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Today marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the events that, over a period of eight years from 1915 to 1923, resulted in the deaths of over one and a half million Armenians, and the forced exile of hundreds of thousands more. As Pope Francis recently stated, those who continue to fail to recognize what happened to the Armenian people during the final days of the Ottoman Empire as genocide – the coordinated use of violence to destroy a population -- participate in and strengthen acts of denial.
Once again Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been arrested for exercising his fundamental right to freedom of expression. Today his home was surrounded by security forces and he was taken away. The Ministry of Interior has accused Rajab of "publishing information that would harm the civil order and denigrated an official institution," because he reported on the beating and torture of prisoners in Jaw Prison. Four hours after his arrest, Rajab had not been granted access to his lawyer.
On March 27, 2015, Congressman James P. McGovern and Congressman Joseph R. Pitts, Co-Chairmen of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, sent a letter to Secretary Kerry urging his serious engagement on the worsening human rights situation of ethnic Uyghurs in China.
Full text of the letter can be found here.
No evidence has surfaced to substantiate the claim that Farkhunda destroyed the Quran. Furthermore, there is evidence that Farkhunda may have suffered from psychological or mental disorders.
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we are deeply concerned about recent reports alleging that on March 16th the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad attacked the town of Sarmin, Idlib in the northwestern part of the country using chemical weapons, specifically barrel bombs filled with chlorine gas. According to medical workers on the ground, an entire family of six people died and at least 70 others were so severely affected that they required medical care.
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov last Friday, February 27th. We call upon the Russian government to ensure a prompt, impartial and transparent investigation to identify and bring to justice all those who planned and carried out the crime, and to guarantee the conditions necessary for Russian citizens to fully exercise their human rights to freedom of expression, association and political participation.
As Co-Chairs of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, we are deeply alarmed by reports that two alleged perpetrators of genocide in Sudan, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti and Dr. Ibrahim Ghandur of the ruling National Congress Party, have been invited to the National Prayer Breakfast. Quite simply, these officials should not have been invited to attend an event held in the name of the U.S. Congress, which has passed legislation denouncing the Sudanese government for acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission commends Rep. Aaron Schock for his work in securing the freedom of Dr. Tun Aung, a prisoner of conscience from Myanmar. Rep. Schock traveled to Myanmar earlier this month to personally petition the government for Dr. Aung's release and was in Yangon to meet with him when he was freed.
Washington - Today marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation by Soviet troops of Auschwitz, the most notorious of the network of camps established and operated by Nazi Germany to carry out the Holocaust, the systematic state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews. Decades later, anti-semitism continues to manifest itself in societies around the world, endangering Jews and others as well.