Tag - human-rights

 
 

HUMAN RIGHTS

Shizuo Aishima's son speaks to reporters next to a photo of his father in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 21, 2024
Ohkawara execs to file criminal complaint against Tokyo police
The complainant's lawyer said that the execs hope to kick-start an internal investigation into the department’s misconduct.
Afghan schoolgirls in 2022. Boys and men will return to classes when the Afghan new year starts in late March, but girls and women will be left behind again by a Taliban government education blockade that is part of a raft of restrictions the United Nations has labelled "gender apartheid."
WORLD / Society
Mar 21, 2024
Afghan girls and women cling to glitchy, lonesome online learning
Schools in Afghanistan have opened for the new academic year, but girls have been banned from joining classes for the third year in a row.
The Bing website on a smartphone. Microsoft has received a wave of criticism from human rights groups on how its search engine works in China.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 21, 2024
Microsoft is attracting growing criticism for censoring Bing in China
Bing is reportedly removing information about human rights, democracy, climate change and other topics.
Hong Kong leader John Lee (center) with lawmakers after they passed the city's new security law. Hong Kong has fast-tracked into law domestic security legislation that critics say could muzzle open economic discussion and tighten control over foreign bodies operating in the global finance hub.
BUSINESS
Mar 20, 2024
Hong Kong's new security law only deepens challenges for financial hub
While the city’s role as a financial center dwarfs that of rivals, more firms are choosing Singapore as their Asian base.
People walk under flags of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, on Queen's Road in Hong Kong.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 20, 2024
What's in Hong Kong's new national security law?
The law's broadly defined provisions have drawn condemnation from Western countries, which had urged Hong Kong to reconsider it.
Police officers monitor traffic on the streets from surveillance cameras in Buenos Aires in April 2020.
WORLD / Society
Mar 20, 2024
Reboot of Buenos Aires facial recognition plan fuels privacy fears
The system of 300 cameras linked to a national crime database was suspended two years ago after a court ruled it unconstitutional.
Lawmakers vote on the new national security law at Hong Kong’s Legislative Council on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 19, 2024
Hong Kong adopts sweeping security laws, bowing to Beijing
The body fast-tracked a major piece of legislation that critics say further threatens the China-ruled city's freedoms.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 19, 2024
Japan's 'hostage justice system' faces renewed scrutiny
The long-criticized system has come under the spotlight as executives wrongly accused of a crime continue their legal battle.
Women attend a protest in 2018 against the rape of three girls, an 8-year-old, an 11-year-old and a teenager, in different parts of India. The country experiences alarming rates of sexual violence against women.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 15, 2024
Why is India failing to protect its women?
India is plagued by sexual violence, with many horrific cases in the spotlight over the years. Despite reforms, cultural norms are hindering progress.
A Zara clothing store in Brussels on November 2022. Inditex is an outlier among big clothing retailers in not publishing details of the factories from which it sources.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 12, 2024
Zara owner Inditex faces pressure from investors on supply chain disclosure
Regulators and investors want transparency from clothing retailers, to prove supply chains are free of forced labor and workers are paid decent wages.
Protesters spell out "No CAA" using candles during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi on Dec. 29, 2019. The law grants Indian nationality to people who fled to India due to religious persecution from neighboring Muslim-majority countries before Dec. 31, 2014.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 12, 2024
India implements citizenship law opposed by Muslims before election
Rights groups say the law could discriminate against the 200 million Muslims in the Hindu-majority South Asian country.
The upcoming election is set to secure Vladimir Putin's long-term leadership and is raising questions about the direction of Russia's political landscape.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 10, 2024
'Generation Putin' — young Russians reflect on his 24 years in power
Vladimir Putin's legacy through young eyes: Insights from Russia's youth on the only president most have known and their hopes for the future.
From left: Hong Kong's Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, Chief Executive John Lee and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung hold a news conference regarding national security laws, in Hong Kong on Jan. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 9, 2024
Hong Kong fast-tracks new security law at Beijing’s urging
The legislation would impose life sentences for crimes such as treason and give police expanded powers.
Displaced Palestinians wait to receive United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aid, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 9, 2024
UNRWA report says Israel coerced some agency employees to falsely admit Hamas links
The assertions are contained in a report by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency dated February 2024.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 8, 2024
Group files lawsuit over Japan law that mandates couples share a surname
Similar lawsuits have been filed before, but public opinion appears to be shifting in favor of allowing couples to have separate surnames.
Research from the International Monetary Fund suggests that gains from fully closing the gender gap in labor markets could increase gross domestic product in developing economies by 23% on average.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 8, 2024
The economic power of gender equality
There is ample empirical research demonstrating that gender equality delivers better results for people, for the planet and for profits.
The Hong Kong flag and surveillance cameras outside the Central Government Offices in Hong Kong
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 8, 2024
Hong Kong government issues draft of new national security law
It includes sentences of up to life imprisonment for treason, 20 years for espionage and 10 years for state secrets offenses.
A march calling for gender equality in London in 2019. Women are still paid less than men for the same work, but real equality means more than just eliminating wage disparities.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 8, 2024
A zero gender pay gap is the goal. But what happens next?
Eliminating the gender pay gap is vital, but it isn't the be-all and end-all. So much more needs to be done to achieve true equality at work and beyond.
An event for female coders in New York in 2013. Women’s full participation is key to ensure technologies like AI help bridge the gender gap.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 7, 2024
Now is our chance to govern AI for women’s empowerment
The pace of AI development may seem relentless, but there's still time to create safeguards to ensure that innovation doesn't perpetuate gender inequality.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that he recognized China's advances in development and in alleviating poverty, but urged that such policies be accompanied by reforms "to align relevant laws and policies with international human rights standards."
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 5, 2024
U.N. says China violating 'fundamental rights' in Xinjiang, Tibet
The U.N. human rights chief also asked Beijing to release rights defenders arrested under the "vague" offense of "picking quarrels and making trouble."

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan