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Human rights

Human rights
Latest news, features and analysis on human rights, with a focus on civil liberties in Hong Kong, mainland China and Asia.
Yuanxin, the six-year-old son of Chinese asylum seeker Fei Zheng, whose separation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late 2025 sparked national attention and public outcry. Photo: Handout
US-China relations

‘Missing’ 6-year-old Yuanxin and father reunited, then deported together to China

Activist says separation from son pressured dad to accept deportation so they could be together, despite fear of returning to homeland.

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United States

Trump administration triples ‘self-deport’ stipend to US$3,000

United States

Did ‘political’ reasons postpone ‘60 Minutes’ report on El Salvador prison?

Africa

Sudan war drags on as drone attack kills 10 in Darfur market

The conflict has split Sudan in two as the army controls the north, east and centre while the UAE-backed RSF dominates Darfur and parts of the south.

A Sudanese refugee girl from Darfur rests beside a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) tent inside the Touloum refugee camp, on the outskirts of the town of Iriba in Wadi Fira province, eastern Chad, on November 30. Photo: Reuters
Malaysia

31 Malaysians repatriated from Myanmar job scam syndicate

The job scam victims rescued from a Myawaddy job syndicate return home safely after intensive diplomatic negotiations and a 26-hour land journey.

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Israel-Iran conflict

Man executed in Iran for spying for Israel tortured to confess: rights group

The 27-year-old, arrested while taking pictures of a military headquarters, was accused of executing over 200 similar assignments for Mossad.

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Israel-Gaza war

UN declares Gaza famine over, but ‘situation remains critical’

Meanwhile, Oxfam says hunger in Gaza remains ‘appalling and preventable’, accusing Israel of blocking aid from humanitarian agencies.

Displaced Palestinians gather to collect portions of cooked food at a charity distribution in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip in May. Photo: TNS
Africa

UN says Sudan’s RSF killed 1,000 civilians in horrific 3-day attack on camp

New report details three days of terror at the Zamzam displacement camp in April, citing mass executions and gang rapes.

Myanmar

Are Myanmar hospital air strikes a bid to ‘intimidate’ voters ahead of poll?

The junta has been emboldened to strike as China, Russia and the US are looking the other way to serve their own interests, analysts say.

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Accidents and disasters in China

How will Jimmy Lai’s conviction affect China-UK ties, Starmer’s planned visit?

Outcome of ex-media tycoon’s Hong Kong trial poses stern test for Labour government’s balancing act with Beijing, observers say.

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing and Shanghai in late January. Photo: EPA
War and conflict

War-torn Sudan tops global humanitarian crisis watch list for third year

International Rescue Committee highlights a stark concentration of human suffering in a small number of countries in latest rankings.

A Sudanese refugee girl who fled from El-Fashir city, Sudan, at a transit camp in eastern Chad. Photo: Reuters
Singapore

Singapore court dismisses challenge to mandatory death penalty for drugs

Singapore’s High Court rejects first constitutional challenge in 15 years to decades-old law as executions rise; activists may appeal.

United Nations

Aid cuts causing millions of refugees ‘unnecessary pain’: UN

‘The sudden, drastic, irresponsible and short-sighted collapse of foreign assistance’ has inflicted ‘so much unnecessary pain in its wake’.

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Iran

No contact with Iran Nobel winner laureate arrest, supporters say

Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Peace Prize laureate, was detained on Friday alongside dozens of activists and may face national security charges.

Nobel Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who was arrested in Iran. Photo: Narges Mohammad Foundation via AFP
Japan

Security or freedom? Japan’s proposed anti-spy laws raise human rights concerns

Prime Minister Takaichi’s plans to tighten spying and secrecy rules could be used to stifle free speech and media freedom, analysts say.

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks to the media in Tokyo on Monday. Photo: Kyodo/Reuters
Africa

6 UN peacekeepers killed in Sudan drone strike blamed on RSF paramilitary group

The victims were all Bangladeshi nationals working at a United Nations logistics base in Kadugli.

Belarus

Belarus frees 123 prisoners in exchange for US sanctions relief

Peace prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and 121 others have been released by one of Russia’s key allies.

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Israel-Gaza war

‘My future is paralysed’: Gaza amputees desperate to walk again

The World Health Organization estimates there are some 5,000 to 6,000 amputees from the Israel-Gaza war, 25 per cent of them children.

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Haneen al-Mabhouh, who lost her leg in an Israeli strike on her home, sits in a wheelchair in her family home in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on November 6. Photo: AP
Middle East

Iran detains Nobel Prize winner Narges Mohammadi in ‘brutal’ arrest

The activist’s brother says she was beaten on the legs, held by her hair and ‘dragged down’ by security forces personnel.

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United States

US judge blocks ICE from re-detaining Abrego Garcia

The order comes less than a day after Kilmar Abrego Garcia, previously wrongfully deported to El Salvador, was released from immigration detention.

United States

Judge orders release of Salvadorean who was wrongfully deported by Trump admin

The case has highlighted the president’s hardline immigration stance, with officials saying Abrego Garcia will never again be free in the US.

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Kilmar Abrego Garcia attends a protest rally at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore in August. Photo: AP
Australia

Opinion | Australia’s social media ban offers a path between excess and inaction

For policymakers elsewhere, Canberra’s approach to children’s social media use isn’t a model to copy but one to learn from.

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A child tries to unlock a social media site after receiving an age verification message at her home in Sydney on December 10. Photo: AFP
Nordic nations

Venezuela’s Machado urges global fight for democracy after Nobel win

The Nobel laureate, barred from travel and forced into hiding by her home country, missed the ceremony in Oslo to receive the Peace Prize.

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Thailand

‘May he rest in peace’: remains of last Thai hostage in Gaza repatriated

Sudthisak Rinthalak’s remains returned to Thailand after being held in Gaza since 2023, allowing his family to perform funeral rites.

US-China relations

Chinese boy Yuanxin, 6, speaks with father for first time since ICE detention

Phone call brings ‘relief’ to parent, though officials still will not say where the child is being held.

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The location of 6-year-old Yuanxin remains unknown more than a week after he was separated from his father during a routine ICE check-in. Photo: Family picture
Indonesia

Video | Indonesia sends home Dutch death row convict

Two Dutch nationals convicted of drug offences returned home after more than a decade in prison a week after Indonesia and the Netherlands signed a repatriation deal.

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War and conflict

RSF says Israel killed highest number of journalists again this year

Reporters without Borders says the number of journalists killed reached 67 globally.

The Philippines

Could ICC warrants against Duterte allies alter Philippines’ balance of power?

A former Duterte spokesman claims more of the ex-president’s allies will soon be arrested as part of a plot to ‘destroy the opposition’.

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