. But Russian taxpayers may not realize that they are bankrolling this abuse, to their own detriment. As Russia’s engagement in Syria drags into its sixth year – already over half the length of the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan – and as the country reels from the human and economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russian taxpayers would be right to question why their tax rubles are being used to bomb of schools and hospitals in Syria. A new Human Rights Watch report examines the most recent offensive by the Syrian government and its Russian ally: an 11-month operation to retake Idlib governorate, one of the last strongholds of anti-government armed groups, from April 2019 to March 2020. We detailed 46 unlawful attacks that killed civilians and damaged and destroyed civilian infrastructure. While a ceasefire came into force in Idlib in March, Russians should be pressing their government for answers before any fighting resumes . Russia’s military intervention in Syria has involved deploying attack and transport aircraft, surveillance drones, and armed forces personnel, including military advisers, forward air controllers to help coordinate and direct airstrikes, special forces, and military police. These Russian forces have supported the Syrian armed forces through airstrikes; provided close air support for Syrian units during ground operations; joined Syrian units on the front lines; and provided training and advice on tactics and planning operations. In at least one case, a Russian military officer temporarily commanded an entire corps of the Syrian army. The coordination of this support has involved the highest levels of the Russian military, the defense ministry, and President Vladimir Putin. In only the first six months of the Russian intervention in Syria, President Putin said the war had cost the country approximately 33 billion rubles. Another study put the cost of the operations at between $2.4 and $4 million per day , factoring in the costs of sorties, airstrikes, personnel, and supplying Russian airbases. An anonymous Russian government official told the Russian media in late 2015 that Russia was initially spending 244 million rubles per day, but that the amount had nearly doubled, to 444 million rubles per day. A detailed analysis in 2015 by RBK found that each airstrike cost up to 5.5 million rubles. Given the large number of sorties and airstrikes conducted by the Russian Aerospace Forces, RBK concluded that Russia spent over 1 billion rubles per week on airstrikes alone. More recently, a 2018 study by Yabloko found that the war cost Russia up to 245 billion rubles from September 2015 to March 2018, with air and missile strikes alone totaling up to 209 billion rubles. And what is this money funding? We spoke to a teacher from Ariha, in Idlib, who described how the Syrian-Russian military alliance fired a rocket that struck right next to the Khaled Bashir Halabieh primary school, where she teaches, at about 1 p.m. on January 5, 2020. She said that as she rushed out of the school with her students, “They were all screaming for me out of fear. And I, like them, was helpless. There was nothing I could do for them. I looked at them and there was nothing I could do other than calm them, tell them not to be afraid, tell them to pray, tell them that it would soon be over.” She was particularly fearful because her own children were among the 445 students attending the school, and she thought they might have been killed. The explosion shattered the windows and damaged the doors of her school, and also damaged another primary school and a nearby preschool, as well as many neighboring homes. The strike killed 13 civilians and wounded another 25. The teacher’s children were luckily spared. She described how teachers scrambled to repair the damage immediately after the attack – students would need to sit for their national midterm exams five days later. What she did not understand was why the Syrian-Russian military alliance had fired a rocket toward her school since there were no fighters or military bases in the area. Syrian and Russians officials have said their attacks in Idlib are targeting terrorists. But our interviews with over 100 victims and witnesses, and analysis of dozens of satellite images and over 550 videos, showed no evidence of fighters or military targets in the vicinity of this attack or any of the other 45 attacks we documented. Our research suggests that these repeated attacks on civilian infrastructure in populated areas – in which there were no apparent military objectives – were deliberate, and the objective may have been to deprive civilians of the means to sustain themselves and force them to flee. With over 20 million Russians living in poverty and many struggling to get basic health care, food, and education, concerned Russian citizens should speak up and say enough is enough. Russians should not be bankrolling the killing of civilians in Syria. © 2020 Human Rights Watch

By Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD - Officials in Afghanistan said Sunday two female judges working for the Supreme Court were shot dead in the capital, Kabul, the latest victims of targeted killings in recent months. A court spokesman said the slain judges were on their way to work in the morning when unknown assailants ambushed and fired on their official vehicle. The city police confirmed a third female judge and the women’s driver were also wounded in the attack, saying an investigation is underway. No one immediately took responsibility for the deadly ambush. A spokesman for the Taliban insurgency denied its involvement. Afghan officials say currently there are more than 250 women judges in the country and nearly 400 female prosecutors. Sunday’s violence is the latest in a string of mostly unclaimed assassinations targeting officials, politicians, prosecutors, doctors, journalists and civil society activists mostly in and around Kabul. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the assassination of female judges, but he again blamed the Taliban for being behind the targeted killing spree. While reiterating his call for the insurgents to declare a ceasefire, the Afghan leader stressed that “violence and terrorism” are not the way to resolve issues. Acting U.S. ambassador in Kabul Ross Wilson also condemned the assassinations of female supreme court judges and called for a prompt investigation. He also stopped short of blaming the Taliban. “The Taliban should understand that such actions for which it bears responsibility outrage the world and must cease if peace is to come to Afghanistan,” Wilson wrote on Twitter. The U.S. Embassy Sunday reminded Americans not to travel to Afghanistan due to increased terrorist attacks, kidnappings, criminal violence and civil unrest throughout the country. “Hotels, residential compounds, international organizations, embassies, and other locations frequented by foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, are known to be under enduring threat. U.S. citizens already in Afghanistan should consider departing,” said an embassy statement. For its part, the Taliban accuses the Kabul government of plotting the targeted killings to defame the group and subvert intra-Afghan peace talks, brokered by the United States. Some of the attacks have been claimed by Islamic State militants operating in the country. Heather Barr, the interim co-director of the women's rights division at Human Rights Watch, said the assassinations Sunday indicate the heightened risks facing female Afghan judges. “It’s a depressing example of how limited the progress on women’s rights has been in Afghanistan that there are only about 250 female judges — so this murder of two of them represents the death of almost one percent,” Barr told VOA. “Unfortunately this is part of a long-standing pattern of women in high profile roles being targeted, threatened and murdered—and the Afghan government doing little to protect them when they are alive and little to investigate when they’re dead,” she lamented. The intra-Afghan peace negotiations, which began last September in Qatar, have so far not made any significant progress. The dialogue is a crucial outcome of the February 2020 agreement the U.S. signed with the Taliban to promote a negotiated settlement to nearly two decades of Afghan war and bring home the remaining American troops. Washington announced last Friday it had cut U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,500 as part of the deal, which requires all American and NATO-led troops to leave the country by May 2021. In return, the Taliban has given counterterrorism security guarantees and pledged to negotiate a permanent ceasefire as well as a political power-sharing understanding with the Afghan government through the ongoing talks. © Voice of America 2021

By Ivan Watson and Rebecca Wright On the first day of her new teaching job at a Chinese government-run detention center in Xinjiang , Qelbinur Sidik said she saw two soldiers carry a young Uyghur woman out of the building on a stretcher. "There was no spark of life in her face. Her cheeks were drained of color, she was not breathing," said Sidik, a former elementary school teacher who says she was forced to spend several months teaching at two detention centers in Xinjiang in 2017. A policewoman who worked at the camp later told her the woman had died from heavy bleeding, though she didn't say what caused it. It was the first of many stories the policewoman would tell Sidik during the teacher's three-month assignment at the heavily-fortified building that housed female detainees. According to Sidik, the policewoman claimed to have been assigned to investigate reports of rape at the center by her superiors, though CNN has no evidence of that claim. However, Sidik said what she heard and saw herself was so disturbing that it made her ill. Sidik's allegations are similar to those of former detainees who have spoken of rape and systematic sexual assault within China's vast detention network. Her testimony is a rare account of a worker's direct experience of life inside the detention centers, where the US government alleges China is committing genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities through a repressive campaign of mass detention , torture, forced birth control and abortions. The Chinese government has rejected allegations of genocide, and in a statement to CNN said "there is no so-called 'systematic sexual assault and abuse against women' in Xinjiang." However, Sidik said the female police officer described how her male colleagues used to boast about it. "When (male guards) were drinking at night, the policemen would tell each other how they raped and tortured girls," Sidik told CNN from her new home in the Netherlands. Qelbinur Sidik went from being an elementary school teacher to someone forced to teach Mandarin to detainees. Inside the camps An ethnic Uzbek, Sidik grew up in Xinjiang and spent 28 years teaching elementary school students aged from six to 13. In September 2016, she said she was summoned to a meeting at the Saybagh District