Human Rights

The annual survey of the state of global freedom includes the world's two biggest democracies — India and the U.S. — among nations where freedom is declining.

Natural disasters, protests and stark scientific reports are heightening concern over climate change. And companies are under pressure from banks and investors to green their corporate images.

In retaliation for U.S. adoption of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, China will also sanction Human Rights Watch and the National Endowment for Democracy.

At one point a child welfare official threatened to take custody of the kids and families refused to let them go. "I told them I couldn't, that I wouldn't let my kid go," one woman said.

The new law greatly expands Russia's grip on its citizens' Internet content. Rights groups are highly critical, and Internet experts say it could be difficult to actually implement.

Serikjan Bilash signed a plea deal after Kazakh officials charged him with "inciting ethnic tensions" for his work documenting repression against Kazakhs and in China's Xinjiang region.

Protesters, schoolchildren and some of the government's most prominent critics have all been detained in a government clampdown. So was a 22-year-old American college student, accused of spying.

The Indian prime minister is cited for the millions of toilets his government has built in rural India. Activists say his human rights record should disqualify him.

Human rights activists say as many as 27,000 people have died in the Philippine government's antidrug campaign.

Yanghee Lee, the U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar, spoke of civilians being detained, interrogated and dying in the custody of Myanmar's military.

Also, the family members of suspected fighters "should be repatriated, unless they are to be prosecuted for crimes" according to international standards, Michelle Bachelet said.

"I've learned what I should and what I shouldn't do," a detainee tells NPR during a Chinese government-led media tour in Xinjiang. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are held in internment camps.