Tag Archives: rights

New York, United States | AFP |  More than 730 people aged five to 76 have changed gender on New York birth certificates since 2015, an explosion in applications after rules were relaxed two years ago, officials said Thursday. The 731 gender-change applications approved since January 2015 come in stark …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Protesters took to the streets in cities around the world Wednesday, marking International Women’s Day with strikes and marches demanding equal rights. In Moscow, a group of feminist activists was briefly detained after protesting inside the tightly guarded Kremlin with banners for an end to patriarchy, …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP | Journalists in The Gambia on Tuesday urged the country’s new leadership to uphold their pledge to respect media freedom after a violent public assault on a reporter by President Adama Barrow’s supporters. Kebba Jeffang, a journalist for Foroyaa newspaper, was hit, scratched and insulted at …

Banjul, Gambia | AFP |  Gambia’s dreaded former spy chief — whose watch was marred by allegations of killings and torture — and eight subordinates were charged Thursday with killing a leading opposition member in April. Yankuba Badjie headed the National Intelligence Agency, which rights groups say carried out arbitrary …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP |  A Kenyan court on Friday issued an order blocking the deportation of two South Sudanese opposition figures after an outcry by rights groups over treatment they would face at home. The families of prominent lawyer and activist Dong Samuel Luak and opposition member Aggrey Idri …

Paris, France | AFP |  When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 there were 16 major walls protecting borders around the world. In 2016 that number had grown to 66, according to researcher Elisabeth Vallet of the University of Quebec. As US President Donald Trump took the first step …

Soma, Gambia | AFP | They breathed a sigh of relief when strongman Yahya Jammeh finally left The Gambia. But supporters of the new president, Adama Barrow, say he has a lot to do to get the country — one of Africa’s poorest — on its feet. “At the end …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Aydin Sefa Akay is one of over 41,000 people arrested and awaiting trial in Turkey in the wake of the unsuccessful July 15 coup plot to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But Akay is no ordinary prisoner. A former Turkish ambassador, he is a top …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Ninety-three journalists and media staff were killed around the world in the course of their work in 2016, with Iraq and Afghanistan the deadliest countries, the International Federation of Journalists said Friday. The IFJ said the figure, 19 less than in 2015, was for journalists …

United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN General Assembly on Monday rejected a bid by African countries to block the appointment of the first-ever UN expert tasked with investigating violence and discrimination against LGBT minorities. It was the second time that the African group had tried to push …