UNITED NATIONS — The number of children traveling by themselves among documented refugees and migrants has nearly quintupled to the highest on record, and many of them are at risk from smugglers, sex traffickers and other predators, the United Nations said in a report published on Wednesday. The report said the findings amounted to an alarming international lapse in providing basic safety and security for the world’s most vulnerable people. “One child moving alone is one too many, and yet today, there are a staggering number of children doing just that,” said Justin Forsyth, the deputy executive director of Unicef. “We as adults are failing to protect them.” At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children were recorded in 80 countries in 2015 and 2016 combined, compared with 66,000 in 2010 and 2011, the report said. The 300,000 figure included 170,000 children who had applied for asylum in Europe and 100,000 who had been detained at the border between Mexico and the United States. In a telephone interview, Mr. Forsyth said the report documented not only a rapid rise in the number of unaccompanied children but also “a lot more abuse” by traffickers and members of organized crime who exploit them. He also said the numbers in the report understated the problem because they reflected only children found among registered populations of refugees and migrants. “This is the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “Many children who never register fall into the hands of smugglers. The real number is much bigger. We lack an enormous amount of data.” Mr. Forsyth said the release of the report was timed to come ahead of the Group of 7 summit meeting on May 26 and 27 in Taormina, Sicily, where the refugee and migrant crisis will be an important topic. Italy has been the principal entry point for refugees and migrants making the treacherous Mediterranean crossing from Africa, and the United Nations report said roughly 90 percent of children undertaking that voyage were traveling alone — mostly from Egypt, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea and Nigeria. The report urged the Group of 7 participants, which will include President Trump, to strengthen protections for child refugees, including by ending their detention at border crossings, finding ways to keep families together and combating the “discrimination, xenophobia and stigma” that often victimizes uprooted children. (C) 2017 The New York Times

A light lunch will be provided (first come, first served Violence against women is a critical indicator of instability and a key determinant for whether a society will be mired in poverty, impunity, and insecurity. There is a growing body of evidence showing this link; demonstrating the real physiological effect of violence and its consequences for the spread of insecurity and violent extremism; and showing the types of programs and interventions that can disrupt violence. Futures Without Violence is releasing “Linking Security of Women & Security of States.” The report offers priority policy and programmatic recommendations to disrupt violence and enhance security and gender equality; summarizes the relationship between violent extremism, gender-based violence, and trauma; and identifies approaches that improve resilience, support survivors, and contribute exponentially to better development and security outcomes. The report explores: · How gender-based violence and gender dynamics enter into the strategies and tactics of groups fomenting violence and recruiting for violent extremists · How science-based understandings of the impact of trauma can improve interventions to improve resilience and reduce violence, counter insecurity and violent extremism, and improve recovery and reintegration · A case study of Boko Haram, showing how these concepts come in play Opening Remarks Alexandre Marc is Chief Specialist, Fragility, Conflict and Violence Group, at the World Bank Group. He has over two decades of experience working in areas related to conflict and violence in the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and East Asia. At the World Bank, he led the social cohesion and violence prevention team from 2009-2012, and was responsible for post-conflict reconstruction programs in Eastern Europe, as Sector Manager for Social Development, Europe and Central Asia Region. During this time, he also served as Director of the Roma Education Fund, an International Foundation based in Budapest that supports the inclusion of Roma children in education systems. Moderator and Presenters Maria Alexandra (Alex) Arriaga is the principal author and editor of “Linking Security of Women & Security of States: Policymaker Blueprint.” She has a breadth of policy and human rights expertise and has served in leadership positions in the White House, U.S. Congress and at international human rights organizations. She is managing partner at Strategy for Humanity, a consulting firm that provides institutions with policy, advocacy, and structural strategies to achieve full potential. In this capacity, she serves as a consultant and senior advisor to Futures Without Violence where she has created and led strategies that enhance approaches and investment for preventing and responding to gender-based violence globally. James (Jim) A. Mercy, Ph.D., is the Director of the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) in the Injury Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role, he provides leadership to innovative research and science-based programs to prevent violence and reduce its consequences. Dr. Mercy has authored more than 200 publications that span the areas of child maltreatment, youth and intimate partner violence, homicide, suicide, and firearm injuries. Hilary Matfess is a specialist on the intersection of security and governance in sub-Saharan Africa. She is a freelance journalist, a senior program officer at the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Nigeria, and a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at the National Defense University. She has conducted fieldwork in Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. Her current research focuses on social violence and the gender dynamics in the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Closing Remarks Markus Kostner is presently Global Lead for Stability, Peace, and Security at the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 1999 as an Economist in the Post-Conflict Unit. He has worked extensively on social development issues over the past 25 years, including community driven development, fragility and conflict, and social analysis, including in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. He managed multiple operations and multi-donor trust funds, (co-)authored various papers, and participated in numerous post-crisis assessments and responses. Mr. Kostner was also a member of the World Development Report 2011 on Conflict, Security and Development. Prior to joining the World Bank, he was Associate Professor of Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and Adviser in the Multilateral Development Department at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others. He holds an MBA and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Security of Women & Security of States

