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Remnants of KPFM-1S-SK cassettes manufactured in 1988 that Human Rights Watch researchers found in Izium in October 2022. These cassettes are used for the delivery of PFM mines by the 9M27K3 Uragan mine-laying rocket. The cassette opens in flight using a small explosive charge to separate it from the rocket motor section of the weapon and scatters 312 PFM mines into an area. © 2022 Human Rights Watch |
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Human Rights Watch has documented numerous atrocities and possible war crimes committed by Russian forces across the country. Civilians in liberated cities have told HRW researchers of the horrors they endured, including torture and executions.
You can read about the Russian forces’ trail of death across Ukraine in this tweet thread by my colleague Andrew Stroehlein.
But in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Izium, we also documented numerous cases in which rockets carrying PFM antipersonnel mines, also called “butterfly mines” or “petal mines,” were fired into Russian-occupied areas near Russian military facilities.
Healthcare workers said that they treated nearly 50 civilians, including at least five children, who were apparently injured from antipersonnel mines in the area during or after the Russian military occupation. About half of the injuries involved traumatic amputations of the foot or lower leg, injuries consistent with PFM blast mines.
Since its release this week, Ukraine acknowledged our report and committed to study its findings. Ukrainian authorities should investigate the military’s apparent use of thousands of rocket-fired mines.
It would be more than Russia, which has repeatedly denied our findings, has done.
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Protesters hold a banner reading “We will never be frightened,” in Yangon, Myanmar, in response to the junta’s execution of four political prisoners on July 25, 2022. Photo © 2022 STR/NurPhoto via AP Torture. Sexual Violence. Mass Killings. Arbitrary Arrests.
In the two years since the military coup in Myanmar, the junta has expanded its use of deadly force and repressive measures to squelch all dissent.
On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military detained the country’s elected civilian officials, including de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, the junta has brutally cracked down on any opposition and severely restricted freedoms. Over the past two years, at least 17,000 protesters and activists have been arrested and 2,900 killed.
Security forces have committed abuses across the country amounting to crimes against humanity.
But as the clock keeps ticking and horrors mount, the world just isn’t doing enough. A landmark UN Security Council resolution condemned the military’s abuses but stopped short of imposing an arms embargo or referring the situation to the International Criminal Court. The governments who have taken the step to impose sanctions on the military junta are lacking in enforcement.
Without more pressure, atrocities will no doubt continue in Myanmar. |
| A coroner in the Australian state of Victoria this week issued their report on the death of a 37-year-old First Nations woman, Veronica Nelson, finding that current bail laws are “discriminatory.” |
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| | In its obsession to keep migrants and asylum seekers away from its shores, Italy is paying for tens of thousands of people to be intercepted and returned to Libya, where they face abuses that the UN describes as possible crimes against humanity. |
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| According to the court verdict, Floriane Irangabiye’s conviction is based on an August 2022 radio broadcast during which she interviewed a human rights defender and a journalist in exile, who both criticized Burundi’s human rights record. |
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It's been 500 days since the Taliban banned girls from secondary school in Afghanistan.
500 days since Afghan girls lost dreams they can never get back.
500 Days since they were denied a fundamental human right.
Revisit our recent interactive feature and hear from six Afghan women about what education means to them and why the fight to protect girls' education is so important. |
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