Author: Amnewsworld

One in every 50 detainees in Kenya’s prisons is a migrant, largely from the East African region even though these countries have a joint deal on free movement of persons. A survey, The Status of Migrants In Places of Detention In Kenya by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), released last week showed that Kenya had an estimated 2,000 migrant detainees in its cells, 65 percent of whom are from Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia and Ethiopia. These detentions haven’t come cheap for the Kenyan government which often foots an approximate annual bill of Ksh2 billion ($22 million) to process…

Rwanda has scoffed at accusations that its embassies abroad are actively engaged in the recruitment of spies and threatening of Rwandan refugees who are critical of the government. In a statement released on Monday, Rwanda’s embassy in Singapore claimed that stories alleging that Rwandan dissidents are threatened because they “refused to be an agent of influence” are based on “rhetoric that seeks to discredit the government of Rwanda.” In October, Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Noel Zihabamwe, a Rwandan who settled in Australia in 2006 as a refugee, was allegedly threatened during a community meeting in Sydney in 2017.…

Facebook Ireland says it has put aside €302m for possible fines from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. The tech giant says that the €302m relates to “amounts identified for administrative fines arising from various regulatory compliance matters principally under investigation by the relevant data protection supervisory authorities”. Facebook is currently being probed in more than 10 separate statutory inquiries by Helen Dixon’s office, spanning issues across its separate divisions: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Facebook also says that its revenue grew by €8.8bn last year, up to €34.3bn in 2019 from €25.5bn in 2018. The company recorded a profit increase of…

A United Nations team visiting refugees in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region had failed to stop at two checkpoints when it was shot at over the weekend, the government said yesterday, proclaiming it did not need a “baby-sitter”. The UN security team was seeking access to the Shimelba camp for Eritrean refugees when they were fired at on Sunday. A UN spokesman in Nairobi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s army has battled the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in the northern region since November 4. Thousands are feared dead and the UN estimates…

At least 28 incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislators have lost their parliamentary seats in Monday’s elections. Some 21 of them are either ministers, ministers of state or deputy ministers. That is aside from the 41 who lost the NPP primaries earlier this year and thus did not contest yesterday’s polls. Meanwhile, four NPP MPs are retiring, including Dr Anthony Akoto Osei of Tafo Pankrono, Kwabena Appiah Pinkrah of Akrofuom, Dr Ziblim Iddi of Gushegu and Shirley Ayorkor Botchway of Anyaa Sowutuom. In total, the NPP will lose at least 92 MPs out of their 169 in the next Parliament. Hopefully, the…

On Monday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched a new partnership initiative to strengthen the capacity of Africa CDC to prepare for and respond to public health threats in Africa. The four-year project ‘EU for health security in Africa: ECDC for Africa CDC’, funded by the EU, will also facilitate harmonized surveillance and disease intelligence, and support the implementation of the public health workforce strategy of Africa CDC. Commission Vice-President for promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas said: “The coronavirus pandemic has shown…

Within just a few weeks, the financial institution prepared a global COVID-19 emergency health response, working closely with national teams, the WHO, UNICEF and other international partners. Long before the first cases of the virus surfaced in Guinea, the country, with support from the World Bank and the international community, had devised a response strategy. It was therefore equipped with knowledge gained from combating the Ebola epidemic in 2014-2016. For other countries however, COVID-19 brought disruptions in health systems and uncertainty about what would be next. Describing the precautionary measures recommended by health workers, Qamara, a resident in a village west…

Only half of the documented cases of violence against women and girls reported to the justice system reached a primary court, finds a new report by UNAMA and the UN Human Rights Office. Afghan women and girls are being failed by the country’s justice system with their access to justice for crimes of violence remaining tenuous, finds a new report released today by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office. The report, titled, “In Search of Justice for Crimes of Violence Against Women and Girls,” examines the response of the justice system and the…

Parvez Morshed thought he was going to become a tailor in Saudi Arabia, but the Bangladeshi migrant was tricked by a recruiter and ended up working as a builder earning half the promised pay. Unable to support his family and clear the loan he borrowed to get the job, Morshed returned home mid-pandemic to work in a garment factory that ran a program hiring trafficking victims. “The job in Saudi was supposed to be a way out for my family. But it put us in more trouble than before,” Morshed told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone. “It has been…

The Trump administration said Monday it will abide by a court order – for now – to start accepting new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applications, a move that could affect an estimated 682,000 undocumented immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security is already looking to appeal the Friday court ruling, but advocates for immigrants were celebrating the decision that they called critical to the lives of DACA recipients, including thousands in Arizona. “A lot of young people are going to be able to get deferred action so they won’t be eligible for deportation if they follow the rules, they’re going…