What hope is there for justice for victims of atrocities in profoundly fractured societies, where systems of government have broken down and social and political divisions run deep? What is the role of transitional justice in forging peace in countries like Colombia, after decades of conflict? Or in countries like Tunisia, after years of repression and corrosive corruption? A new book by ICTJ titled Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies examines the challenges of responding to massive human rights violations in different and difficult circumstances in today's world. The book is the culmination of years of research, and its chapters study how a variety of factors – from religious actors to labor unions, non-state armed groups to political parties – impact efforts to grapple with the past. The research ultimately stresses the role of institutional context, prevailing social and economic structures, and the nature of conflict itself, providing vivid examples of their interplay with transitional justice measures around the world. Download the book for free and explore our multimedia presentation. In it you'll find explorations of these questions and more: Is transitional justice relevant amidst ongoing conflict? Can local communities devise ways to address large-scale atrocities and human rights violations? Is transitional justice possible if there is no political will? What is the role of religious institutions in transitional justice efforts? How do labor unions impact transitional justice processes? You can also read ICTJ's analysis in a special report, available here. Presentation: https://www.ictj.org/sites/default/files/subsites/justice-mosaics-context/ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Justice Mosaics

First Call for Abstracts Conference “Troubling Seasons of Hate” Johannesburg December 2017 The Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (www.wits.ac.za/wicds) will host a conference on the topic of “Troubling Seasons of Hate” on 5, 6 & 7 December at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Globally, it is becoming clear that we are in trouble. Humanity may be on the brink of repeating some of the most destructive and dehumanizing chapters of modern history as populist ethno-nationalism gains currency, working to overturn many of the gains made by anti-colonial, civil rights, feminist, disability and sexual minority rights movements. Expressions of violence and exclusion directed towards those constructed as racial, ethnic, religious, national, sexed/gendered ‘others’ are gaining a level of respectability as some political leaders and popular movements endorse inhumane and bigoted attitudes and behaviors against those regarded as non-normative. The dehumanizing effects of this rising tide of hatred are already reverberating throughout our societies, with severe consequences for the human dignity and safety of everyone, even those who deploy hate in the face of difference. While overt acts of violence directed at people because of perceived group belonging are often spectacularized in the media, we seek to understand the quotidian permissions that enable the trans/homophobia, racism, misogyny and more to circulate and become diffused in society in the first place. The fourth annual international conference hosted by the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies wishes to trouble the insidious normalization of hateful ways of being, speaking and behaving. The conference aims to trouble the ways in which hate operates in societies globally, interrogate how it is constituted, travels and circulates, its many effects, and how we can prevent, limit and challenge its harm. This conference invites proposals for 15-minute presentations followed by moderated table discussions with conference delegates. We are interested in reading proposals that trouble hate at all levels and in all aspects of society. These may include:  Normative social formations  Social movements  Identities  Culture and arts  Memory and memorialization  Knowledge production  Affective economies  Bodies  Faith, spirituality and religion  Law and legislation  Institutions  Globalization and nativism  Economic practices  Civil society initiatives The deadline for the first call for abstracts is 15 June 2017. Abstracts should be between 250 and 300 words, and should be sent to info.wicds@wits.ac.za by midnight, GMT, on 15 June 2017, accompanied by a brief CV. We will respond to abstracts by the end of June 2017. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

(Nairobi) – Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic have sexually exploited or abused at least 13 women and girls since 2015, including at least one rape, and threatened some victims to remain silent, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ugandan military has been deployed in the country since 2009 as a part of the African Union’s Regional Task Force to eliminate the Uganda rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), but recently announced it is withdrawing its troops. “Karin,” a 15-year-old girl in Obo who was eight months pregnant at the time of photo. She told Human Rights Watch that a Ugandan soldier paid her up to 5,000 CFA (approximately $8.30 USD) to be his local “wife.” ©2017 Lewis Mudge/Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch interviewed a total of 13 women and 3 girls in early 2017, who described exploitation or abuse since 2010 by Ugandan soldiers in the southeastern town of Obo, where Ugandan forces were based, and heard credible accounts of other cases. Two of the women were girls when the exploitation or abuse took place. Two women and one girl said that soldiers threatened reprisals if they told Ugandan and United Nations investigators about the abuse. “As counter-LRA operations wind down, Uganda’s military should not ignore allegations of sexual exploitation and rape by its soldiers in the Central African Republic,” said Lewis Mudge, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Ugandan and African Union authorities should conduct proper investigations, punish those responsible, and make sure that the women and girls who were sexually abused or exploited get the services they need.” Fifteen of the women and girls interviewed said they became pregnant, but in each case the soldier who fathered the child left the country and has not provided any support. The 16 cases documented by Human Rights Watch clearly under-represent the full extent of sexual exploitation and abuse by the Ugandan forces, not only because sexual violence is generally underreported, but also because others, including the UN and local health workers, have documented other cases, Human Rights Watch said. In the Central African Republic, women and girls often do not report sexual violence or exploitation due to shame, stigma, or fear of retaliation. In 2016, the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights reported 14 cases of rape by Ugandan forces in the country, including cases involving victims who were children at the time. Four of these cases are among those Human Rights Watch documented. According to an internal UN report from 2016 obtained by Human Rights Watch, UN investigators in Obo registered 18 cases of sexual violence or harassment by Ugandan soldiers against women and girls who were afraid to give details out of fear of reprisals. The report states that investigators also obtained information about 44 women and girls with children fathered by Ugandan soldiers; the UN team interviewed 12 of them, all girls. In January 2017, the BBC reported cases of rape by Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic, including of a 12-year-old girl who gave birth. The Ugandan military said at the time that it conducted an investigation in Obo and found no evidence of wrongdoing. Human Rights Watch submitted a series of questions about the allegations to the Ugandan Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs on April 20, including about any investigations or disciplinary action, but the ministry has not replied. Several women and girls told Human Rights Watch that Ugandan military investigators had interviewed them over the past year, but that there was no follow-up and they had no information about the investigation. Two local organizations, one religious leader, and one journalist in Obo also told Human Rights Watch that Ugandan forces had warned them not to report cases of sexual exploitation and abuse. The rape survivor interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 15-year-old “Marie,” said a Ugandan soldier assaulted her in January 2016, while she was working in the fields near the Ugandan base at the Obo airstrip. “The man was alone… I could not understand what he was saying,” she said. “He pushed me to the ground [and he raped me]. Afterward, there was real pain.” “Marie” became pregnant from the rape and gave birth to a child in November 2016. Fifteen of the women and girls interviewed said they had sex with Ugandan military personnel in exchange for food or money because