Author: Priya Saha

Executive Director at Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities | Priya Saha is the Executive Director of Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM). HRCBM is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Joe Manchin’s wife, religious rights advocate says she’s ‘flattered’ China sanctioned her

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Gayle Manchin, the wife of Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinBlinken condemns China sanctions on U.S., Canadian officials China sanctions wife of Joe Manchin, other US and Canadian officials Meet the senators at the center of the filibuster fight MORE (D-W.Va.) and chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), said on Saturday that she is “flattered” China sanctioned her as the U.S. has criticized Beijing’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority.“I feel flattered to be recognized by Communist China for calling out genocidal crimes against religious and ethnic minorities in the country,” Gayle Manchin told Reuters in a statement.“While I…

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Racial justice is key to effective policing, says top chief amid legitimacy crisis

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The leader of Britain’s police chiefs has said forces’ legitimacy in black communities is so low it is damaging the effectiveness of law enforcement, as he vowed to change generations of strained trust and confidence. In his first interview about race since the Black Lives Matter protests of last year, Martin Hewitt said it was not a matter of “political correctness” or “wokeness” but an operational necessity to boost racial justice in policing. Everyday crime-fighting was being damaged, he said, with the issue of race being the continual fault line of British policing. Hewitt said he wanted to change “generations…

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Myanmar situation poses further risk for Rohingyas

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File photo: Arrested Rohingya people leave a Hlegu court, outside Yangon, Myanmar, February 21, 2020 Reuters This population has long suffered horrific violence at the hands of the Myanmar military with impunity, say two top UN officials, condemning the military crackdown against anti-coup protesters The ongoing situation in Myanmar has put at further risk the already vulnerable ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar, including the Rohingyas still living in that country, two top United Nations officials said on Sunday.This population has long suffered horrific violence at the hands of the Myanmar military with impunity, as documented by the Independent Fact-Finding…

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How ‘Democratic’ Is The Democratic Movement In Myanmar? – OpEd

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Introduction Similar to practically all Southeast Asian countries, Myanmar (also known as Burma) experienced decades of authoritarian or semi-authoritarian rule as well as periodic mass movements opposing despotic and dictatorial rule. The people of Myanmar (also known as Burmese or Bamar) have passionately yearned for a more democratic and pluralist society after almost half-a-century of military rule – 26 years (1962- 1988) under General Ne Win’s military dictatorship and 22 years (1988-2011) under General Saw Maung’s military government, formerly known as the State and Law Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and later as the State and Peace and Development Council (SPDC). …

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26 policemen injured in violence during PM Modi’s Bangladesh visit

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More than 26 policemen have been injured in Bangladesh during an attack carried out by the radical Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam’s activists.The activists on Saturday targeted the Aruail police camp in Sarail Upazila in Brahmanpuria. Besides, six policemen were also attacked by the militants at a police station in Bhanga in Faridpur district.Bangladesh has witnessed a disturbance in the past few days following demonstrations in some parts of the country, including in the capital Dhaka against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit.Thousands of Islamists in Chittagong, led by Hefazat militants of JMB, staged demonstrations in Dhaka, Chattogram, Brahmanbaria and other places…

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Biden’s UN Ambassador Is A ‘Disaster For Persecuted Christians,’ Report Says

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A columnist of The Christian Post warned that Christian persecution abroad “may worsen” in the hands of United States’ current UN ambassador. Citing Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks during the U.N. General Assembly, Hedieh Mirahmadi observed that the ambassador failed to address the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and their massacre in Africa. Thomas-Greenfield, commemorating the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, rebuked China and Myanmar for Muslim minority genocide, then turned to America’s racial issue. Mirahmadi said that after her “lengthy introduction” about slavery, the ambassador discussed the “need” of destroying “white supremacy” in support of the Black…

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Pakistan, a country with doubts in its own legitimacy | Blitz

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Pakistan is a country with a crisis of confidence in its own legitimacy. More than the Taliban, it is Pakistan’s national psychosis that undercuts any opportunity for Afghan peace, writes Michael Rubin Next month, the Afghan government and Taliban will convene in Istanbul to try to hash out a deal to bring peace to Afghanistan. The key issue will be the shape of Afghanistan’s government: Will it remain an Islamic Republic with an elected president as it has been for two decades, or will it be an Islamic Emirate with an appointed religious leadership as the Taliban demand?  Ultimately, that question…

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Chinese Statistics Reveal Plummeting Births in Xinjiang During Crackdown on Uyghurs

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WASHINGTON – New Chinese government statistics reveal the devastating consequences of what the United States and other countries have condemned as a genocidal campaign against the nation’s ethnic Uyghur population, mainly based in Xinjiang, the northwestern region of China. According to the China Statistical Yearbook 2020, compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics, the birthrate in Xinjiang last year was only 8.14 births per 1,000 people. That is little more than half the figure for 2017, when the birthrate was 15.88 births per 1,000 people. Xinjiang’s natural population growth rate – which accounts for deaths as well as births –…

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U.S. Says China Is Targeting Companies That Bar Xinjiang Cotton

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The U.S. accused China of a state-run social media campaign and boycott against companies that refuse to use cotton from the Xinjiang region over concern the crop is produced with forced labor by Muslim-minority Uyghurs.China has targeted American, European and Japanese businesses that are avoiding Xinjiang cotton, State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter told reporters in a briefing on Friday. She said that amounts to a state-run “corporate and consumer boycott.” “We support and encourage businesses to respect human rights in line with the U.N. guiding principles on business and human rights,” she said. The statement was part of a…

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Report clears France of complicity in 1994 Rwandan Genocide

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PARIS (AP) — A commission that spent nearly two years uncovering France’s role in 1994’s Rwandan genocide concluded Friday that the country reacted too slowly in appreciating the extent of the horror that left over 800,000 dead but cleared it of complicity in the slaughter. The report said that France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” in the drift that led to the killings, which principally claimed victims from Rwanda’s Tutsi ethnic minority. . Persistent claims that France under then-President Francois Mitterrand did not do enough to stop the genocide have damaged the Franco-Rwandan relationship since the 1990’s. As a result,…

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