Following 13 self-immolations by Tibetan monks since 2009, principally in Sichuan province, one was reported for the first from within the Tibet Autonomous Region itself. The monk is said to have survived and is hospitalized.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company released a study finding that melted fuel at the Fukushima No. 1 reactor has nearly reached the steel wall under the concrete at the base of the containment structure—with a full meltdown possibly imminent.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court for investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian government.
Waves of wildcat strikes continue to spread across China’s industrial heartland, with factories paralyzed in Guangdong province and job actions spreading to Zhejiang and Shanghai. Management has been forced to negotiate with workers’ councils.
Strikes and protest occupations were reported across Europe this week, as thousands of workers walked off the job in Greece, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom. Teachers in the Czech Republic have also called a strike.
A Tunisian military court convicted former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in absentia on torture charges. Ben Ali and eight others were found guilty of the torture of 17 military generals in connection with a 1991 coup attempt.
A team of investigators from the International Criminal Court arrived in Libya to begin an inquiry into new evidence of sex crimes committed by loyalists of former leader Moammar Qaddafi as part of an “official rape policy.”
In a move initiated by the Obama administration, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to waive Bush-era human rights restrictions on military aid to the Islam Karimov dictatorship in Uzbekistan.
Hillary Clinton makes an historic visit to Burma as the junta’s army chief signs a new military cooperation pact in Beijing—and the regime is accused of war crimes against ethnic minorities in remote Kachin state.
Iranian labor activist Reza Shahabi has begun a prison hunger strike in protest of his undetermined judicial status. The Vahed Company Union Workers website reports that Shahabi has been detained for more than 15 months without charge.
An estimated 7,000 detainees are still being held without due process by Libyan revolutionaries, according to a UN report. Most are held by independent brigades not under the government control, and that there have been allegations of abuse.
Nobel peace laureate Tawakkul Karman uged the International Criminal Court to conduct an investigation into the violent crackdown on dissent and alleged human rights violations by the country’s former president, Ali Abdullah Sakeh.