the ongoing conflict and their displacement had left them desperate. Several said the Ugandan soldiers offered them food and money to be their “local wives,” which entailed having sex and doing domestic work. Fourteen of these women and girls had a child fathered by a Ugandan soldier. All of them said they received no support from the soldier and most said their social and economic situation worsened after the child was born. Rape; sex in exchange for money, goods, or services; and sex with anyone under 18 by African Union (AU) military, police, or civilians qualify as sexual exploitation and abuse, and are prohibited by the AU. The AU states a zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse. The women and girls, healthcare workers, and local officials Human Rights Watch interviewed in Obo said that Ugandan soldiers paying for sex was no secret in the community, and women and girls frequently visited the military base by the air strip. “I could spend the night in the base, there were no problems,” said “Karin,” a 15-year-old girl who became pregnant in 2016 by a Ugandan soldier. On April 19, 2017, the Ugandan Defense Ministry announced its withdrawal from the Central African Republic, saying, “the mission to neutralize the LRA has now been successfully achieved.” Ugandan forces could join the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MINUSCA, to continue operations against the LRA, the ministry added. MINUSCA should not consider accepting any Ugandan troops for the UN mission until allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse have been credibly investigated and abusers held to account, Human Rights Watch said. While in Obo, Ugandan forces received logistical and intelligence assistance from the United States. The US government should condition future support for the Ugandan military on Uganda promptly and thoroughly investigating the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Central African Republic and punishing the abusers, among other concerns, Human Rights Watch said. The Ugandan and AU authorities should prioritize the security and well-being of survivors in its response to sexual exploitation and abuse, Human Rights Watch said. That should include assuring survivor’s safety, maintaining confidentiality to reduce the risk of stigmatization, minimizing repeated trauma due to multiple interviews, ensuring timely access to medical and mental health, or psychosocial, care, and providing socioeconomic support to survivors abandoned with children fathered by Ugandan military personnel. AU forces in the Central African Republic have committed other serious crimes with impunity in recent years. In June 2016, Human Rights Watch published information on the murder of at least 18 people, including women and children, by peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo. At the time, the Congolese peacekeepers were under the command of the AU mission in the Central African Republic, known as MISCA. The AU prepared an internal report on the killings but has not released the findings. “Both AU and troop-contributing countries should demonstrate full commitment to punish sexual exploitation and abuse in deployment areas,” Mudge said. “They need to enforce the zero-tolerance policy and prevent abuse of the people these missions are meant to protect.” The Effort Against the LRA In 2011, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council authorized the Regional Cooperation Initiative for the Elimination of the LRA (RCI-LRA), which included as the military component the Regional Task Force (RTF). The RTF drew its operational forces largely from the Ugandan army. Approximately 1,500 Ugandan military forces were deployed to the Central African Republic. The US announced in October 2011 that it would send 100 US Special Forces personnel as military advisers to the Ugandan army and other armed forces in the region to assist in apprehending LRA leaders. In recent years, and as LRA groups have moved, nearly all of the US military advisers and Ugandan army soldiers involved have been based in the southeast, with a headquarters in Obo. Both Ugandan and US forces have announced they will withdraw from the mission in the upcoming months. Sexual Exploitation and Rape Human Rights Watch documented one case of rape of a girl (15 years old), and 15 cases of sexual exploitation by Ugandan military forces, including of two girls (15 and 17 years old), and two who were girls at the time the exploitation took place. Thirteen of the cases occurred after 2015, with the most recent in late 2016. Fifteen of the 16 subsequently gave birth, including two who were 17 when they became pregnant. “Marie,” the 15-year-old rape survivor, told Human Rights Watch that her attacker was a soldier based in Obo. “He was a young man,” she said. “This soldier raped me and now it is difficult to think about what happened. It was not good and I think about it a lot.” “Marie” received some medical care after the attack but no information about getting an abortion after she learned she was pregnant (see below). She gave birth to the child in November 2016. Among the cases investigated by the UN, according to an internal report Human Rights Watch reviewed, one was of a 13-year-old girl who was “raped two times by UPDF [Ugandan military] soldiers in Obo, first in August 2015 and the second time on May 20, 2016.” A 25-year-old woman, “Blandine,” said she felt she had no choice but to be a Ugandan “wife” because a soldier gave her between 3,000 CFA and 5,000 CFA per week (approximately US$5 to $8.30) in return. “I needed the money,” she said. “I am a farmer and I am poor. I only went to school for a few years… With that money I would buy food and I would do small business.” A 28-year-old woman, “Margaret,” said she was also not able to refuse money from a Ugandan soldier. “He would give me 1,000 CFA (approximately US$1.60) or some small food after sex. It would be a sachet of corn meal or maybe cabbage or tomatoes,” she said. “I started this relationship with [him] because I needed this small amount of money he gave me, that is all.” “Francine,” 23, said she had sex with a Ugandan soldier for two to three months in 2015 because he gave her food and money. “He was looking for a woman that he could have sex with but he did not want too many [women] for fear of contracting AIDS,” she said. “He said he would give me 10,000 CFA (approximately US$16.70) to be his wife.” “Francine” stressed how common the exploitation was in town. “All the Ugandans do this,” she said. “They don’t need to hide it because it is completely normal.” Exploited and Abandoned Seven women and one girl said they knew the name of the Ugandan soldier who had paid them for sex, but the others did not. None of the 15 who had a child as a result of the exploitation knew how to contact the soldier who had abandoned them. “Claire,” 25, said that when she was six months pregnant, the Ugandan soldier who had impregnated her told her he was leaving the following day. “He refused to give me his number in Uganda,” she said. “When I insisted he said, ‘What for? You are just going to call and bother me.’” “Margaret” said that the Ugandan father of her child, born in early 2015, refused to give her his phone number in Uganda. “No, the child is my gift to you,” she said he told her. “It will be a souvenir to remember me by.” Six women and girls said Ugandan military personnel had promised to take them to Uganda for a better life in exchange for acting as a soldier’s “wife.” A 25-year-old mother of a child from a Ugandan soldier, “Claude,” said a Ugandan soldier convinced her to become his “wife” in 2014. “He said he would marry me and take me to Uganda if I accepted to be his ‘wife,’” she said. “He said he would give me what I wanted and needed as his ‘wife,’ so I accepted.” “Rebecca,” 22, said she agreed to be a Ugandan soldier’s “wife” when she was 17. “He fooled me and he said he would take me to Uganda as his own wife – I believed him,” she said. “I was young and stupid. We were together for a year. Sometimes he would come to the house, sometimes I would go to the base.” “Rebecca” had a child with the soldier when she was still 17. A 