Human Rights in the News: May 2025
/Welcome to the May 2025 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important human rights stories from around the world.
Workers at a garment factory in Xinjiang (Credit: Liu Xin/China News Service via Getty Images)
Far From Home: Uyghur Workers in Factories Supplying Global Brands
David Pierson, Vivian Wang and Daniel Murphy | New York Times | 29 May 2025
In recent years, the U.S. and the European Union have banned imports from the Xinjiang region of China, alleging abuses against the minority Uighur population in the region. An investigation, however, shows that China is likely getting around this ban by shipping Uighur laborers to other parts of the country.
People, including some in wheelchairs and other mobility devices, inside the Colorado state capitol
New law protects Coloradans with disabilities and their right to live, receive care at home
Ryan Fish | NBC 7 Denver | 28 May 2025
Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law last week which secures the rights of people with disabilities to live and receive care at home instead of a residential care facility. “HB25-1017 codifies the landmark 1999 Olmstead v. L.C. U.S. Supreme Court decision, which ruled that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities is considered discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the new state law, even if the Supreme Court reverses course and nullifies that previous decision, those protections will stay in Colorado.”
An Aboriginal flag (Credit: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)
Western Australia Announces Reparations for the ‘Stolen Generations’
Annabel Hennessy | Human Rights Watch | 27 May 2025
The state government of Western Australia has just announced reparations for Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families, known as the “Stolen Generations.” Western Australia is now the second to last state in Australia to offer reparations.
Satellite image of aid distribution site in Rafah (Credit: Sanad, Planet Labs PBC)
Visual guide to how the Gaza aid distribution turmoil unfolded
Al Jazeera | 29 May 2025
At least three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces at a food distribution site in Rafah. The site is managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a newly established US-Israeli organization. According to UN officials, the GHF “restricts aid to only one part of Gaza while leaving other dire needs unmet [...] It makes aid conditional on political and military aims. It makes starvation a bargaining chip. It is a cynical sideshow. A deliberate distraction. A fig leaf for further violence and displacement.”
Two Boca de Rua vendors pose in a market (Credit: Anna Ortega/The Guardian)
‘Now I steal people’s attention’: how a Brazilian newspaper has turned a city’s rough sleepers into journalists
Constance Malleret | The Guardian | 12 May 2025
Boca de Rua is a Brazilian newspaper written and distributed by people experiencing poverty and homelessness. It is one of more than 90 newspapers of its kind around the world.
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