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Human rights

Human rights
Latest news, features and analysis on human rights, with a focus on civil liberties in Hong Kong, mainland China and Asia.
After eight years in the deep freeze, the European Parliament is sending an official delegation to China next week. Photo: Shutterstock
China-EU relations

European Parliament heads to China after 8 years and lobbying from Beijing

Chair of consumer protection delegation due in China next week wants to convey ‘that our rules on product standards are to be followed’.

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Spain

Spanish woman, 25, dies by euthanasia after father loses legal bid to stop her

Nepal

Nepal’s probe into deadly uprising finds ex-prime minister, officials ‘reckless’

United Nations

UN designates African slave trade as ‘gravest crime against humanity’

US, Israel and Argentina opposed the UN measure, while Britain and EU member states abstained.

An 1853 illustration depicting slaves and slave traders on the coast of Africa. Photo: Chicago History Museum via Getty Images
Americas and the Caribbean

US offers US$3 million to breach financial fortress of Haiti’s gangs

US reward announcement marks a shift in tactics as previous bounties have been focused on individual gang leaders.

Britain

UK police arrest 2 men over Jewish ambulances arson attack

Arrests came after police said they were investigating an online claim of responsibility by a little-known Islamist group with links to Iran.

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Cuba

Humanitarian aid boat arrives in Cuba amid US blockade crisis

Shrimp fishing boat with aid docks weeks after the Trump administration cut off fuel supplies to the island nation.

Activists wave Cuban and Palestinian flags from the vessel Maguro in Havana Bay, Cuba. Photo: AP
North Korea

How North Korea makes US$500 million yearly – at its own people’s expense

The report details the ‘brutal’ conditions North Korean workers endure in Russia that reveal a pattern of ‘control, coercion and abuse’.

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Afghanistan

Afghanistan releases detained US citizen after more than a year

Researcher Dennis Coyle, 64, was arrested in January 2025 on ‘violations of Afghanistan’s applicable laws’.

United States

US judge blocks Trump administration from detaining thousands of refugees

Boston federal judge blocks policy affecting potentially 100,000 refugees.

Federal agents during an anti-immigration raid in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 3. Photo: AFP
Sexual harassment and assault

Thousands rally against online sexual violence, pornographic deepfakes in Berlin

The protest highlighted German actress Collien Fernandes, whose ex-partner allegedly created profiles in her name to make contact with men.

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A protester holds a placard that reads “Silence protects abusers” during a rally at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on Sunday. Photo: EPA
Middle East

Syrians protest against alcohol sale limits, personal freedom curbs

Hundreds of demonstrators in Damascus gathered in a silent protest against the move they say deepens sectarian divisions.

Slovenia

Slovenia’s liberal PM claims win over conservatives in tight election

Prime Minister Robert Golob’s party has a slight edge over his Trump-aligned rival Janez Jansa.

Africa

64 killed – including 13 children – in attack on Sudan hospital, WHO says

Healthcare facilities have been a regular target throughout the war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus looks on during a press conference in Geneva in December 2024. Photo: AFP
Middle East

Many more to follow? As Iran hangs 3 young men, rights groups raise alarm

The three are the first to be executed from among tens of thousands arrested during a brutal crackdown on protests in January.

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In this image from video circulating on social media in January, protesters in Tehran, Iran, dance around a bonfire as they take to the streets. Photo: UGC via AP
United States

US woman charged with murder after taking abortion pill in Georgia

The woman gave birth to a premature infant who died within hours after taking misoprostol.

The Philippines

Support for Duterte’s ICC trial has halved in a year. Here’s why

Only 30 per cent of Gen Z Filipinos now back the ICC drugs war case, as AI-generated disinformation floods TikTok.

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European Union

Hundreds die crossing Mediterranean as 2026 already smashes records

At least 655 migrants died or went missing in January and February taking one of the deadliest migration routes in the world.

Migrants from Syria and Libya call for help as they are assisted by Spanish NGO Open Arms south of the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2022. Photo: AP
US, Israel war on Iran

Stockholm says Iran executed Swede after Tehran announces spy put to death

This is the first public announcement of an execution since Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

Britain

Scottish lawmakers reject bill to let terminally ill people end their lives

A similar bill that would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales is currently bogged down in the British Parliament in London.

United States

Trump administration can resume ‘third-country’ deportations, appeal court rules

Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling, that deports undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own, a ‘key win’.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi. Photo: EPA
Malaysia

Arrest of stateless teen in Malaysia highlights Sabah’s citizenship crisis

Rights groups say stateless people in the country are often treated as undocumented migrants without basic protections.

People walk past a mural in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Photo: Tamara Hinson
United States

Afghan asylum seeker dies in ICE custody, US advocacy group says

Mohommad Nazeer ⁠Paktyawal, who had worked with the US military in Afghanistan, died ⁠in Texas after his arrest on Friday, AfghanEvac said.

Israel-Iran conflict

Police arrest 12 as hundreds join banned pro-Palestinian march in London

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood agreed to ban the march after police said it was organised by a group ‘supportive of the Iranian regime’.

Israel-Gaza war

Gaza’s Rafah crossing to open on Wednesday ‘for limited movement of people’

Move comes as 13 people were killed – including children, a pregnant woman and police officers – in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Sunday.

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Egyptian ambulances go through the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side in Rafah, Egypt on February 10. On Sunday, Israel said the crossing will ​open on Wednesday for limited movement of people in both directions. Photo: Reuters
US, Israel war on Iran

Over 800,000 Lebanese – 1 in 7 people – displaced by war in 10 days

It is little more than a year since the last conflict uprooted over a million Lebanese from their homes, although that process took months.

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A displaced Lebanese family sit in the back of a truck, their current home, in the southern city of Sidon on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Asean

Southeast Asia’s scam compound survivors suffer in stigma and silence

Many survivors return home to inhabit a murky space between victim and offender, with few support services to help them reintegrate.

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US, Israel war on Iran

‘Race against time’: aid groups warn of humanitarian crisis in Lebanon

Aid workers are scrambling to respond to the growing numbers of people seeking help, as the Israel-Hezbollah conflict intensifies.

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