21-year-old woman, “Alphonsine,” said a Ugandan soldier promised her money, food, and a home in Uganda. Over the course of five years, they had two children together. He abandoned her and the children in November 2015, when he returned to Uganda. “I think about my situation and how I was fooled,” she said. “Now it is very difficult for me to find money for food and soap.” 30-year-old “Jeanette,” who had a child from a Ugandan soldier in 2015, said she had sex with him because she needed money and food. “Now I need more money and food because I have to feed and clothe this child, too,” she said. Services for Survivors Most of the women and girls interviewed had not been able to get medical or mental health care. “Marie,” the rape survivor, was able to access some critical post-rape medical care in the days after she was attacked. She was tested for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, but no one provided her with information about access to abortion after it was established she was pregnant. Eight women said the Ugandan soldier with whom they had sex gave them money, ranging from 1,000 CFA to 30,000 CFA (approximately US$1.60 to $50), for medical care during their pregnancy. But all of them said it was not sufficient for the multiple check-ups required, and they either had to find the money elsewhere or forgo appointments. None had any psychosocial support to deal with the trauma, despite the presence of at least one international organization that offers this service. The women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they were not aware this service existed. None had received social or economic support from the AU or other agencies. Several spoke of stigma in their communities associated with having a “Ugandan baby.” This stigma could lead to greater socioeconomic needs. “People in the neighborhood call my child ‘the Ugandan,’” said Rebecca. “The other kids make fun of her and tell her I am the abandoned wife of a Ugandan.” Ugandan Investigations Ugandan military investigators interviewed several survivors over the past year, but the survivors said they had not had any communication with the investigators after the interviews and were unaware of other follow up. The women and girls said they had no means to contact the investigators. Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Ugandan Defense Ministry on April 20, 2017, asking, among other questions, what steps the ministry had taken to investigate the allegations. The ministry has not replied. A Ugandan military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Richard Karemire, told the BBC in January that military investigators had visited Obo but found no evidence of wrongdoing. “A team went on the ground and did a very good investigation and they never found anything really to implicate any UPDF [Ugandan military] individual for having perpetrated such crimes,” he said. Threats to Stay Silent Two women and one girl who were sexually exploited said that Ugandan soldiers had warned them not to speak to any investigators looking into sexual exploitation and abuse. “Claire” said that Ugandan soldiers approached her in 2016, before Ugandan investigators arrived in Obo. “The soldiers came to my house and told me to say the child was a Central African,” she said. “They told me, ‘Don’t say the boy is a Ugandan or it will make problems for you. It will be bad.’ I said, ‘How can it get worse? I have been abandoned with nothing anyway.’” “Karin,” the 15-year-old girl who was sexually exploited and left pregnant, said Ugandan soldiers warned her not to speak with Ugandan investigators. She decided to speak to the investigators anyway because she had already been abandoned while pregnant and felt she had nothing to lose. The internal UN report Human Rights Watch obtained says that UN investigators in Obo registered 18 cases of sexual violence or sexual harassment by Ugandan soldiers against women and girls who were too fearful of reprisals by Ugandan soldiers to give details about their cases. Two local organizations, a religious leader, and one journalist in Obo also said Ugandan forces had warned them not to report sexual exploitation and abuse. The religious leader said: “The Ugandans are here to protect us, but they can also threaten us. They know that they are not meant to [have sex with people in the community] and they do not want people talking to journalists about it.” The Central African Republic is not the only country where Ugandan soldiers have raped and exploited women and girls while on an AU mission. In 2014, Human Rights Watch documented that Ugandan and Burundian military personnel from the AU mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, had exploited and abused women, including raping women who were seeking water or medical assistance on AMISOM bases. Some women said they did not report the abuse because they feared reprisals from their attackers. Human Rights Watch has previously raised concerns with the Ugandan Defense Ministry regarding similar allegations against Ugandan troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011. AU Policy on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse The UN defines exploitation as “any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.” The UN considers “sexual abuse” to mean the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. In September 2014, Human Rights Watch reported on 21 acts of rape or sexual exploitation by Ugandan and Burundian military personal with the AU mission in Somalia, AMISOM. Following this report, the AU sent an independent investigation team to Somalia. A recommendation in its final report called for the AU Commission to establish an Office of Internal Oversight Services with similar responsibilities to an independent UN office that investigates, submits reports, and recommends action on alleged abuses by UN peacekeepers. The UN policy on peacekeepers’ conduct prohibits engaging in any sexual relations with members of the local community. The AU should establish a permanent and adequately trained and resourced independent investigative body to investigate allegations of misconduct and abuses, including sexual exploitation and abuse, Human Rights Watch said. Despite allegations made in the past, the AU does not have a comprehensive conduct and discipline policy for AU peacekeepers or soldiers who commit sexual exploitation and abuse. It is working on a policy framework that will include prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, how to respond to reports of other types of offenses, and a whistleblower policy. It is unclear if the policy will result in establishing an independent investigative mechanism, along the lines of the UN agency as recommended in the report from Somalia. The UN considers rape; sex in exchange for money, goods, or services; and sex with anyone under 18 by UN military, police, or civilians to be sexual exploitation and abuse, which are prohibited by the UN. The UN professes a zero-tolerance policy for sexual exploitation and abuse. There have been numerous allegations of such abuse against UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, including in cases documented by Human Rights Watch in February 2016. The United Nations Secretary-General’s 2003 Bulletin on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse states that exploitation involves situations in which women and girls are vulnerable and a differential power relationship exists. Other Abuses by AU Peacekeepers in the Central African Republic Human Rights Watch has reported on other serious crimes by troops operating as AU peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. In June 2014, Human Rights Watch published information on the killing of at least 11 people, including women and children, in Boali in March 2014, and the death by torture of two others in Bossangoa in December 2013. In June 2016, Human Rights Watch published another report on the killings in Boali, highlighting the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 12 people who were identified as having been detained by the peacekeepers in March 2014, as well as two prisoners executed in Mambéré in February 2014. The killings in Boali, Bossangoa, and Mambéré were by peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo under command of the AU mission, known by its French acronym, MISCA. Following the exhumation of the mass grave at Boali, Human Rights Watch wrote to President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo and to the AU urging credible investigations to bring those responsible to justice. Human Rights Watch never received a reply. In 2015, staff at the AU embassy in the Central African Republic told Human Rights Watch of an AU report into the murders at Boali. Despite official requests in 2015, 2016, and 2017, Human Rights Watch was never shown the report nor been told of its contents. (C) 2017 Human Rights Watch

