#human-rights-abuses

#human-rights-abuses

A row has erupted over Chinese-made wristbands given out at the concert at Windsor Castle celebrating the coronation of King Charles III.The BBC, which organised the event, came under fire for buying the light-emitting wristbands because of China's woeful human rights record and the ongoing Uyghur genocide.

The Foreign Secretary said he broached areas of deep disagreement during a meeting with the Chinese vice-president in London.James Cleverly said he made plain the UK's position on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan during talks on Friday with Han Zheng ahead of the coronation.The Chinese politician, who has been blamed for overseeing a crackdown on freedom in Hong Kong, was recently appointed as President Xi Jinping's deputy and is set to represent China at the royal event on Saturday.

James Cleverly said he expects to meet China's vice-president when he visits the UK for the King's coronation.Han Zheng, who has been blamed for overseeing a crackdown on freedom in Hong Kong, was recently appointed as president Xi Jinping's deputy and is set to represent China at the event.The Foreign Secretary indicated he will raise issues including Hong Kong and human rights abuses in Xinjiang province and stressed that engagement does not mean agreement with China.

Dealing with China is not a comfortable chit chat over tea and biscuits, the Foreign Secretary has said.James Cleverly insisted it was important to maintain dialogue with Xi Jinping's regime, as hawkish Conservatives urge him to take a harsher line with China over reported human rights abuses in Xinjiang province and Hong Kong.

The Premier League has tightened its ownership rules to block anyone found to have committed human rights abuses from running a club.Human rights abuses, as determined by the UK's Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations, is a new "disqualifying event" in the English top-flight's owners' and directors' test.

Amnesty say Ronaldo's signing is part of a "wider pattern of sportswashing".The Portuguese striker called Saudi Arabia an "amazing country" as he was unveiled by Al Nassr on Tuesday .Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in sporting events, backing the breakaway LIV Golf series, hosting world title boxing fights and a Formula One grand prix, while the country's Public Investment Fund backed a takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United in 2021.

36 minutes ago36 minutes ago The European Parliament passed the resolution urging FIFA to help compensate the families of workers who died in Qatar during preparations for the World Cup.The European Parliament on Thursday decried the "deaths of thousands of migrant workers who died, as well as workers who suffered rights abuses" while preparing Qatar for the ongoing World Cup.

Senior judges have been urged to block government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.In a four-day hearing at the court of appeal, which concluded on Thursday, the lord chief justice, Lord Burnett, master of the rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, and Lord Justice Underhill, deputy president of the civil division of the appeal court, heard an appeal against a high court ruling last December that it was lawful to send some asylum seekers, including small boat arrivals, to Rwanda to have their claims processed rather than dealing with their applications for sanctuary in the UK.

The French parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the European Union to formally label Russian mercenary force Wagner a "terrorist group".Published: 10 May 2023 09:08 CEST The resolution, which is non-binding and symbolic, passed with unanimous support across the political spectrum.

French parliament told that Wagner mercenaries follow the geo-political polices of Russian President Vladimir Putin.The French parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the European Union to formally label Russia's mercenary Wagner force a terror group as reports emerged that the United Kingdom also appears poised to designate the group a terror organisation.

The Biden administration took action Wednesday against several Iranian officials and entities for committing human rights abuses against women and girls in the latest round of sanctions against Tehran over its crackdown on unrest in the country.As the world marked International Women's Day, Wednesday's actions include sanctions against two senior officials in Iran's prison system responsible for serious human rights abuses, according to the US Treasury Department.

Russia stands accused of sending Iranian-made drones over Ukraine to strike at power plants, other key infrastructure.Ministers of the European Union of Foreign Affairs have imposed new sanctions on Iranian religious leaders, senior officials and top state media employees over new crackdowns on antigovernment protests and supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Electric vehicle batteries present a number of challenges.They're expensive.They use materials like cobalt that are linked to environmental and human rights abuses in the supply chain.They can catch fire.They're fairly slow to charge.And while multiple companies are working on alternatives, the R&D process for designing a new battery can take a few years.

Electric vehicle batteries present a number of challenges.They're expensive.They use materials like cobalt that are linked to environmental and human rights abuses in the supply chain.They can catch fire.They're fairly slow to charge.And while multiple companies are working on alternatives, the R&D process for designing a new battery can take a few years.

Chinese regulators have reportedly told the country's tech giants not to offer access to AI chatbot ChatGPT over fears the tool will give "uncensored replies" to politically sensitive questions.That's according to a report from Nikkei Asiaciting "people with direct knowledge of the matter."