Bureau of Education and told she'd be working with "illiterates." In March 2017, she met her new students -- about 100 men and a handful of women. "They came in, their feet and hands chained in shackles," she said. At her first lesson, Sidik said she turned to the chalkboard only to hear the detainees behind her crying. "I turned slightly, I saw their tears falling down their beards, the female detainees were crying loudly," she said. Young detainees who arrived at the centers "fit, robust and bright-eyed" quickly sickened and weakened, she said. From her classroom in the basement of one camp, Sidik said she could hear screams. When she asked about their cries, she claims a male policeman told her that detainees were being tortured. "During the time I was teaching in there, I witnessed horrific tragedy," Sidik said. CNN has no way of verifying Sidik's account from inside the detention centers. However, former Xinjiang detainees have told CNN they were subjected to political indoctrination and abuse, and Uyghurs who now live abroad have described relatives disappearing into detention. Leaked documents provided to CNN showed Uyghurs could be sent to the camps for as little as having a beard or wearing a veil. The Chinese government has claimed the camps are " vocational training centers ," part of an official strategy to both stamp out violent Islamist extremism and create jobs. "There is no 'rounding up thousands of Uyghur Muslims'," said Xu Guixiang, a spokesperson for the Communist Party publicity department in Xinjiang, at a government press conference on February 1. "What we have cracked down on, according to the law, are a few heinous and obstinate leaders and backbones of extremist groups. What we have rescued are those who have been infected with religious extremism and committed minor crimes." 'Then I was gang raped' Tursunay Ziyawudun said she had committed no crime when she was first detained in April 2017, after returning home to Xinjiang's Xinyuan County to obtain official documents. She and her husband had been living for five years in neighboring Kazakhstan. Her husband, Halmirza Halik, an ethnic Kazakh, was not detained and tracked her down to the Xinyuan County Vocational School. "We spoke through the iron gate of the school," said Halik, speaking by phone with CNN from Kazakhstan. "She cried after seeing me. I told her don't be afraid ... you have not broken the law and there is nothing to worry about." Speaking to CNN from the US, Tursunay Ziyawudun said that she was taken to a cell with about 20 other women, where they were given little food and water. The authorities released Ziyawudun after a month in detention, but then summoned her back to the camp in March 2018, which she claimed marked the beginning of a 9-month nightmare. Speaking to CNN from the US, Ziyawudun said that she was taken to a cell with about 20 other women, where they were given little food and water and only allowed to use the toilet once a day for three to five minutes. "Those who took more time were electrocuted with shock batons," she said. During her detention, Ziyawudun says guards interrogated her about her years in Kazakhstan, asking whether she had ties to Uyghur exile groups. During one of these sessions, she claims police officers kicked and beat her until she passed out. Another time, while still bruised from her beating, Ziyawudun claimed two female guards took her to another room where they laid her on a table. "They inserted a stun baton inside me and twisted and shocked me with it. I blacked out," she said. Ten days later, she says a group of male guards took her away from her cell. "In the next room I heard another girl crying and screaming. I saw about 5 or 6 men going into that room. I thought they were torturing her. But then I was gang raped. After that I realized what they also did to her," Ziyawudun said, through tears. She said it happened multiple times while she was detained in the camps. "They were extremely sadistic, causing pain and damage to the body by beating and smacking my head on the wall ... it was their way of punishing us." Ziyawudun's allegations of rape and torture were first reported by the BBC. CNN is unable to independently verify Ziyawudun's claims, but they are similar to accounts from Gulbakhar Jalilova, an ethnic Uyghur from Kazakhstan. Speaking to CNN in July 2020, Jalilova, described being locked in a "prison-like" room with about 20 other women after she was detained in May 2017. Jalilova said she confronted one guard who sexually assaulted her. "I told him, 'Aren't you ashamed? Don't you have a mother, a sister, how can you do this to me like that?' He hit me with the electroshock prod and said, 'You don't look like a human'," she said. On the night of September 26, 2019, after being warned by Chinese authorities not to speak of her experiences in detention, Ziyawudun said she walked across the Kazakhstan border to her waiting husband. But in the days that followed, Ziyawudun's health deteriorated, and she suffered vaginal bleeding. In 2020, Ziyawudun was rushed to the US for medical treatment. Shortly after her arrival, doctors surgically removed her uterus, with medical records seen by CNN showing she was diagnosed for a pelvic abscess and vaginal bleeding, as well as tuberculosis. She said she blamed her medical complications on her treatment in the Xinjiang camps, although CNN cannot verify this conclusion. "(After she got out) she didn't tell me anything about her experiences in the camp," Halik says. "Sometimes she would cry at night and I was very angry. I knew that these things she experienced were not good, but I didn't dare to ask." Tursunay Ziyawudun now lives in the US after being rushed there for medical treatment for problems she says are related to her detention. Denials and shame In a statement to CNN, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not address the allegations made by the three women directly but instead issued a broad denial. "We hope that the relevant media can distinguish right from wrong, not be deceived and misled by false news and biased reports," the Foreign Ministry said, adding that their training centers "protect the basic rights of trainees including women from being violated, and it is strictly forbidden to insult and abuse trainees in any way." The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region administration has not responded to requests for comment. In a news conference on February 3, Chinese officials introduced some ethnic minority women who they said had "graduated" from the system, and "shared how they got rid of extreme thoughts." They also said reports of mass rape and forced sterilization were "sheer nonsense" and state media has sought to personally discredit the women's claims. For example, in an article published on February 10, the Global Times accused Gulbakhar Jalilova of being "an actor" and Tursunay Ziyawudun of lying about her forced sterilization, quoting a senior official saying that "all her family members know that she is inherently infertile." Ziyawudun told CNN she had a forced IUD insertion, not sterilization. Ziyawudun said she had no reason to make up her allegations. "I am a woman in my forties. Do you think this is something I can be proud of sharing with the world?" she said. "I would tell them I am not afraid of them anymore, because they already killed my soul." For her part, Sidik, the teacher, said she was told by her husband that government officials had come to his house and coached him for four hours about how to film a short video denying his wife's claims of being in a detention center. She said her husband told her to never come back to Xinjiang. "He blocked me again on Wechat, I don't know, is he alive or dead now?" she said. © 2021 Cable News Network

With the Taliban sweeping across much of the country, at least 30,000 Afghans are leaving each week. Many more have been displaced within Afghanistan’s borders. By Christina Goldbaum and Fatima Faizi With the security situation in Afghanistan rapidly deteriorating, hundreds of people wait in long lines at the passport department in Kabul each morning. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times KABUL, Afghanistan — Haji Sakhi decided to flee Afghanistan the night he saw two Taliban members drag a young woman from her home and lash her on the sidewalk. Terrified for his three daughters, he crammed his family into a car the next morning and barreled down winding dirt roads into Pakistan. That was more than 20 years ago. They returned to Kabul, the capital, nearly a decade later after the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime. But now, with the Taliban sweeping across parts of the country as American forces withdraw, Mr. Sakhi, 68, fears a return of the violence he witnessed that night. This time, he says, his family is not waiting so long to leave. “I’m not scared of leaving belongings behind, I’m not scared of starting everything from scratch,” said Mr. Sakhi, who recently applied for Turkish visas for himself, his wife, their three daughters and one son. “What I’m scared of is the Taliban.” Haji Sakhi at his home in Kabul. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Across Afghanistan, a mass exodus is unfolding as the Taliban press on in their brutal military campaign, which has captured more than half the country’s 400-odd districts, according to some assessments. And with that, fears of a harsh return to extremist rule or a bloody civil war between ethnically aligned militias have taken hold. So far this year around 330,000 Afghans have been displaced, more than half of them fleeing their homes since the United States began its withdrawal in May, according to the United Nations. Many have flooded into makeshift tent camps or crowded into relatives’ homes in cities, the last islands of government control in many provinces. Thousands more are trying to secure passports and visas to leave the country altogether. Others have crammed into smugglers’ pickup trucks in a desperate bid to slip illegally over the border. In recent weeks, the number of Afghans crossing the border illegally shot up around 30 to 40 percent compared to the period before international troops began withdrawing in May, according to the International Organization for Migration. At least 30,000 people are now fleeing every week. The sudden flight is an early sign of a looming refugee crisis, aid agencies warn, and has raised alarms in neighboring countries and Europe that the violence that has escalated since the start of the withdrawal is already spilling across the country’s borders. An Afghan commando at a frontline position in a civilian house in Kunduz in July. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times “Afghanistan is on the brink of another humanitarian crisis,” Babar Baloch, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said earlier this month . “A failure to reach a peace agreement in Afghanistan and stem the current violence will lead to further displacement.” The sudden exodus harks back to earlier periods of heightened unrest: Millions poured out of Afghanistan in the years after the Soviets invaded in 1979. A decade later, more fled as the Soviets withdrew and the country fell into civil war. The exodus continued when the Taliban came to power in 1996. Afghans currently account for one of the world’s largest populations of refugees and asylum seekers — around 3 million people — and represent the second highest number of asylum claims in Europe, after Syria. Now the country is at the precipice of another bloody chapter, but the new outpouring of Afghans comes as attitudes toward migrants have hardened around the world. After forging a repatriation deal in 2016 to stem migration from war-afflicted countries, Europe has deported tens of thousands of Afghan migrants. Hundreds of thousands more are being forced back by Turkey as well as by neighboring Pakistan and Iran, which together host around 90 percent of displaced Afghans worldwide and have deported a record number of Afghans in recent years. Coronavirus restrictions have also made legal and illegal migration more difficult, as countries closed their borders and scaled back refugee programs, pushing thousands of migrants to travel to Europe along more dangerous routes. In the United States, the growing backlog for the Special Immigration Visa program — available to Afghans who face threats because of their work with the U.S. government — has left roughly 20,000 eligible Afghans and their families trapped in bureaucratic limbo in Afghanistan. The Biden administration has come under heavy pressure to protect Afghan allies as the United States withdraws troops and air support amid a Taliban insurgency. Still, as the fighting between Taliban, government and militia forces intensifies and civilian casualties reach record highs , many Afghans remain determined to leave. One recent morning in Kabul, people gathered outside the passport office. Within hours, a line snaked around three city blocks and past a mural of migrants with an ominous warning: “Don’t jeopardize you and your family’s lives. Migration is not the solution.” A mural warning against migration served as a backdrop for people lining up outside the passport office in Kabul. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Few people were deterred. “I need to get a passport and get the hell out of this country,” said Abdullah, 41, who like many in Afghanistan goes by only one name. Abdullah, who drives a taxi between Kabul and Ghazni, a trading hub in the southeast, remembers speeding toward the capital when fighting erupted recently, picking up a group of Afghan troops who demanded a ride along the way. Two days later, his boss called to say that Taliban fighters had asked about a taxi driver seen evacuating security forces — and had recited Abdullah’s license plate. Terrified, Abdullah says he will find any way to leave. “Trying to leave legally is costly, and if we go illegally it is dangerous,” he said. “But right now the country is even more dangerous.” “I need to get a passport and get the hell out of this country,” said Abdullah, 41. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Farther west, a surge of Afghans have flocked to Zaranj, a hub for illegal migration in Nimruz Province, where smugglers’ pickup trucks snake south down the borderlands to Iran each day. In March, around 200 cars left for the Iranian border each day from Zaranj — a 300 percent increase from 2019, according to David Mansfield, a migration researcher and consultant with the British Overseas Development Institute. By early July, 450 cars were heading to the border each day. Those who can afford it pay thousands of dollars to travel to Turkey and then Europe. But many more strike pay-as-you-go deals with smugglers, planning to work illegally in Iran until they can afford the next leg of the journey. “We don’t have any money or means of getting a visa,” said Mohammad Adib, who is considering migrating illegally to Iran. Mr. Adib fled his home in Qala-e-Naw, in the country’s northwest, in early July after the Taliban laid siege to the city one night. As dawn broke, he says the paw-paw-paw of gunfire was replaced with wails from neighbors. Electricity lines littered the ground. Doors of houses were broken down. The road was stained with blood. “We cannot find another way out,” he said. In Tajikistan, officials recently announced that the country was prepared to host around 100,000 Afghan refugees, after the country received around 1,600 Afghans this month. Other neighboring countries have expressed less willingness to host an outpouring of Afghans, instead beefing up their border security and warning that their economies cannot handle a new influx of refugees. Leaders in Central Europe have called to increase their border security as well, fearing the current exodus could swell into a crisis similar to that in 2015 when nearly a million, mostly Syrian migrants entered Europe. But in Afghanistan, about half of the country’s population is already in need of humanitarian assistance this year — twice as many people as last year and six times as many as four years ago, according to the United Nations. Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi, 40, borrowed $1,000 to bring 36 relatives to Kabul after the Taliban attacked his village in Malistan district. Today his three-room apartment, situated on the edge of the city, feels more like a crowded shelter than a home. Mohammad Nabi Mohammadi borrowed $1,000 to bring 36 relatives to Kabul after the Taliban attacked his village in Malistan district. