New camp opens for Syrian refugees in Jordan

"Effective immediately, I'm banning Mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers organization or the NBA. Mr Sterling my not attend any NBA games or practices, he may not be present at any Clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or player personal decisions involving the team."..."I'm also fining Mr. Sterling 2,5 million dollars, the maximum amount allowed under the NBA constitution. These fund will be donated to organization dedicated anti-discrimnation and tolerance efforts that will be jointly selected by the NBA and its players' association. As for Mr. Sterling's ownership on the Clippers, I will urge the board of governors to exercise its' authority to force a sale of the team and will do everything in my power to ensure that that happens." said NBA commissioner Adam Silver yesterday after the release of Sterling's tapes with his racist statements. Will this stand alone decision help to change the systemic nature of racism in US sports associations?

Asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat could be detained in Cambodia, after a deal was struck yesterday between the two nations.

Australia, which already has similar agreements with Papua New Guinea and Nauru, seems to prefer outsourcing the processing of asylum seekers to impoverished neighbouring countries than process them in Australia. Human rights organisations have been critical of the treatment of Australia's asylum seekers offshore, where the resources to provide their basic needs are scarce.

The United Nations has agreed to support this plan, despite its previous criticism of Australia's border patrol policies which some human rights activist claim are in breach of international law.

Last year the UN Human Rights Commission produced an shocking report on the Nauru Regional Processing Centre, documenting unsafe and inhumane living conditions, as well as a lack of adequate or timely solutions for their processing. At that time, 700 people were detained on Nauru, including pregnant women and children, many of whom were housed in tents. This continues to be the living situation there.

Although the number of asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat pales in comparison to other groups around the world, this is a polarising issue in Australia where, last year, a new government came to power with its campaign promising to "stop the boats".

(Image: Flickr user Takver)

Today, Amnesty International reports: Syrian refugee's situation at the Greek-Turkish border has dramatically deteriorated. "Refugees are forced to take off their clothes, their belongings were taken away, and were held at gunpoint before being pushed off to Turkey" said Franziska Vilmar, Expert for Political Asylum at Amnesty International.

Back in January, eleven refugees from Afghanistan and Syria drowned while a Greek cost guard ship's tragic attempt to drag their boat back to Turkey.

According to international and european law, the Greek government is obliged to enable refugees to apply for asylum. Amnesty demands that allegations in regards to abuses and violations will be examined.

Today, Amnesty International intends to hand over 100.000 signatures against Push-Backs to the Greek Minister of the Interior.

The criminal court in the city of Minya, Egypt, has sentenced 529 people to death, in a trial which Human Rights Watch says lacked basic due process.

This shocking mass death sentence came as a result of a trial where most of the accused were tried in absentia. The whole trial took less than an hour and it is reported that the defense lawyers were not permitted to present their cases.

Despite the difficult political climate in Egypt it is still disturbing that a court is able to hand out a death sentences en masse, without allowing for fair trials to take place.

Yesterday the Kosovan parliament made a historic vote for justice, voting to create a special court for crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), during and after the 1998-99 war.

The court, which will operate under Kosovan law, will house an international staff and include a chamber outside Kosovo for contentious cases.

According to Human Rights Watch, the new court will adjudicate cases against individuals that were identified in a 2010 Council of Europe report prepared by Swiss senator Dick Marty. The report documented abuses by the ethnic Albanian insurgency, or KLA.

One in three women in the EU has experienced physical or sexual assault after the age of 15, according to an EU Fundamental Rights Agency survey.

In a strong measure against what the World Health Organisation has referred to as "a public health problem of epidemic proportions", the Council of Europe has produced the first treaty in Europe to specifically target violence against women.

More than half of the Council of Europe member countries have signed the treaty and since 10 countries have now ratified it, the treaty will come into force on August 1. It will advise minimum standards on prevention, prosecution and protection services.

The 10 countries to ratify the treaty so far are: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Andorra, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, and Turkey. These countries will also be required to provide additional services including hotlines, shelters and legal aid for victims.

Last week terrorists broke into a school in north-eastern Nigeria, shot guards and kidnapped about 200 schoolgirls. But the incident has been largely overshadowed in the media by a boat sinking near South Korea, where schoolchildren were also victims. What does it take to get the world's media to pay attention to Africa in a meaningful way?

Fighting in the region of Borno, where the Nigerian school is located, had recently seen all schools closed for security reasons. The violence between terrorist group Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces has been going on for some time. Amnesty International says that 1,500 people have been killed in the fighting this year alone.

These schoolgirls had only been called back to school to take a physics exam.

While no one has taken responsibility for the mass abduction, it is assumed to the the work of Boko Haram. Up to 30 girls who escaped said they were piled into trucks and taken towards the forest.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has produced a new blog site dedicated to telling the compelling stories of the refugees they work with.

TRACKS introduces us to Ayman, busily raising songbirds in his refugee camp, and Mahmoud, a nine-year-old boy who risked his life to attend school in a new country.

We also meet UNHCR aid workers who write first-person blogs to describe their experiences working with the refugees.

The project has begun with a focus on Syria, but they expect to take TRACKS around the world.

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