A satellite image of what the State Department described as a building in a Syrian prison complex that was modified to support a crematory. Credit: U.S. State Department and DigitalGlobe WASHINGTON — The United States accused the Syrian government on Monday of using a crematory to hide mass murders at a prison where thousands are believed to have been summarily executed in the nation’s civil war. The assertion, based on newly declassified satellite photographs of the prison, significantly expanded the accusations the United States has leveled at President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, with some officials appearing to draw a parallel to Nazi Germany. “The attempt to cover up mass murders in the Assad crematorium is reminiscent of the 20th century’s worst offenses against humanity,” said Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Assad’s forces and their allies have been widely accused by human rights groups and others of killing thousands of prisoners and burying their bodies in mass graves during the course of the war, now in its seventh year. But the Trump administration went further on Monday, contending that the government was systematically incinerating the corpses of executed inmates at the Sednaya prison complex north of Damascus to destroy evidence that could be used to prosecute war crimes. “We now believe that the Syrian regime has installed a crematorium in the Sednaya prison complex, which could dispose of detainees’ remains with little evidence,” Stuart E. Jones, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said at a news conference in Washington. “At this point, we are talking about this evidence and bringing it forward to the international community, which we hope will put pressure on the regime to change its behavior.” Mr. Jones acknowledged that the satellite photographs, taken over the last four years, were not definitive. But in one from 2015, he said, the buildings were covered in snow — except for one, suggesting a significant internal heat source. “That would be consistent with a crematorium,” he said. The suspected crematory at the Sednaya Prison complex outside Damascus. Credit: U.S. State Department and DigitalGlobe Officials added that a discharge stack and architectural elements thought to be a firewall and air intake were also suggestive of a place to burn bodies. The United Nations is scheduled to begin another round of Syria peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, and the timing of the accusations seemed intended to pressure Russia, Mr. Assad’s principal foreign ally, into backing away from him. “The rest of the world recognizes the horrors of the Syrian regime,” Ms. Haley said. “It is time for Russia to join us.” There was no immediate comment from the Russian or Syrian governments. Mr. Assad has repeatedly denied committing crimes in the war, which he has framed as a struggle against terrorism fomented by his Western and Arab enemies. Human rights groups said they were surprised by the Trump administration’s assertions, in part because some of the satellite photographs have existed for years and are not conclusive. “There still needs to be a lot of research done,” said Geoffrey Mock, a Middle East specialist at Amnesty International, which released a report in February detailing other evidence of mass executions at the Sednaya prison, but nothing about a crematory. Paulo Pinheiro, the chairman of a United Nations tribunal that has been compiling evidence of atrocities in the Syrian war since it began in 2011, said in an email, “I don’t have any information concerning this crematorium.” Some Syrian opposition supporters asked why, if the United States had satellite pictures suggesting the existence of the facility for such a long time, they were being publicized only now. Some criticized the Obama administration for sitting on the pictures. Mr. Jones, the acting assistant secretary of state, said American officials believed the crematory was created in 2013. “Although the regime’s many atrocities are well documented, we believe that the building of a crematorium is an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Sednaya prison,” he said. Momentum is building in several court cases being prepared in Europe against Syrian officials. Witnesses testified this month in German federal court in a criminal case that accuses six senior Syrian security officers of responsibility for atrocities. Throughout the conflict, which has killed roughly 400,000 people, many witnesses have accused pro-government forces of burning or destroying bodies, though not specifically at Sednaya. At least a half-dozen Syrians have told The New York Times over the past four years that they either witnessed the burning of bodies or smelled odors that made them wonder if bodies were being burned. Several mentioned an unpleasant smell like burning hair near prison or military facilities, or in areas recently taken by pro-government forces. Several former detainees on the Mezze air base, a government facility on the edge of Damascus, said they had seen bodies being burned. People living nearby said they had smelled something like burning hair but were unsure whether it was from animals, like chicken feathers or sheep’s wool. Jamal, who was displaced from a Damascus suburb and gave only his first name for fear of reprisals, said that while living in the Mezze district several years ago, he regularly saw black smoke and smelled what he thought were burning tires, in addition to other smells he could not identify. Photographs from 2013 and 2016 showing what is thought to be a crematory at the Syrian prison. Credit: U.S. State Department and DigitalGlobe Kassem Eid, a former rebel spokesman and negotiator in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Moadhamiyeh who is now based in Germany, also said that people living in Damascus suburbs had noticed a smell like burning hair. On Al Jazeera television in 2015, a defecting soldier who served on the Mezze air base said detainees’ bodies had been taken to a crematory in the Harasta neighborhood. In April 2013, a middle-aged Syrian told The New York Times that bodies had been burned after an attack on a civilian area outside Damascus. He said that after pro-government militias entered his neighborhood and killed scores of people, he watched from his window as the troops burned bodies while dancing around. He said he had seen 20 to 30 soldiers in military uniforms burning bodies, including those of townspeople he recognized. Many other instances of ad hoc burnings of bodies have been reported over the years. A lawyer in Aleppo described seeing two bodies thrown out of a security office. When he and his friends returned a few days later to bury them, he said, they were stopped by security officers who burned the bodies in the street. The bodies of infants were found half-charred in 2013 after pro-government forces massacred scores of people in the towns of Bayda and Baniyas. During the news conference on Monday, Mr. Jones acknowledged that the United States had not yet given the satellite images to the Russians. “But we have an ongoing conversation with the Russians talking about the problem that their failure to condemn Syrian atrocities and their apparent tolerance of Syrian atrocities has created,” he said. Gardiner Harris reported from Washington; Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon; and Rick Gladstone from New York. Reporting was contributed by Hwaida Saad from Beirut, Karam Shoumali from Istanbul, Maher Samaan from Paris, and an employee of The New York Times from Damascus. (C) 2017 The New York Times

