Protests in Pakistan against enforced disappearances

The News from Pakistan carried a story on Thursday about a series of protests in Karachi against alleged abductions and disappearances of dozens of political workers. On Wednesday, protesters continued sit-ins and hunger strikes, demanding safe recovery of the missing persons from, as they say, the custody of law enforcement agencies. The article quotes activist Punhal Sario, who says that law enforcement agencies have picked up more than 40 activists, mainly belonging to Sindhi ethnic parties, and have not disclosed their whereabouts. http://bit.ly/2snFYGN

Human Rights investigations stalled in Gambia

JollofNews.com, a web portal that covers events in Senegal and Gambia, reported on Thursday that investigations into alleged killings and forced disappearances committed by the regime of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh have come to a halt. The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) has stated that investigations are delayed…

10 more mass graves uncovered in central Congo

Business Insider reported on Tuesday that 10 more mass graves have been found in the region of central Congo where it had previously been estimated that 3,300 people had died. Red Cross officials uncovered the graves and alerted the armed forces to the site. Major General Joseph Ponde told journalists that seven of the ten newly uncovered mass graves were located in Diboko. These mass graves add to the previously documented 42 mass graves found in the Kasai provinces, where violence erupted last August over the killing of a traditional chief by the military. http://read.bi/2t35G0w

No mass grave found in Kizevak, Serbia after 140 days of excavation

Novinite, a Bulgarian news agency, reported on Tuesday that forensics experts have determined that there is no mass grave at Kizevak, near Raska in Serbia. Excavation work began following reports of a mass grave containing…

Netherlands found partially liable for Srebrenica deaths

Balkan Insight reported on Tuesday that the appeals court in The Hague has ruled that the Dutch state was partly liable for the deaths of some 300 Bosniak men who were forced out of a Dutch UN peacekeepers’ base near Srebrenica in July 1995 and subsequently killed by Bosnian Serb forces. The court ruled that the Dutch state is liable for around 30 per cent of any damages awarded to the victims’ relatives, because it said it was not clear whether the men would have been killed anyway even if they were allowed to remain inside the base. The ruling only applies to around 300 Bosniaks who had taken refuge at the base in Potocari, not to the rest of around 8,000 Bosniaks from Srebrenica who were killed by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 – a crime classified as genocide by international…

Mexico: General Law on Enforced Disappearances

On Saturday, Lifegate, a development we portal based in Italy, reported on the two-year process through which the Mexican Congress has worked on the General Law on Enforced Disappearances. Currently, there exists no federal law targeting the crime of forced disappearances except for one article in the Criminal Code. http://bit.ly/2sbDEmc

Amnesty International irges Myanmar authorities to release journalists

On Monday, Amnesty International urged Myanmar authorities immediately to release three journalists, who were detained while carrying out their work in the conflict-afflicted northern Shan State. Aye Nai and Pyae Phone Naing, both reporters for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Thein Zaw (aka Lawi Weng), a reporter for the Irrawaddy newspaper, were arrested along with four other people they were travelling with. At present there is no information as to the identities of the four other detainees. http://bit.ly/2thDxFU

Hundreds missing in the war in Eastern…