Derechos Humanos / Human Rights

Addis Ababa, Jan. 30 (DP.net).– The Ethiopian Federal Police and Attorney General have confirmed that members of the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) were behind the mass massacre in Mai-Kadra in November last year, killing more than 1000 ethnic Amhara people in a prearranged attack.

In a joint briefing, authorities of the two government offices said the perpetrators had committed ethnically motivated, widespread and systematic attacks, going house to house and killing ethnic Amhara civilians.

According to the officials, entry checkpoints of the Mai- Kadra town in north west of Ethiopia were closed two weeks ahead of the massacre and the attackers, assisted by local security members, had forced the victims to stay at home until they were stabbed, strangled and shot to death.

El Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos interpone denuncia contra el gobierno de Cuba por agravamiento de la situación represiva en la isla.

Se han documentado al menos 1.798 detenciones arbitrarias. En, al menos, 216 se usó la violencia por parte de las autoridades. Aumentaron hasta 1.647 las retenciones forzosas de activistas en sus casas, sitiadas para impedirles la salida; y las agresiones físicas y el exceso en el uso de la fuerza, incluso la letal, fueron elementos presentes en las actuaciones policiales.

Además, aumentó la pobreza y se deterioraron todos los derechos sociales y el 64% de los cubanos vive con menos de 1,11 USD por día (media de 3 personas por hogar).

2020 ha sido un año nefasto para los derechos humanos en Cuba. Se han incrementado las prohibiciones y las limitaciones al ejercicio de libertades, y la represión tomó una deriva peligrosa que coloca al país a las puertas de un proceso similar a la Primavera Negra de 2003, afirma el Observatorio Cubanos de Derechos Humanos (OCDH) en su informe anual.

Mali: The blessing of the Great Silence

Aid to the Church in Need (ACN): Interview with Fr. Perluigi Maccalli

Bamako, Dec.12.– After two years living as a captive in the desert, somewhere between Niger and Mali, the Italian missionary Father Pierluigi Maccalli, who was received by the Pope on November 9, 2020, recalled his first impressions in an interview conducted by the SMA Media Center a few hours after his liberation. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) summarizes his impressive testimony given to the Society of African Missions (SMA) on 10 October 2020.

“I find it hard to speak because after spending such a long time in silence I now find myself in this world of quickly moving events and words”. These were Father Maccalli’s first words after liberation, which he experienced with great joy and emotion but also as a moment of confusion.

For years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has classified any information about human rights abuses against people who practice Falun Gong as "state secrets," making it dangerous for anyone to investigate. Indeed, many who have were themselves victims of wrongful imprisonment and torture. The CCP has also used political and financial influence around the world to either keep journalists silent, or drive false narratives about Falun Gong.

Dec. 11.– A total of 921 lawmakers from 35 countries and regions worldwide issued a joint statement on International Human Rights Day to condemn the Chinese regime’s decades-long persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong.

Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, was introduced in China in the 1990s, known for its meditative exercises and moral teachings centered around three principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.