Author: Injusticeto Team

On January 14, prominent activist and former president of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission, Sihem Bensedrine, began a hunger strike while detained in Manouba prison. “I will no longer stand the injustice that strikes me. Justice cannot be based on lies and calumnies, but on concrete, tangible evidence,” she said in a message relayed by her lawyers.Bensedrine has fought the abuses of successive governments for four decades and was imprisoned under former presidents Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali. Now she is detained under Tunisia’s authoritarian president, Kais Saied, in a clear case of retaliation for her human rights work. A judge ordered the detention…

Rachel Wald always has a bit of a cold. That’s life when you have two kids younger than 5, she says. You’re always a little sick. But it wasn’t until after Wald and her family voluntarily fled the fires in Los Angeles that she realized the cough, sore throat, and itchy eyes she couldn’t shake were caused by the fires plaguing the city. “I don’t think I was really recognizing how much of it was not the cold, but the smoke,” she said. Wald, who is a director at a health and environment center at the University of Southern California,…

(Brussels) – The European Union’s migration and asylum policies increasingly focused on deterrence in 2024, undermining the rights of people at its borders and beyond, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025. These policies resulted in increased deaths at sea, unlawful pushbacks at borders, and the return of asylum seekers to countries where they face abuse.For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists.…

A botany expert turned online educator in Bangladesh is proving that anyone can become a plant enthusiast, no educational degree required.With his short, snappy videos, Azharul Islam Khan has captivated around a million followers on social media, teaching them about the diversity of Bangladeshi plants and trees.His engaging content isn’t just for plant lovers; it’s building a diverse community of students, eco-conscious families and nature enthusiasts.Azharul is on a mission to protect the environment, advocating sustainable tree planting and educating the public about the importance of balanced ecosystems.See All Key Ideas In the bustling city of Dhaka, Azharul…

On November 16, a mob in India’s Manipur state attempted to storm the home of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and attacked properties of other ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. The assailants were protesting the government’s failure to end ongoing ethnic violence in the state.What was especially notable was that the protesters belonged to the majority Meitei community, which has had his government’s support. The chief minister has been promoting the BJP’s Hindu majoritarian ideology by backing the primarily Hindu Meitei. That has deepened distrust of the minority tribal groups of Manipur, known as the Kuki-Zo, who are mostly Christian. Biren Singh’s…

Two wildfires still burning in Los Angeles have torched more urban area than any other fire in the state since at least the mid-1980s, an Associated Press analysis shows.The Eaton and Palisades fires that erupted last week have collectively burned almost 4 square miles of highly dense parts of Los Angeles, more than double the urban acreage consumed by the region’s Woolsey Fire in 2018, according to the AP’s analysis of data from the Silvis Lab at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Experts say several factors could lead to wildfires reaching cities more often. Urban areas continue to sprawl…

(New York) – Benon Kabale, a Ugandan disability rights advocate, is the 2024 recipient of the Human Rights Watch Marca Bristo Fellowship for Courageous Leadership in Disability Rights, Human Rights Watch announced today on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.  For years, Kabale has been fighting for the rights and dignity of people with psychosocial disabilities (mental health conditions). As a person with lived experience, Kabale has been seeking justice after being secluded and restrained in a mental health hospital. In 2018, he founded and currently serves as executive director of the Mental Health Recovery Initiative, which aims to raise…

Smoke from wildfire poses a host of health concerns, but when fires burn through urban areas, like the ongoing inferno in Los Angeles, U.S., the health risks increase dramatically. “This is an entirely different situation because the wildfire smoke is bad enough, but when synthetic materials burn, they’re going to give off more toxics, not only in the air, but also in the ash where the burned-down structures remain,” Judith Enck, a former regional administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and founder of NGO Beyond Plastics, told Mongabay by phone. According to the EPA, at least 85,000 different…

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court recently made public a ruling upholding the rights of a transgender girl whose private school in Santa Elena failed to support her during her gender transition. The court ordered comprehensive remedies after finding that the school discriminated against the girl, failed to act in accordance with her best interests, and violated a wide range of other rights, including her right to education.In its ruling, the court refers to the girl as C.L.A.G in order to protect her identity. In 2017, C.L.A.G.’s parents sought the school’s support, requesting psychosocial assistance and gender diversity training for the school’s staff. While…

The Constitutional Court of Ecuador ruled that coastal marine ecosystems have legal rights that must be protected, potentially requiring stricter limits on human activities like industrial fishing. Those ecosystems, the court said, have a right to maintain their natural “life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes” and the Ecuadorian government must adopt sufficient protective measures to ensure those “vital processes” persist.  Marine coastal ecosystems have “intrinsic value,” the court added, and Ecuador made a commitment in its constitution to “build a new form of citizen coexistence, in diversity and harmony with nature.”  Ecuador, in 2008, became the first country in…