Owners and directors of English Premier League clubs can be disqualified for human rights abuses, the organisation said Thursday.The league announced changes to its owners' and directors' test (OADT), which include new rules that will give it power to remove leading officials who contravene them.As well as human rights abusers, any individuals or companies subject to government sanctions can also be disqualified.

Britain has targeted individuals accused of human rights abuses, corruption and sexual violence in 30 sanctions across nearly a dozen countries.Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the asset freeze and travel bans announced on Friday expose those behind the heinous violations.Ten officials connected to Iran's judicial and prisons systems, including those linked to handing protesters death penalties, were targeted.

An avid cyclist is set to complete a 35-hour ride around all 18 professional London football clubs to raise awareness for modern slavery and human trafficking in sport.Gordon Miller, who regularly takes on cycling feats, including an international ride around the east coast of the US in October, started the challenge at 8am on December 2 and is set to complete it by 3pm on December 3, cycling an average of 65 miles a day for two days.

Australia's Jackson Irvine says he has sympathy for European World Cup players threatened with sanctions for wearing the OneLove rainbow armbands but has questioned the messaging behind them.The midfielder, who has been one of football's most outspoken voices on the human rights problems which have long plagued the Qatar showpiece, acknowledged the complexities of the situation while also pointing out that some members of the LGBTQ+ community have criticised it as vague and lacking a real kind of statement.

Magnus Ek, 53, a retired Swedish lieutenant, is teaching a group of Ukrainian conscripts how to fire an AK-47 in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region.Ek, who spent a decade as an instructor in Sweden, is among a group of foreign military volunteers who have gone to help Ukrainians defend their country from Russia's invasion.

02/18/2023February 18, 2023 The truck, which was carrying timber, had hidden close to 40 migrants from Afghanistan.Four Bulgarian suspects have been arrested.The police in Bulgaria found the bodies of 18 migrants in an abandoned truck near the capital Sofia on Friday.The Bulgarian Interior Ministry said that according to initial information, the truck was carrying about 40 migrants and the survivors were taken to nearby hospitals.

Britain and the rest of the G7 should urgently agree a tough package of sanctions to impose on China if it escalates military tensions with Taiwan, Liz Truss will argue, as she uses her first public overseas speech to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak.Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, the former prime minister will urge her successor to be more hawkish in standing up to Beijing, warning coordinated action is needed to block the rise of a totalitarian China given the free world is in danger.

Now that teams, fans and sponsors have left Qatar, Fifa is turning its attention to the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in July.World football's governing body is hoping for a smoother event, where people can watch matches and have a moment where we don't have to think about this, as its president, Gianni Infantino, said, referring to the uproar over human rights abuses and player protests in Doha.

A human rights activist has complained to the Conservative Party after a Tory MP told him to "go back to Bahrain".Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei confronted MP Bob Stewart outside an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy in London.The campaigner repeatedly pressed him on his links to the country, asking "did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?"

A Toronto man who founded a human rights organization is accused of sexually assaulting a woman five times and forcibly confining her.Jose Mario Guilombo, 64, has been charged with five counts of sexual assault and two counts of forcible confinement, Toronto police said in a news release.Guilombo was arrested and charged on Thursday, police say.

Author: Editorial Board, ANU It's now been a year since Russia invaded Ukraine.In response to an unprovoked act of aggression, Western countries imposed a sweeping set of sanctions designed to force the Russian army back behind its own borders.These included disconnecting Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank communication system, export controls on technologically advanced goods and the freezing of Russian reserves held in overseas central banks.

Nicaraguan Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez speaks to the press at the Santo Cristo de Esquipulas church in Managua, on May 20, 2022.AFP via Getty Images Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, is in prison this week.He may be there for 26 years.Bishop Alvarez has protested against the regime of President Daniel Ortega, and was sentenced for what a Nicaraguan court called treason and "undermining national integrity."

Jose Maria Sison, the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its long-running guerrilla insurgency, died on Friday in exile in the Netherlands, where he had lived for decades.He was 83.His death, in a hospital in Utrecht, was announced by a spokesman for the party, Marco Valbuena, who called him a great Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thinker and revolutionary leader.

The Saudi Arabian government has announced plans to build a 400-metre-high cube-shaped skyscraper named Mukaab as part of its Murabba downtown plan in Riyadh.Set to be built to the northwest of central Riyadh, the 19-square-kilometre development is being planned as a new downtown area for the Saudi capital city.

