Amnesty International warned that plans by five European Union member-state governments for migrant "return hubs" in Rwanda and Uganda risk creating "cruel black holes for human rights." The warning comes as the EU Return Regulation, approved by the European Parliament in June but still awaiting final approval by the European Council, is set to provide the legal basis for such hubs. (Photo: Sara Creta/TNH)
More than 10,000 civilians are reported displaced in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state following clashes between government troops and Ugandan forces. The fighting marks a sharp escalation in a long-running border dispute. Talks are underway at the scene to try to resolve the conflict over the contested area in Kajo-Keji county, along the frontier with Uganda's West Nile region. (Map via PCL)
The head of the World Health Organization has appealed for a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province, where Ebola is rapidly spreading. Director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' statement said even a temporary truce would allow health workers through and save lives. "I urge you, I implore you: give us the space to help the people who need it most," he said, addressing the armed factions active in the province. Out of nearly a thousand suspected Ebola cases in the DRC and Uganda, over 220 people may have died, with the WHO warning that the outbreak could potentially be much larger. (Photo of displaced persons camp in Ituri: Alexis Huguet/MSF via TNH)
The Trump administration has built a network of third-country transfer agreements with more than 30 governments and used them to remove over 17,400 people, in some cases in defiance of federal court orders and after individuals had won their release through habeas corpus, according to data released by Human Rights First and Refugees International. The organizations report that the administration in April re-arrested and forcibly transferred to third countries people who had previously been granted withholding of removal by US immigration judges and had prevailed on habeas petitions challenging the legality of their detention. The report documents an attempted transfer of individuals to Libya last year in violation of a court order then in effect. (Photo: Venezuelan deportees in Honduras. Credit: ICE via Wikimedia Commons)
Amnesty International reported that Ugandan security forces have unlawfully targeted opposition rallies with excessive force and arbitrary arrests, with some detainees subject to torture and other mistreatment. Protests have mounted nationwide in the lead-up to this month's election, in which President Yoweri Museveni of the long-entrenched National Resistance Movement seeks an to extend his 40-year rule. He faces a challenge in leading opposition candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Party. Wine has repeatedly spoken out against the repression faced by his supporters, and explicitly likened his campaign to a battle, saying: "Our campaign is not the ordinary campaign. We are almost at war. You can see the soldiers and vehicles deployed. These people even knock and kill our supporters." (Photo: Bobi Wine campaigning in helmet and flack jacket alongside police armored vehicle. Credit: National Unity Party)
A coalition of local and international human rights groups has asked the International Criminal Court to open a case against Tanzanian President Samia Hassan and senior members of her government over killings by the security forces during post-election unrest in October. How many people died in the protests over the "sham" elections is still unknown. Hassan's government has remained silent on an official death toll, but the opposition—who were effectively barred from the polls—claims thousands were shot by the police and Ugandan special forces. Gruesome images were shared online of armed men firing indiscriminately into crowds, and of overflowing morgues. A CNN investigation found that satellite imagery suggests the existence of mass graves. (Photo: Tanzania Daily News via AllAfrica)
Eleven individuals deported from the US to Ghana filed a lawsuit against the Ghana government, charging that they were illegally held in a military detention camp. The legal action reflects the chaotic fallout following the deportations, which have resulted in deportees being scattered and "dumped" into neighboring African countries. The deportees are of multiple West African nationalities, none of which is Ghanaian. The deportations arose from a "third country deportation" agreement between the US and Ghana earlier this year. Ghana's parliamentary minority bloc has now called for its suspension, as leaders claim the government entered into the agreement without proper legislative approval. (Photo: Venezuelan deportees in Honduras. Credit: ICE via Wikimedia Commons)
Kilmar Abrego García, released from extrajudicial detention in El Salvador, now fights deportation to Uganda. Hundreds of the Venezuelans sent by the US to the Salvadoran prison gulag have now been returned to Venezuela in a prisoner swap. But El Salvador remains on the growing list of human rights offendors cultivated by the Trump regime as surrogate detention states. The Trump State Department's farcical "Human Rights Report" seeks to sanitize dictator Nayib Bukele's anti-crime police state. And adding to the Orwellian nature of the Trump-Bukele axis, the US Justice Department has dropped charges against MS-13 leaders who collaborated in the consolidation of the new Salvadoran dictatorship. In Episode 293 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg exposes the perverse charade. (Photo: Policía Nacional Civil de El Salvador via InfoDefensa)
Police in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, lobbed tear-gas and clashed with hundreds of demonstrators angered by the death in police custody of a 31-year old teacher, Albert Ojwang, after he was accused of having "insulted a senior person on X" (a high-ranking police officer). Police initially claimed Ojwang had committed suicide but have been forced to apologize after an autopsy contradicted their account. The protests coincided with the reading in parliament of the latest budget—nearly one year after the passage of a controversial budget galvanized youth protests that forced President William Ruto to veto the legislation, fire his cabinet, and invite opposition into government. Fearful of a repeat, the Kenyan authorities are prosecuting a young woman, Rose Njeri, for creating a website to facilitate public commentary on the bill. (Photo: Amnesty Kenya via PolicingInsight)
The US Department of State imposed sanctions on on four individuals serving as judges on the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their involvement with the ICC’s investigations into the US and Israel. The sanctions were imposed pursuant to Executive Order No. 14,203, "Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court," which President Donald Trump signed in February in response to the ICC's warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. The stated purpose of the order was to underline the position that the US and Israel are not within the jurisdiction of the ICC under the Rome Statute, and therefore any investigation into the actions of the two countries is invalid. (Photo: OSeveno/WikiMedia)
Amnesty International expressed concern over ongoing violations of international human rights law in South Sudan amid escalating violence from both internal and cross-border actors. Reports indicate mounting attacks on civilians, political repression, and increasing risk of a wider war. The Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) has confirmed the deployment of special forces in South Sudan to support President Salva Kiir, citing "growing insecurity in the country." Amnesty said Uganda may have violated the 2018 UN Security Council arms embargo by entering South Sudan with armored units. Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) also fought a two-day battle near the border in Upper Nile state against the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), the South Sudanese faction led by Vice President Riek Machar, who has now been placed under arrest. (Map via PCL)
The war in Sudan is driving continued refugee flight, leading to a deepening humanitarian crisis in the greater region, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported. The agency said that more than 3 million people have fled Sudan, seeking safety in neighboring countries, since the war began in April 2023. The refugees are faced with challenges of food shortages and continued rights violations such as killings, sexual violence and looting, as well as natural disasters such as flooding. In October, around 60,000 Sudanese escaping the escalated fighting in Darfur arrived in Chad, which is facing a resource shortage due to its increasing refugee population, now at over 1.1 million. The refugees there face an overwhelmed healthcare system, scarce food, and no education for their children who have already been out of school for two years. (Map: PCL)
_in_The_Hague.png){kind=link}