North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo has been accused of fanning the flames of racial hatred instead of reducing tensions in the troubled farming town of Coligny. Mahumapelo was criticised for making “racial remarks” at the funeral last Sunday of Matlhomola Mosweu (16), who was allegedly murdered by two white farmers. Mahumapelo reportedly referred to white people as “visitors who came empty-handed to South Africa … none of them came with sunflowers or cows”. After Mosweu’s alleged killers, Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte, were released on R5 000 bail each on Monday, protests erupted around the town and white-owned properties were torched by angry black residents. On Friday, Mahumapelo said those who criticised him did not attend the funeral, and he was unapologetic about his remarks. “Coligny is not going to be built by not telling the truth,” he said. “It is a fact that, in 1652, the whites came here and did not have any land or sunflowers on their ships. Africans don’t have land, they are poor ... that is why we are going to help the family of Matlhomola in appealing this matter [of bail],” he said. “We can’t be weak leaders who tremble at the sight of white people. We’re in government and we’re on the side of the poor, and that is why we are going to help Matlhomola’s parents in appealing this matter. But that does not mean that we’re fighting ... we’re not appealing against white people, but a court verdict.” But North West DA leader Joe McGluwa was having none of it: “Their irresponsible, biased, criminal and unconstitutional remarks from public podiums are uncalled for and they should be held responsible for their actions.” Meanwhile, Mosweu family spokesperson Stanley Mnyakama said he was convinced that “not every white person in Coligny was racist” after what the family had seen in the days leading up to the funeral. Mnyakama said that white business people and ordinary residents had come out in support – financially and otherwise – of the dead boy’s family. Petitions “We have had a local white undertaker who offered a full funeral service, but the North West government had already committed to covering that. A local school principal donated a cow, while a local abattoir and a supermarket owner offered some groceries and other assistance – and they are all white,” Mnyakama said. Local supermarket owner Martin Erasmus reiterated this: “A young boy has lost his life and it is now up to the court to decide who is wrong or not.” Erasmus said there were still a few individuals in the white community who “can’t accept change”. Mahumapelo went to Coligny on Friday in a bid to forge better race relations through his government’s reconciliation, healing and renewal programme. He met with a small group of white residents in a meeting that was closed to the media. He later told reporters that, at the meeting, white residents raised concerns about his statements against whites, but he was unapologetic. Mahumapelo also said that the white residents “want to work together with everyone to rebuild and bring unity” in Coligny. “I told them that, in my view, it was wrong for them to sign a petition [in support of the release of the two men on bail]. This sent a message that they were practising white fiefdom here in Coligny,” he said. While he spoke of the 130 solely white signatures on the petition, Mahumapelo did not say anything about a counter petition signed by 472 mostly black people opposing the bail application. Since April 20, violent protests in Coligny have seen at least six white-owned houses and several trucks torched. The protests died down after the alleged killers were arrested, but ignited again on Monday after their bail was granted. Mahumapelo appeared to have appeased black residents at a subsequent meeting on Friday, when he told them that he believed the two men belonged behind bars because it “was no secret” that they committed the alleged murder. “It is well-known – they handed themselves over to the police, and it is known that they did it,” he said. “I will continue to repeat that and be prepared to live with the consequences.” Provincial Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said Mahumapelo’s statements were “racial remarks”. “I don’t understand why politicians continue to tell people that they are poor and landless because of white people, and so continue to divide us. This thing about Coligny has now become a political issue,” he said. On appealing the court’s decision to grant the men bail, Groenewald said: “If they are a government with respect for the law, they will not take it on appeal. Everyone is innocent until proven otherwise – that is the case with President Jacob Zuma and the 783 charges, and the case with everyone else. The accused people have constitutional rights too.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 News24

The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Ms Yanghee Lee, announced in the UNHRC at Geneva on 13 March that the Burmese state was involved in Crimes against Humanity directed towards the Rohingya people. The rapporteur has further said that the institutional persecution “indicates the government may be trying to expel the Rohingya population from the country altogether” and she demanded an international level probe. Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Sung Kyi, who is the de facto leader of Myanmar government has refuted the UN report, and announced that an internal investigation is suffice to look into allegations. The USA, the EU and the UK have avoided taking a stand on the investigations and are apparently backing Myanmar to evade international pressure due to their geopolitical interests. The UK’s envoy to the UNHRC, Julian Braithwaite, said that the international community needed to engage with the Myanmar State “without damaging the delicate civilian-military balance”. The British response is somewhat similar to the British role played in the case of Eezham Tamils. On 05 February 2009, when the war was heading towards genocidal end in Vanni, Sir John Sawer, the representative of the UK to the UN Security Council (who later became the chief of MI6, Britain's external intelligence agency), went on record stating that the Tamil Tigers were long blighting the government of Sri Lanka. “We want these to be brought to an end,” John Sawer said at that time. In Myanmar, the US-bandwagon is continuously pursuing its agenda of strengthening economic, military and geo-political ties with the ‘reformed’ Burmese State. Many western diplomats, stating that she is constrained by the remnants of the military junta, and its hold over the civilian administration, defend Aung San Sung Kyi stand. Such excuses reminds Eezham Tamils of the western rhetoric of how ‘liberal’ Sinhala politicians in Colombo are being constrained by the Sinhala Buddhist extremists, commented Tamil activists in Jaffna. Reports on the recent phase of systematic persecution of the Rohingya emerged during 2012, when Burmese military and police and Bamar and Arakanese mobs alongside the Buddhist monks were behind the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya inhabited settlements throughout Arakan state and in the central littoral parts of the country. The systematically intensifying violence against the Rohingya of Burma triggered an exodus of refugees numbering over 65,000 according to the UN estimate, to neighbouring countries. More than one third of them have fled since October 2016, following the recent military and security forces’ operations conducted by the Burmese government in Rakhine state systematically targeting Rohingya villages and settlements. The recent upsurge in government violence is characterised by counter-insurgency strategies and follows what the government says is Rohingya militant attacks on border-patrols along the Rakhine and Bangaldeshi border. Aung San Sung Kyi, defends Burmese military operations against Rohingya villages stating it was triggered by militant attacks, and decries