The secretary-general of Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy has said that at least 400 migrant workers died building the World Cup - a figure that is dramatically higher than FIFA's official figure of 37 stadium-related deaths.In an interview with presenter Piers Morgan, World Cup Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy secretary-general Hassan al-Thawadi was asked what "realistic total do you think of migrant workers who died as a result of work they're doing for the World Cup?"
"The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500," said Al-Thawadi. "I don't have the exact number.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pledged military support to Mali during his first visit to the West African nation Tuesday and dismissed criticism of Moscow's growing influence on the continent.

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday stressed the importance of legal challenges against climate-wrecking corporations" like fossil-fuel producers, ratcheting up his call for the fight against climate change- this time before the U.N.'s top human rights body.

The governor of China's Xinjiang has cancelled a planned trip to the UK after a group of seven British MPs called for his arrest over human rights abuses against Uyghurs.Erkin Tuniyaz, who was appointed the governor of the northwestern province where the Uyghur community lives, was due to visit London as part of his EU trip this week.

Fifa has been accused of failing to adhere to its own human rights commitments after it chose not to create a remedy fund for migrant workers injured or killed in Qatar.An umbrella group comprising, among others, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch has spoken out as the World Cup enters its final stages in Doha.

Australia and Argentina have criticised Fifa for scheduling their last-16 match only three days after their final World Cup group games, saying the short turnaround treats players like robots.The Socceroos defeated Denmark on Wednesday night and now face a high-profile knockout clash with Lionel Messi and Argentina on Saturday at 10pm local time.

The Football Association of Wales has been reassured by Fifa that supporters with rainbow-coloured clothing and flags will be allowed to enter Friday's match against Iran and that the policy will be applied across all World Cup venues.The FAW held urgent talks with the tournament organisers after Wales staff and fans had multicoloured bucket hats, shoelaces and wristbands confiscated before their Group B opener against the USA.

The military junta that controls Mali pardoned 49 Ivorian soldiers and suspended their prison sentences, ending a diplomatic dispute that highlighted the growing isolation of the West African country and its strained relations with its neighbors.The decision, announced late on Friday, came a week after the soldiers, who had been detained nearly six months ago, had received sentences of 20 years.

A Russian official who has been part of his country's push to gain a foothold in the Central African Republic was wounded by a package bomb in the country's capital, Bangui, on Friday, according to the Russian foreign ministry and state media.The official, Dimitri Sytyi, was identified as the head of the local branch of the Russian House, the cultural arm of the Russian foreign ministry.

A campaigner who says he was tortured in Bahrain has made a complaint to the Conservative Party after MP Bob Stewart told him to go back to Bahrain during a confrontation.Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, alleges the comments were racial abuse and has also reported the incident to the police.

An activist group erected protest billboards in FIFA boss Gianni Infantino's Swiss home town of Brig on Wednesday to demand the world football body compensate migrant workers for alleged human rights abuses in Qatar, host of the World Cup.The mobile billboards carried the messages "Infantino: your family were migrants," "Thousands like them were victims of this World Cup," and "Compensate them now."
- Qatar World Cup 2022: Sportswashing, security and soccer - Infantino helped set me free in Qatar - World Cup protester
The protest by the Avaaz campaign group included an Infantino impersonator holding a World Cup trophy.

9 minutes ago9 minutes ago Two Chinese companies, Hikvision and Dahua, account for a majority of CCTV cameras used by the British government.Lawmakers have raised concerns about security and links human rights abuses.The British government told its departments on Thursday to stop installing Chinese-made security cameras inside sensitive buildings due to potential security risks.

Harry Maguire was just finishing a training session this year when he received an anonymous email, sent via his agent.The email explained that three bombs had been planted at his house in Wilmslow and that he was being given 72 hours to leave Manchester United before they would be detonated.Naturally the police were called immediately, a sniffer dog was dispatched to conduct a thorough search of Maguire's house and garden, and no explosives were found.

The EU parliament on Thursday voted in favour of a resolution that calls on FIFA to help compensate the families of the migrant workers who died, as well as workers who suffered rights abuses, during preparations for the World Cup.MEPs also urged the Qatari authorities to conduct a full investigation into human rights abuses in the run-up to the competition.

Hosting the World Cup will not deliver meaningful change in Qatar, a senior MP has said, amid ongoing concerns over the Gulf state's response to LGBTQ+ symbols.Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said nothing about their behaviour has changed since the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2010.

Germany's players placed hands over their mouths and wore rainbow stripes on their warm-up tops and boots in a powerful statement of defiance against Fifa before their Group E match against Japan.Their message was reinforced by the German interior minister, Nancy Faeser, who also wore a OneLove armband, which promotes tolerance, diversity and LGBTQ+ rights, as she sat next to Fifa's president, Gianni Infantino.