Following calls for a global ceasefire, Yemen’s warring parties have entered into a truce as coronavirus presents an unprecedented threat to public health however the US has began to withdraw aid.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has started to withdraw aid from the Iranian back Houthi controlled regions as they claim the group has actively hindered the delivery of aid.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called upon Australia’s Defence Department to re-examine previously dismissed cases of alleged summary executions and other war crimes in Afghanistan in light of new evidence.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) broadcasted an episode on March 16^th reporting on the possible war crimes of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan and showed footage where an Australian soldier, from the Special Air Service (SAS), is shown to kill an unarmed Afghan civilian during a raid on a village in 2012.

<p>Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that migrants, stateless people and refugees are at an “extra risk” of COVID-19 and has called on Malaysia took take actions to ensure healthcare services are readily available for these migrants without the risk of arrest or deportation.</p> <p>Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, warned that this was a matter of public safety stating;</p> <blockquote><p>

<p>In an attack on Afghanistan’s minority Sikh community, which ISIL has claimed credit for, 25 people have been killed.</p> <p>According to Afghanistan’s Interior Minister, Tariq Arian, the Afghanistan security forces have killed all attackers. Earlier this March, attackers affiliated with ISIL killed a further 32 minority Shia Muslims in Kabul.</p>

<p>Turkey have charged 20 Saudi nationals over the murder of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul in 2018, The Guardian reports.</p> <p>Two of the men charged are allies of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. The former royal court adviser, Saud al-Qahtani and the former deputy head of intelligence, Ahmed al-Asiri were among the suspects charged. Both men are accused of having "instigated premeditated murder with monstrous intent."</p>

Human Rights Watch in a joint report with the right group, “Belady: An Island For Humanity” have issued a report detailing worry horrifying abuses from Egypt’s security forces including but not limited to engaging in arbitrary detention and torture of children as young as 12.

In a statement, Aya Hijazi, co-director of Belady, stated;

UN Secretary-General, Antonia Guterres has called on a global ceasefire in order to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

In a statement, he said;

“the fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. That is why I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world. It is time to put armed conflict in lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives”.

So far 18,605 individuals have died from the deadly virus.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned Ethiopia’s government-imposed shutdown of internet and phone services in western Oromia as it has caused significant difficulty in monitoring outbreaks of the disease and providing adequate support.

In their statement they note;

“The government’s refusal to restore phone and network access makes it likely that key information is not reaching everyone, including those vital to control efforts in western Oromia —health care workers and humanitarian organisations".

<p>The war crimes tribunal of Alieu Kosiah, the former commander of the United Liberation has Movement of Liberia for Democracy, has been postponed from April till June-July due to concerns over the Coronavirus.</p> <p>Kosiah was initially arrested in November 2014 whilst in Switzerland. He has been charged with killing and raping civilians as well as recruiting child soldiers, and ordering for cruel treatment of civilians during the period of 1993-5, during the first Liberian civil war (1989-1996).</p>

Egypt has arrested four leading intellectual female activists who have been campaigning for the release of prisoners during the midst of the coronavirus; they were arrested on charges of spreading false news and violating Egypt’s protest ban.

The activists arrested were all part of the same family. Mona Seif is a prominent activist; as is her professor mother Laila Soueif; novelist aunt Ahdaf Soueif and professor aunt Rabab al-Mahdi; all of whom have been arrested for protesting outside the cabinet building.