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.

“We have reached a point where resolutions without resolve can no longer contribute to reaching the just and durable peace and human security that Palestinians and Israelis deserve”, he added.

<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> <p>The report they compiled was based on 30 separate cases from torture survivors interviewed from 2017-2018, in addition to a further 25 torture survivors interviewed between 2017-2019. The report illustrates that many asylum seekers “are disbelieved and dismissed by the very system set up to help them”.</p>

UK Shadow Education Secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey has been sacked from her post in the shadow cabinet after sharing an interview of actress, Maxine Peake, which claimed that American police learnt to knell on people’s neck from Israeli secret services.

The brother of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by US police last month, has appealed to the UN Human Rights Council during their debate regarding investigations into US police brutality and systemic racism, calling for an independent Commission of Inquiry to be established.

<p>20 Indian soldiers have been killed in a border dispute between China and India in the Himalayan region.</p> <p>This violent clash follows escalating tensions between the two countries and has resulted in the first loss of life in the border region since 1975 and the worst military crisis between the countries in almost 60 years.</p> <p>Responding to the escalating violence, India’s army has reported that:</p> <p>“senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation” and that they were “firmly committed to protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation.”</p>

Three former UK prime ministers have criticised the current’s British prime minister’s plan to merge the Department of International Development (DfID) with the Foreign Office into what he describes as a “super-department”.

Former Prime Ministers David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair have condemned the proposed merger, with Cameron stating that this would lead to “less respect for the UK overseas”. Similarly, Gordon Brown has described the decision as sad whilst Tony Blair stated that he was “utterly dismayed”.

US President, Donald Trump, has issued an executive order authorising sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) employees involved in investigating whether US forces, intelligence agents, or allied countries such as Israel, committed war crimes during the conflict in Afghanistan.