UNHRC Publishes Findings On Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Latvia, North Macedonia, Spain, And Viet Nam
The findings highlight positive developments and outline key concerns and recommendations regarding each country's implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Key issues include:
Guinea-Bissau
The Committee noted with concern that despite constitutional guarantees, the judiciary remains vulnerable to political interference and pressure from criminal networks. It urged the State party to strengthen the independence and functioning of the judiciary by, among others, providing increased resources to the judicial system. The Committee also raised concerns about restrictions of peaceful assembly, intimidation of human rights defenders, and interference with trade unions, urging the authorities to respect and protect civic space.
Haiti
The Committee expressed concern about the impact of ongoing large-scale gang violence on the Haitian population and the inability of the police to stop it. It called on the State party to take steps to fully comply with its obligations to protect the right to life, including by implementing a public policy to dismantle the gangs and 'self-defence brigades', and to redouble efforts to prevent and eliminate corruption in state institutions, one of the root causes of insecurity and human rights violations.
Kazakhstan
The Committee expressed concern that counter-terrorism efforts may be unduly restricting civic space and about reports of the use of force and acts of torture by law enforcement officials against members of civil society. It urged the State party to bring its counter-terrorism efforts in line with its international human rights law obligations and ensure that all allegations of excessive use of force are properly investigated and that victims are provided with remedies.
Latvia
The Committee raised concerns about border protection measures restricting asylum access, which it said expose refugees to the risk of non-refoulement and ill-treatment. It called on the authorities to ensure all individuals in need of international protection are assessed fairly and efficiently and to investigate allegations of pushbacks and ill-treatment of refugees at border points.
North Macedonia
The Committee was concerned that despite progress achieved in some areas, including the adoption of a strategy for the inclusion of Roma 2022-2030, discrimination and marginalization against the Roma community remained significant, with its members experiencing high levels of poverty and exclusion, and subjected to ethnic profiling. It called on the authorities to embrace poverty reduction efforts and improve advocacy and awareness to address anti-Roma discrimination.
Spain
The Committee welcomed progress made in areas of memory, truth and reparation for past human rights violations, including the adoption of the 2022 Democratic Memory Law and the establishment of a Prosecutor for Human Rights and Democratic Memory, but expressed regrets that the 1977 Amnesty Law remains active and that proceedings initiated in 2010 for violations committed during the Spanish Civil War and the Franco Dictatorship have not resulted in any effective actions. It also expressed concern about violent incidents of pushbacks of refugees and the alleged excessive use of force by border agents in Ceuta in 2014 and Melilla in 2022, resulting in serious injuries and deaths. It called on the authorities to implement fair asylum procedures that respect the principle of non-refoulement and to investigate the incidents of excessive use of force in Ceuta and Melilla.
Viet Nam
The Committee welcomed the recent removal of the death penalty for eight crimes in Viet Nam. However, it remained concerned that the death penalty remains for ten crimes, including non-violent crimes. The Committee called on the State party to refrain from carrying out executions by maintaining a de facto moratorium. The Committee also raised concerns about reports of torture and ill treatment of detainees. The full Concluding Observations are available on the session page.