international criticism against the Burmese government and military. Yet the fleeing Rohingyas are not desired even among neighbours, such experiences of genocide and abandonment is well understood by the Eezham Tamil nation as well. In Bangladesh to which a majority of Rohnigya have fled due to its cultural and geographical proximity, they are hoarded into internment camps. Wherever the Rohingya have set up their make-shift camps, Bangladeshi authorities have responded by demolishing them, and deploying increasing coast and border guarding operations to prevent the further arrival of Rohingya refugees fleeing genocidal violence. There have also been several incidents of refugees being sent back. On 11 January, Bangladeshi Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is reported to have officially requested the government of Burma to take back tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees. In December 2016, according to Mizzima News, the foreign minister of Bangladesh in communique with Burmese officials expressed that his government wishes to deport over 300 000 Rohingya from Bangladesh, who he allege have been there illegally for years. The Rohingya people has had a historical presence in the region, yet the Burmese State and Buddhist Burmese nationalists refute this as well as the national character of the Rohhingya by denying them both citizen rights and recognition as an ethnicity indigenous to the land. Subsequently they are denied what is their entitlement to exercise collective political rights and self-determination in their historic territory of habitation. The Rohingya are framed and subsequently delegitimized as Bangladeshis and immigrants, and posited as external to the country. Similarly such a discourse reflects the Bamar chauvinist nature of Burmese nationalism, which was evident also with the post-independence ‘Bumiputra’ movements of the Buddhist chauvinists who forcefully uprooted hundred thousands of Tamils in Burma in the 1950s by framing them as illegal immigrants and as implanted by the British from India. The efforts coordinated by the Burmese state to ensure such an exodus utterly denied the historic presence of maritime and mercantile Tamil communities in Burma in historical past. The modern Burmese State is constituted by a coalition of Buddhist ethnic groups, but is dominated by the Bamar, and has ever since its independence been fashioned in the image of a Theravada Buddhist military State. The intricate connection between the modern state with Theravada Buddhism and nationalism is comparative to the development of the Sinhala Buddhist character of the imperialist implanted unitary state of Ceylon, which later renamed itself to Sri Lanka. What is equally striking is the geo-political matrix within which Burma and the Rohingya question is embroiled, and reflects the designs and modus operandi of powers in the Indian Ocean region and in South Asia. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace prize and whom the USA has promoted as a champion of democracy and freedom and her party the National League for Democracy (NLD) have since their electoral victory in November 2015, been an integral component of the new government. The USA and its allies have been normalizing State-to-State relations and are cultivating new ties with the new government. The US rapprochement and normalization of diplomatic ties with Burma has hastened throughout 2016 and was given a decisive shove with the November 2015 election of Aung Sui Kyi and her party into a coalition government with political representatives of the military junta. The strategic interests on part of the US Establishment are also evident in the recent lifting of long standing sanctions against the Burmese state by the Obama administration. However, the US engagement is not based on humanitarian orientations as evident in the US trajectory of intervention in the region. It is rather of imperialist, corporate and of strategic geo-political and geo-economics interests. Burma’s strategic position between South Asia and South–East Asia is well known and there is a Western component in countering Chinese influence in the region and tilting the Burmese state towards the US bandwagon through offering a free market economy. The territories wherein the Rohingyas are settled also roughly correspond with the Isthmus of Kra, a perennially strategic point in controlling trade and movement across the Bay of Bengal and the South-China Sea. The Rohingya territory is also eyed by imperialist interests for its canal potentialities in a similar fashion as occurred in Mesoamerica where the Isthmus of Panama after initial French attempts was brought under the possession of the USA and subsequently the Panama Canal was built and controlled by the USA from the early years of the 20th century till date. A dimension to the re-alignment strategies of the USA towards the Burmese State is to secure geo-political and economic interests, without contradicting the Burmese ruling elites and government established patterns of national oppression and structural genocide against non-Buddhist nations and people. Such patterns of oppression and land dispossession can also be argued serve MNCs and US aligned geo-economic interests opting to secure free economic zones, trade and manufacturing benefits, and preferential access to natural and human resources and strategic territories in order to secure a process of exploitative extraction. The US efforts in approaching Burma have hence tilted the Burmese State towards free market economy and US orientation, liberal ideology, liberalisation of media etc. but this has not implied any re-configuration of State power or any democratic facilitation of the inalienable rights of oppressed nation, and peoples in Burma. It has rather lead to the resoluteness of the ruling elites of Burma in finding military solutions or other enforced solutions to the national questions rampant in several parts of Burma. It was evident when the Burmese state broke a 17-year cease-fire agreement with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in 2012 and began an extensive military campaign to destroy the movement and occupy the Kachin territory. There were reports of this being coordinated with foreign investment projects aimed at exploitation of natural resources. Mainly it was reported to be Chinese and MNC interests in utilizing hydro-electric potentialities in the Irrawaddy delta region. Rohingya activists have pointed out that the recent military campaigns aimed at ethnically cleansing territories for Rohingya settlements are similarly aligned with the interests of pursuing a military solution to the Rohingya question as well as to clear the land for corporate exploitation of natural resources. It is in the backdrop of such international dynamics that the State apparatuses of the Burmese state have systematically escalated their persecution and atrocities against the Rohingya people. There are important lessons to take from this, as international endorsement of and interaction with an oppressive or genocidal State serves only to embolden the State and its political elites. Furthermore, Aung Sui Kyi and the Burmese government deny any allegation of genocide and atrocities against the Rohingya and brand such allegations as propaganda. This is reminiscent of the modus operandi of genocidal State of Sri Lanka talking of ‘development’ with its global actors in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils. The Burmese governmental legitimization of the coordinated set of actions aiming to debase, de-territorialize, and annihilate the national existence of the Rohingya also bears similarities with Colombo defending its genocidal war in 2009 by cloaking its genocidal nature and intent with narratives of it being the ‘greatest humanitarian rescue mission’ and as a ‘war against terrorism’. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 tamilnet

Burma State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi receives Honorary Freedom of the City of London at Guildhall on May 8, 2017. Source: City of London BURMA’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi was met with a group of protesters and criticism by human rights groups upon being awarded an Honorary Freedom of the City of London during an official state visit to the UK ahead of peace talks. The Nobel laureate was awarded London’s “most prestigious honour” on Monday for her “non-violent struggle over many years for democracy and her steadfast dedication to create a society where people can live in peace, security and freedom.” As she arrived at Guildhall for the award ceremony, Suu Kyi was met by a group of demonstrators who were protesting Burma’s treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority, chanting “shame on you” and “Rohingyas are dying.” A protester holds a placard as Aung San Suu Kyi visits the Guildhall in London, Britain May 8, 2017. Source: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth “I’m so disappointed. She needs to stand on her moral ground—people have been dying, people have been raped,” said former security assistant to Suu Kyi, Ko Aung to The Irrawaddy. Some groups including the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, Restlessbeings and Kachin National Organisation UK started a petition to “denounce” and “condemn” the protests, claiming that “Suu Kyi has been working hard on implementing outcome of Dr Kofi Arnan commission recommendations.” “What was London thinking?” asked Human Rights Watch’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth. Despite decades of fighting for democracy and human rights in Burma, Suu Kyi has repeatedly denied ethnic cleansing in Muslim-majority Rakhine State since coming to power in April 2016 despite widely verified independent claims to the contrary. Since a military crackdown began last October, the UN has claimed that more than 1,000 Rohingya have been killed in the army’s operations in Rakhine, and at least 70,000 Rohingya have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh. In late April, ultranationalist monk Ashin Wirathu joined a group of around 100 monks and Buddhist nationalists who forcibly shut down four Islamic schools in Thaketa Township near Yangon, before travelling to the Rakhine State to drum support among Buddhist Burmese villagers. SEE ALSO: ‘I’m no Mother Teresa’ says Suu Kyi, denying ethnic cleansing “Today Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung Sang Suu Kyi receives the freedom of London – but what of the freedoms she promised her own people?” said Paul Donowitz of the international anti-corruption NGO Global Witness. Amid ongoing tensions and violence, the second session of the 21st Century Panglong conference will begin in Burma on May 24 with the aim of establishing peace with the country’s ethnic armed groups. “The civil wars she pledged to end are getting worse in the north and west, not better. Here struggles for control of the country’s vast jade sector fuels fighting and abuses by the military elites and crony companies that are meant to be a thing of the past,” added Donowitz. “If she is to deliver the peace she promised Myanmar, Suu Kyi must focus on ejecting men with guns from the mines and sharing the country’s riches fairly. That needs to start at the upcoming peace talks.” While constitutionally barred from being president, Suu Kyi is the de facto leader of Burma and serves as its foreign minister. A meeting between the Burmese State Counsellor the Pope at the Vatican early May established diplomatic ties for the first time. ___________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Asian Correspondent

Sentinel has launched a civilian protection pilot project in partnership with at-risk communities in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Called Kijiji Cha Amani (Swahili for ‘peace village’), the project focuses on establishing safe zones for civilian populations, effective prevention measures, and violence mitigation. Additionally, the project addresses the role that misinformation and propaganda plays in sparking and prolonging violence while implementing peace building, training and inter-communal cooperation activities. The conflict in North Kivu is extremely complex, owing to the existence of many belligerents, natural resource conflict and violence with spills over from and into other bordering regions, along with sustained human rights abuses committed by nearly all sides. Our efforts will be directed at addressing human security and violence prevention first and foremost in order to help establish the kind of stability that will allow additional community building and inter-communal activities to take place. The project will be utilizing open source tools developed by Sentinel and is based on the protocols and practices established through our other active field operations, specifically our work in Kenya and Burma (Myanmar). The long term objective will be to expand the project further within the DRC and Great Lakes region after demonstrating the value of the pilot phase. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Sentinel Project

President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer (photo by AFP) An international humanitarian aid group has asked the government of Myanmar to give it access to help the Muslim Rohingya community in the county’s troubled Rakhine State. Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told reporters in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon, late on Wednesday that he had asked the government of Aung San Suu Kyi to give relief workers access to people suffering under dire conditions in parts of Myanmar. The government has blocked access to areas where it is conducting a crackdown on the ethnic Rohingya minority. “We would like to have access to all the people in need in order to do proper assessments, to help ease according to needs,” Maurer said. This screen grab, taken on January 4, 2017 from a YouTube video, shows policemen cracking down on Rohingya Muslims in the village of Kotankauk during a police raid on November 5, 2016. (Via AFP) Maurer has recently visited the northwestern state of Rakhine, where he toured camps set up almost five years ago to house those Rohingya Muslims displaced by Buddhist extremists. However, he was not allowed to visit the north of the state, where a security operation sent an estimated 75,000 Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh. The Red Cross president said he was “unsatisfied” by the restriction imposed by Myanmar’s officials. He said he believed granting more access would be in the interest of both the government and the armed forces of Myanmar. “At the end of the day there is no more effective tool to ease tensions than to offer fluid procedures for access to humanitarian organizations like us,” he said. Maurer is set to travel to the capital, Naypyidaw, on Friday to meet officials and will meet Suu Kyi in Beijing during an international conference there next week, he said. Former political prisoner Suu Kyi won a landslide in elections and became the de facto head of a civilian administration in April 2016 after decades of military rule. A Rohingya boy sits in a burnt area after fire destroyed shelters at a camp for internally displaced Muslims in Rakhine State, May 3, 2016. (Photo by Reuters) Myanmarese troops and police are accused of killing and raping Rohingyas, who are denied citizenship in Myanmar and widely viewed as outsiders by the majority Buddhists. Since October 2016, Myanmar’s forces have been carrying out a military crackdown in Rakhine State, where the Rohingya community is mainly based, following a raid on a police post that was blamed on Rohingya-linked militants. According to a report issued by the United Nations last month, Myanmar’s forces have committed mass killings and gang rapes against the Rohingya community. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 PressTV

Police in Chechnya, a region in southern Russia, are rounding up men believed to be gay, beating and humiliating them. HRW’s Russia expert Tanya Lokshina has investigated abuses there -- as well as those by the Kremlin. Have a question for Tanya about her work? Want to know more about the crimes she’s uncovered? Watch the Facebook Live and add your question under the 'Discussion' tab. (C) 2017 Human Rights Watch