In a letter sent to President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the 60^th anniversary of its independence, King Philippe of Belgium has expressed his “deepest regrets” for the “acts of violence and cruelty” committed under Belgian occupation, but stopped short of offering a full apology and reparations for colonial rule.

For several decades, King Philippe’s ancestor, King Leopold II, brutally exploited the DRC in his pursuit of rubber and ivory resources. According to historians, millions of Congolese people were killed, mutilated or died of famine and disease under his rule. These acts had a devastating human and financial toll on the country, with their effects still being felt today.

The United States has enacted a new set of Hong Kong-related sanctions on China and the United Kingdom has offered citizenship to the territory’s residents after Beijing passed a new highly criticised national security law.

The law, which includes 66 articles and harsh penalties, covers a wide range of alleged offences including on “secession” and “terrorism”. Other articles give Chinese mainland security operatives the right to investigate cases that are vaguely described as "complex", "serious" or “difficult”, as well as trials being held in secret, without a jury, and without guaranteeing bail.  

Kosovo’s president Hashim Thaçi announced he would resign from his presidency if war crimes charges are filed against him by prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

His announcement comes after the Special Prosecutor’s Office with Kosovo Specialist Chambers publicly filed a 10-count indictment against Thaçi, accusing him of crimes against humanity, war crime including murder, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution, and torture.

The indictment, filed without confirmation from a pre-trial judge, was an unusual move by prosecutors. However they state the indictment was made public due to the “repeated efforts” to “undermine” the work of Kosovo Specialist Chambers by Kosovan president.

China has forcibly used birth control and sterilisation in an attempt to restrict the Uighur population in Xinjiang, says a newly released report, which has sparked widespread condemnation of Beijing from around the globe.

China has previously been accused of detaining over a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in internment camps without trial. The report by German researcher Adrian Zenz claims that detained women are involuntarily being given injections which have stopped their periods and/or caused unusual bleeding - common side effects of birth control drugs. Likewise, women are reportedly being coerced into sterilisation surgeries, despite having fewer children than the legal limit, and those who have exceeded the limit, have been threatened imprisonment if they refuse to abort their child.

Yemen is currently facing the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, with 80% of the population in desperate need of humanitarian aid, and those figures set to worsen according to a UNICEF report which appealed for urgent ]humanitarian assistance.

The report, released last week, warned that the number of malnourished children in the country could reach 2.4 million - a 20 percent increase - by the end of the year. The report comes as the foreign ministers of Germany, Sweden and the UK wrote in the Financial Times that they have “a global responsibility to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people”.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has report that as many as 10,000 people fled their homes in the northern state of Rakhine, in Myanmar, after a military crackdown against insurgents in recent weeks.

Senior commander of Australia’s Special Air Service, Adam Findlay, admitted to soldiers committing war crimes and unlawfully executive captured fighters and civilians; he blames “poor moral leadership” and spoke out against attempts to cover up the crimes.

 

The first admission of war crimes from a serving officer  

Protests in the United States have sparked debates around monuments of Spanish conquistadors, as they demanded the removal of statues glorifying the Spanish conquest of the Americas and what demonstrators have termed “a celebration of genocide”.

As demonstrations against monuments of Confederate officials and slave traders take place across the US, in the South and West of the country, protests have also demanded the removal of monuments to conquistadors such as Diego De Vargas and Juan De Oñate.

Children of migrant families in Britain may be caught up in what has been described as a “potential second Windrush-style scandal”, with controversy emerging this week as young students outlined their experiences when applying for university in the UK.

U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, has called for the European Union to punish any moves by Israel to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.

Lynk maintains that the EU must back up warnings against annexation with actionable countermeasures.  This includes possible economic, trade or other sanctions.

<p>Freedom from Torture has released a report highlighting the failure of the UK Home Office is dealing with asylum seekers and torture survivors, leaving often without adequate representation and unable to give the full details of their case during interviews.</p>