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NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
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In her own telling, corroborated by people around Trump, Loomer's ability to capture the President's attention and sometimes influence his actions is hardly mysterious. She uncovers information she believes will be of interest to him, passes it along to Trump officials, then pushes it out publicly in lengthy posts on X, on her website or on her weekly streaming show, 'Loomer Unleashed'. She is confident the reports will get to the President, given her reputation as a trusted ally. Where some Maga commentators rely on days or weeks of sustained outrage from online followers to be sure their message is relayed to Trump, people around Trump are quick to ensure he sees what Loomer reports. 'Most of the time, when my information goes viral, the President hears about it, sees about it in some fashion – one of the Cabinet members tells him, or one of his golf buddies tells him, and he ends up asking me about it,' Loomer said in an interview with the Washington Post. 'That's how it goes down. It's really that simple. People just – they don't seem to be able to fathom that. That's how it works.' Key to Loomer's success is one central personality trait, according to those who have dealt with her. 'She is persistent,' said a person close to Trump, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the President's personal interactions. The White House, seen last week. Photo / Tom Brenner, For The Washington Post 'She's obsessive. She's the most obsessive mind you will ever meet,' said Shane Cory, who helped Loomer set up fundraising for her work after she was banned from social media platforms in 2018 because of anti-Islamic posts. 'The thing that stands out the most with me with Laura is she has no life outside this,' Cory said. 'This is it. From the minute she wakes up in the morning to the minute she goes to sleep, this is all she does, aside from hitting the gym.' A person close to Trump insisted that the President and Loomer speak less than weekly, and 'there were times recently he was very frustrated with her and not speaking to her'. Some of her recommendations have resulted in Trump taking action. Some haven't, the person noted. The President was particularly irked by her criticism of his acceptance of a jet from the Qatari royal family, the person said. Loomer said at the time that after blasting what she called a 'gift from jihadists in suits', she spoke to Trump and apologised for criticising him in public. Trump's willingness to make himself accessible to Loomer should come as no surprise, the person close to Trump said, noting the President's tendency to regularly pick up the phone for callers, including reporters, who contact him directly, outside of standard White House channels. 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She declined to say which one of her exposés about Administration officials had prompted the meeting. Days before the call, however, she had drawn attention to Philip Droege, the longtime director of the White House's Office of Records Management. In a July 14 post on X, Loomer suggested that Droege was partially responsible for Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club being raided, citing a 2022 Washington Post story. Trump invited Loomer to join him for lunch, but when she arrived at the White House that day, she learned that staff had scheduled her visit to be a regular meeting, and she did not dine with the President. Loomer said that one thing was clear. 'I know for a fact that the President has expressed concern about Philip Droege being in his Administration,' Loomer said. 'I don't work for the President, but I do know that when this report came out, and when the President himself saw it, he expressed concern.' 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But neither of their applications have been approved, despite repeatedly asking about the status of receiving credentials, she said. From activist seeking traction to Trump influencer For years, Loomer has been a thorn in the side of Republicans and Democrats alike, ferociously going after people she believed weren't sufficiently aligned with the Maga movement and casting herself as an internet underdog who was 'silenced in America' and became the 'most banned woman in the world'. In her early 20s, she worked for Project Veritas, the far-right activist group that gained fame for making surreptitious videos to discredit mainstream media figures and other ideological opponents. In 2017, she was banned from Uber and Lyft for a viral rant against 'Islamic immigrant' drivers; a year later, she was kicked off Twitter for a post calling Representative Ilhan Omar (Democrat-Minnesota) anti-Semitic. 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RNZ News
2 days ago
- RNZ News
Fiji's anti-corruption watchdog charges top prosecutor, initiates extradition proceedings
Fiji's suspended chief prosecutor, New Zealander Christopher Pryde Photo: Christopher Pryde Fiji's anti-corruption watchdog has charged the country's top prosecutor, who is in self-imposed exile in New Zealand, with corruption. The Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) has also initiated "extradition proceedings" against New Zealander Christopher Pryde. In a press statement on Tuesday, FICAC said Pryde had been charged in absentia on three counts by the Suva Magistrates Court. FICAC claims that while serving as director of Office of Public Prosecutions, Pryde "approved and received" approximately NZ$102,000 without obtaining the necessary approvals from the President's Office and the Judicial Services Commission. "He is charged with causing a loss, on the basis that he dishonestly caused financial loss to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions by accepting these unauthorised payments." FICAC said Pryde faces a second count of abuse of office for allegedly approving and receiving eight reimbursements for airfares for his wife and child (worth approximately NZ$35,000), and has been charged with obtaining a financial advantage by knowingly receiving payments to which he was not entitled. The anti-corruption office is also alleging that, on or about 16 September 2022, Pryde was reimbursed almost NZ$6000 for unused air tickets by Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It alleged that, although the airline refunded him directly, he failed to return the amount. The court has adjourned the case to 15 September for an update on the status of the extradition process. Pryde had been reinstated to the role in January of this year following a 21-month suspension. In a statement to reporters, Pryde said he is "dismayed" at FICAC's decision "without giving me the right to speak in my defence". "This is a clear violation of my civil and constitutional rights. I categorically deny any wrongdoing," he said. "The decision by FICAC to charge me in absentia lead me to the conclusion that there is a concerted effort to keep me out of Fiji and prevent me from resuming my duties as the Director of Public Prosecutions." Earlier this year, Pryde had written to Foreign Minister Winston Peters to intervene in his case after his salary was cut of by the Fiji government. Pryde is a New Zealand citizen and held Fiji's top prosecutor position from 2011. He was suspended in April 2023, midway into his seven-year contract, over allegations of misconduct. A three-judge Tribunal appointed by the President later cleared him of any wrongdoin, and reinstated on 7 January. However, just two days after this reinstatement, his deputy - who had been serving as the acting director public prosecutions - filed a fresh complaint against him with FICAC. Pryde maintains his innocence and says he has not returned to Fiji because he has not received assurance by the Judicial Services Commission that they would not suspend him upon his return. "And I would be forced to, once again, defend myself whilst being deprived of my income".
1News
3 days ago
- 1News
He went to collect 200kg of meth, but police and Customs were way ahead of him
A West Auckland builder is today starting a jail sentence for importing what he thought was 200kgs of the drug methamphetamine. Joshua Auina-Anae was expecting to collect what Judge Evangelos Thomas called one of our biggest commercial methamphetamine importations. But he found himself at the centre of an international law enforcement operation involving China's Anti-Smuggling Bureau (ASB), NZ Customs and Police. The drugs had been switched out en route from China and he was picked up by New Zealand police when he went to collect the haul. Today Auina-Anae was sentenced at the Auckland District Court to five years in prison. He had previously admitted attempting to possess meth for supply. ADVERTISEMENT Suspicions in China The attempted drug importation first raised suspicions in China on October 16, 2023. Court documents reveal the ASB examined a consignment of two pallets of granite and found the meth stashed inside. Officers removed the drugs and replaced them with a dummy substance before tipping off New Zealand officers. The granite then left aboard the ship the NYK FUSHIMI from Yantian Port. It landed at Ports of Auckland on November 7 that year with Customs and police working on a planned "managed delivery". The granite slabs left the port on November 16 for a freight forwarding company at Airport Oaks and then onto an Avondale storage facility. On November 28 at about 1.15pm a truck, not involved in the importation, picked up the granite and was followed by a Hiace van registered to Auina-Anae. ADVERTISEMENT The vehicles then travelled across the city to a Hobsonville commercial space where the slabs were dropped off. Auina-Anae was observed coming and going from a unit there. At 3.21pm, members of the police's special tactics group arrested Auina-Anae inside the unit. The statement of facts before the court said: "Mr Auina-Anae had smashed the top of one of the granite slabs and had begun accessing the area where the drugs had previously been stored. "Mr Auina-Anae had removed the thin layer of placebo from the top and exposed scoria-type rocks underneath." When officers busted in he had begun placing the dummy substance he thought was meth into containers and had a sledgehammer and crowbar. In a statement to police, Auina-Anae said he received orders to do the job from an unknown person. 'Bottom of the chain' ADVERTISEMENT In the Auckland District Court this afternoon Auina-Anae's lawyer Jasper Rhodes said his client was the definition of a "capture", someone who was at "the bottom of the chain" and "responsible for taking all the risk" but not expecting the profits of those at the top of the operation. Auina-Anae nodded when Judge Thomas told him he had previously been a person of "good character" who had let down his supporters. They filled out the public gallery and their soft crying could be heard throughout the sentencing. Judge Thomas said police caught Auina-Anae "redhanded" after he'd extracted what he thought was methamphetamine, also making the point that if it had been the drug Auina-Anae would've been facing life imprisonment. Judge Thomas noted his sentencing starting point was eight years' imprisonment and listed pleading early, previous good character and time already served as possible discount factors of about 45%. Still, Judge Thomas told the court that applying all of them wouldn't have done justice to the scale of the offending. "This was one of the biggest attempts to manufacture and to import methamphetamine that we have seen. There is a incalculable public interest in deterring methamphetamine crime of any kind," he said. "Having said that, I must still impose the lowest sentence that I possibly can for you, and I do that. "Your sentence is five years in prison." * 1News will have further coverage on the operation to catch Auina-Anae tomorrow.