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times The men sleep in one large living room, women stay in the other and the children cram into the apartment’s one small bedroom alongside bags of clothes and cleaning supplies. Mr. Mohammadi borrows more money from neighbors to buy enough bread and chicken — which have nearly doubled in price as food prices surge — to feed everyone. Now, sinking further into debt with no relief in sight, he is at a loss for what to do. “These families are sick, they are traumatized, they have lost everything,” he said, standing near his kitchen’s one countertop — out of earshot from his family. “Unless the situation improves, I don’t know what we will do.” Jan Bibi, left, 40, lost her husband, who was a militiaman, during the fighting in Malestan. She now resides at Mr. Mohammadi’s house in Kabul. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times © 2021 The New York Times Company

Crowded Camp Conditions, Lack of Permanent Shelters By Meenakshi Ganguly Rohingya refugees repair a shelter damaged following heavy rains at the refugee camp in Kutupalong, Bangladesh on July 28, 2021. © 2021 Shafiqur Rahman/AP Images Heavy rains over the past week have displaced more than 21,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The resulting flooding and mudslides have destroyed about 6,418 shelters. With months of monsoon season still ahead, the refugees face heightened risks because they are being prevented from taking measures that could lessen the devastation from flooding. In the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, where nearly one million Rohingya refugees who fled atrocities by the Myanmar military live, Bangladesh authorities have prohibited the construction of stronger shelters capable of withstanding not just the annual monsoon, but also frequent dry-season fires. This prohibition is a constant reminder to the Rohingya living in the world’s largest refugee camp that their stay in Bangladesh is temporary. Making that political point has cost lives. Ever since the vast majority of refugees arrived in 2017, humanitarian agencies have warned that shelters made of bamboo and tarpaulin leave the inhabitants in danger. But the Bangladesh authorities have refused to let the agencies build any permanent structures that can be used as schools and double up as evacuation shelters in an emergency. “We wish the authorities would allow us to build a little stronger shelters so that we do not have to face the same tragedy every year,” one refugee said, explaining that his tarpaulin roofing was leaking even before the monsoon started. Others described a shortage of drinking water because of inundated wells, lack of food, and clogged sewage facilities. Some refugees said they were moving in with relatives, risking spread of Covid-19 . An additional 5,000 Rohingya in the “no man’s land” at the Myanmar border are also experiencing floods. “Of over 500 shelters, only about 50 or 60 are still intact,” a 38-year-old Rohingya man said. Humanitarian workers fear the spread of water borne diseases ; there are already hundreds of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) cases reported in the camps. Aid groups are experiencing a funding crisis , receiving only 30 percent of the US$943 million required for the 2021 joint response plan. Bangladeshi host communities are also affected. At least 17 people including six Rohingya refugees have died in the landslides and floods . Bangladesh authorities should act now to save lives, including by permitting permanent shelters and removing fencing that reduces mobility. International donors should immediately assist Bangladesh support both its nationals and the Rohingya who were forced to flee Myanmar’s crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. © 2021 Human Rights Watch

By Chase Winter Continued conflict in South Sudan has forced 52,000 people to flee to Uganda in January alone, the UN said. Killings of civilians, rapes and the destruction of homes and property have been reported. More than 52,000 South Sudanese fled to Uganda in January amid continued fighting that risks turning into a mass atrocity, the UN's special adviser on genocide prevention said Tuesday. Many of those who have fled reported killings of civilians, the destruction of homes, sexual violence, and the looting of livestock and property, said Adama Dieng. "President Salva Kiir has made a commitment to end the violence and bring about peace, yet we still see ongoing clashes, and the risk that mass atrocities will be committed remains ever-present," he said in a statement. Dieng said there was particular concern about the situation in Kajo-Keji, located south of the capital, Juba, where UN peacekeepers have faced access restrictions and civilians are fleeing en masse. South Sudan descended into civil war in 2013, less than two years after gaining independence. The conflict arose from a rivalry between President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. A peace process and a power sharing agreement have failed to take hold. In December, the UN warned the conflict risked turning into a genocide. Fighting has displaced more than 1.85 million people internally and sent another 1.4 million fleeing to neighboring countries. About half the population of 12 million people is in need of humanitarian aid - a number that aid agencies say could rise by 20 or 30 percent this year. The UN warned earlier this month that fighting and disrupted humanitarian activities would likely contribute to extreme levels of food insecurity in South Sudan this year. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Deutsche Welle