Medio Oriente | Afghanistan: (REUTERS) Taliban's treatment of women under scrutiny at UN rights meeting - Afghanistan's Taliban face criticism over their human rights record at a U.N. meeting on Monday, with Washington accusing them of systematically depriving women and girls of their human rights. [...], in an awkward first for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the concerned country's current rulers will not be present because they are not recognised by the global body.
- Afghanistan will instead be represented by an ambassador appointed by the previous U.S.-backed government, which the Taliban ousted in 2021.
- In a series of questions compiled in a U.N. document ahead of the review, the United States asked how authorities would hold perpetrators to account for abuses against civilians, "particularly women and girls who are being systematically deprived of their human rights"? It also called for the promotion of the rights of LGBTQ persons, noting an "escalation of threats and abuse" since the Taliban takeover.
- The Taliban say they respect rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law. Since they swept back into power, most girls have been barred from high school and women from universities. The Taliban have also stopped most Afghan female staff from working at aid agencies, closed beauty salons, barred women from parks and curtailed travel for women in the absence of a male guardian.
Afghanistan - Pakistan: (AP News) Millions of Afghans made Pakistan home to escape war. Now many are hiding to escape deportation - Some 600,000 Afghans have returned home since last October, when the crackdown began, meaning at least a million remain in Pakistan in hiding. They’ve retreated from public view, abandoning their jobs and rarely leaving their neighbourhoods out of fear they could be next for deportation.
- It’s harder for them to earn money, rent accommodation, buy food or get medical help because they run the risk of getting caught by police or being reported to authorities by Pakistanis.
- Afghans were already under the radar before the crackdown, and rumours abound that Pakistan wants to expel all Afghans, even those with documentation. Pakistan says no such decision has been made.
|
Asia e Pacifico | Cina: (REUTERS) China hints at retaliation after Biden signs Taiwan, TikTok legislation - China hinted on Monday that it could retaliate after U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law legislation to boost Taiwan's defences and seeks to get TikTok's Chinese owner to divest from the social media platform.
- Biden signed the legislation on a military aid package on Wednesday, with most of the money going to Ukraine to help it fend off Russia's invasion and to Israel. He also signed a separate bill tied to the aid legislation that bans TikTok in the United States if its Chinese owner ByteDance fails to divest the app over the next nine months to a year.
- Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian urged the United States not to implement the "negative, China-related" parts of the legislation. "If the United States clings obstinately to its course, China will take resolute and forceful steps to firmly defend its own security and development interests," Lin said, without elaborating.
- The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly demanded arms sales stop.
Georgia: (Reuters) Georgia's Ivanishvili lashes out at West amid 'foreign agent' bill crisis - Ivanishvili, who served as Georgia's prime minister from 2012-2013 and remains influential within the ruling Georgian Dream party, said that Georgia and Ukraine had been treated as "cannon fodder" by Western countries, whose intelligence agencies he accused of political interference in the country.
- The bill on foreign agents, which Georgian Dream introduced to parliament earlier this month, has touched off a political crisis in the deeply polarised country, with thousands of anti-bill protesters demonstrating nightly in Tbilisi.
- The EU, which gave Georgia candidate status in December, has said that the draft law is "incompatible" with EU values. Britain, the U.S. and Germany have all criticised the decision to reintroduce the law, which was initially shelved last year after protests.
- Georgia's opposition parties accused the government of forcing civil servants to attend the rally. President Salome Zourabichvili, who opposes the law but whose post is mostly ceremonial, described the pro-government rally on social media site X as "a 'Putintype' action: civil servants 'bused' to Tbilisi to applaud (the)ruling party’s decisions".
Solomon Islands: (REUTERS) Solomon Islands PM Sogavare won't stand for renomination next week - Solomon Islands incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said he would not be a candidate when lawmakers vote next week for a new prime minister, and his political party would instead back former Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele.
- The two major opposition parties in the Solomon Islands struck a coalition deal on Saturday as they vie with Sogavare's party to form a government after an election delivered no clear winner.
- Last week's election was the first since Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022, inviting Chinese police into the Pacific Islands archipelago and drawing the nation closer to Beijing.
- Sogavare announced he would not be a candidate for prime minister at a televised press conference on Monday evening. Lawmakers are expected to vote on May 8.
|