ah, it's taking a lot of people by surprise, preliminary results from a referendum in the conservative u. s. state of kansas indicate that people have voted to protect abortion rights. the proposed amendment to the states constitution would have allowed state legislators to bad or significantly restrict abortions. so where to campaigners on both sides go now. i'm fil galen. belinda, this is the day. ah a me and my female friends. i mean, i just, i feel really proud to be handsome tonight. i think it's ridiculous that in 2022

i'm having to vote for my own personal, right. the people that are lose in life have no voice it to people like me, don't speak for them, but i do not want any more rights taken away from that. we will not tolerate extreme fans on abortion in our state. ah, ah, also coming up activists are calling for an independent investigation. after dozens of africa migrants died. trying to enter the you through a spanish enclave. a survivor told the dublin years how he had been treated. they need to even in the floor. the heat is home, but after you knock out, you know, if you don't know anything, you can move they, they will leave you. if you can move there, will he to tell you, you can, will welcome to the day that the issue of abortion has

divided the united states in race months in june, the supreme court overturned roe vs wade. that was the ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. in 1973, june's decision triggered several states and lower courts to re examine decisions and laws that restricted access to terminations. the kansas referendum was not about banning or restricting abortion, but about whether the state constitution should explicitly state that kansans had a right to an abortion. if the republican move had passed and remove this than their next move was likely to try to either band or restrict abortion provision, kansas is a conservative state which donald trump one easily in the 2020 election referendum was the 1st test of vote, a sentiment on abortion rights since that supreme court decision. it was a resounding result and a cause. the celebration, the pro choice advocates, 59 percent of voters chose to protect abortion rights in

a largely conservative us state with ties to the anti abortion movement. for some the relief was palpable. you were ready to be from kansas and i, and i be like, wait a minute. here me my email brandon, everyone here. i mean we are protecting others saw the kansas pole as an indicator that plans to restrict access to abortion. out of step with the public mood if abortion rights are, are, are, are protected here in kansas. and again, republican leading state. i think that that indicates that there is a big did the states and those trigger was probably are out of stuck with what their electorate was. abortion opponents who supported the proposed amendment, said they felt an obligation to protect the rights of the unborn are. but when we pull back and look at the scientific evidence of what happens in that one,

not the emotion and not the fact that i'm, i feel like i'm losing something. the people that are losing life have no voice. if people on their own, like me, don't speak for them. the strongly held views on both sides were reflected in a sometimes bitter campaign. but the decisive vote to keep abortion protections in the state constitution indicates a clear determination from kansas citizens to protect women's rights. whitehouse issued a statement shortly after those preliminary results were announced. it reads in part of this vote makes clear what we know. the majority of americans agree that women should have access to abortion and should have the right to make their own health care decisions. and get more from d. w 's or stefan simons in washington. welcome stefan. so this an unexpected win for abortion rights in a republican stronghold. ah,

that's unexpected times 2 times 10, if you like, kansas is a ruby, red states can't get any more read more conservative than kansas they say. and here, sir, what happened to you? we just heard in the report, people a major turner by the way, 900000 people went to the, went to the polls and that is more than 2 years, 4 years back from now before a so the turn out had something to do with it. and that is also a clear indication for that kansans didn't want any alter to alteration to their constitution and wanted to remain in their constitution the right for an abortion right. so what does this tell us about the effects of july supreme court ruling or is actually a nother indicator, an indication for what we already know through the polls that 60 to 70 percent of the americans, they really dis, like the supreme court's decision. they didn't want robi,

the weight overturned and now they have it now it is at the states. and now, as you can see, as republicans and conservative politicians as well, anti abortion activists will scale up their efforts through all the states in the united states to go on with banning abortion or further restricting abortion. there will be a counter wave. now, at least that's what the democrats expect and what, what a via anti abortion can been saying about this particular result. it's, as you said, sounds like this is far from over. yeah, they're shaking it off for sort of speak there. of course, saying that this is not the result that hope for, but that they will try again and again. and again, this is what this anti abortion, the segment of the population in the u. s. and the politicians who work with them do they chisel away over years and years and years decades actually until they soften up the ground so to speak and make them change or so the kansans

a conservative legislator will probably not rest and let this just be and other more of these votes are coming up across the states in the wake of that supreme court decision. yes sir, this will be rolling through the states through kind of all the states. there are few democratic says already said this is not going to happen. there will be any referendum and they are democratically controlled by democrats, of course. but you can assure our can assure the deep south of the united states as well as other west mid west states will have that same procedure, maybe not a, a vote constitutional but conservative politicians trying to change the law. busy and push this through their legislature. ok, looking ahead to november's the mid term elections. president biden gave a prediction. we'll take a listen combat you. what is a case in a powerful saying that this law, the american people go to preserve, protect,

and right and refusal that can be ripped away by politicians, and my administration has their back. 7 simons, that does the president have a point? is this likely to be an issue? it's got to be an issue, a 100 percent guarantee it, it has to be an issue and he is why? because the democrats actually hoping that it will while working on that it becomes an issue because this is how they can rally their clientele. this is how they can rally the troops against trump, against conservative concern policies, against republicans, and the vehicle to do this best as they figure out right now. and we're have figured out before actually now if feel that they are that this is confirmed, they will try to frame abortion rights are under attack. your, you in your freedom, in your liberty, are under take women's bodies. women perceive, per se, or under a tech, with those with the conservative agenda, you need to come to the, the,

the polls midterm elections and vote democratic. so they'll use this politic politically. that's for sure. i thank you parts that is that simon's in washington law, me little fields of boston based journalist for the nation. and she focuses on reproductive rights as she told me more. and she gave me her reaction to this. that surprised result. i mean, it's an absolutely astounding victory. i think many of the people, the abortion rights activists that i was following during my reporting trip to kansas. we're optimistic, cautiously optimistic that they might win, but everyone thought it would be close. and this is just a landside lot landslide, it's an unequivocal message to democrats and republicans alike about the popularity of abortion rights, despite what the kansas state legislature and the supreme court might want to do. and, and this is hugely,

hugely significant. i think especially coming this close to the midterms, i think it's really clear that a sleeping giant of the, the pro choice majority in this country has been awakened by the overturn roe v wade. i talked to a lot of people who were to interrupt you. i'm interested in why you think it went this way. there was a quite, there was an unusually large turn out. now do you, do you think that this was a form that crossed a right left lines? you think they were republicans voting for the was i just leaf? yes. i know there were republicans voting for those because i talk to republican women who are voting for this. i mean, i think 1st of all, this election had been scheduled during a primary when turn out was expected to be low and heavily republican and clearly an enormous number of people turned out. i mean, turn out as high as 50 percent, potentially. you know, the population of kansas is only 3000000 and they're estimating more than 900000 people. turned out, i talked to republicans. i talked to one woman who is

a friend of the assassinated abortion provider. doctor george tiller, she was booting in taylor's former church. it was a precinct place and she said, i'm a died in the will republican, but i am voting no. she told me this very quietly. i know they're republicans for republican women out there who voted no, and kansas also has a huge percentage of an affiliated voters. 30 percent about of the electorate is, is not affiliated with either political party. i think it will take some time, but i think an enormous amount of credit goes to the grassroots organizers on the ground in kansas who are knocking doors, phone banking, people who've never volunteered or participated before. who came out to participate in pain in this historic time, you go to vote. and despite the way that this vote has gone, it comes with, is it still not the world's most liberal state? just just give us an idea about the state of for, of kansas is abortion rights. as i stand presently. i mean, abortion is heavily restricted in kansas. you know, it's,

it's banned after 22 weeks. there's a 30 minute waiting period that has to be done between when a doctor conducts an ultrasound and when the process can go ahead. when i was in the clinic on dr. taylor's former clinic which, which remains open in wichita, kansas. the counseling room has all these ministry certificates on the wall because the counselors either have to be license social workers or they have to be trained ministers. and so they've all gotten ministry certifications to do abortion counseling. so, i mean, it's actually heavily restricted and they're dealing with an enormous influx of patients from texas, oklahoma, and surrounding states where abortion is no longer an option for those patients. ok, thank you for allowing that. so clearly for journalists, ab littlefield in boston. thank if thank you ah, a human rights groups. according for an independent inquiry into the death of at least $27.00 migrants on the spanish american border. a preliminary investigation

conducted by morocco found and most of the victims probably suffocated when up to 2000 people tried to storm the border in maliyah. in late june, the tiny spanish exclaims of maria and filter are the european union's only land borders with africa, making them a focus for migrants and refugees. a correspondent young phillips shots, travel to morocco, to see what was going on. you may find some of the images at the start of his report disturbing. ah, moroccan border guards round up and attack people trying to get over the fence even know how to get the violence in content in a situation with no solution for either side. it's difficult to tell who is alive and who might be dead. a truen was there that day via the he to even in the floor. he is home with you. after you knock out,

you know, if you don't know anything, you come move they, they will leave you. if you come move there, will he to tell you, you can move. we meet a truen in the derelict school in casablanca, where he's been living. he level serious accusations against the spanish police. he says he had already reached european territory where he was seeking asylum, but he maintains the officers forcibly deported him. they send you back to the morrow kin. sometimes they are allowed to morrow. can police fainter? in fact, to pull you out. local journalist javier on gusto was inside the spanish city of melia. when crowds stormed the border in june. he confirms a trans account. with a medical mark, i saw several dozen migrants minus we'll get over the bottle and know what other fha alada they were illegally. devoted straight away,

i reckon me up with. didn't even have a chance to came asylum. you'll have one. yeah, i don't want a spanish police simply send them back. that would be, oh my record that's illegal. under international law, many of the migrants were from countries entitling them to refugee status in europe . we put the claims to the head of the regional government where there might be one or 2 cases that have been many attempts to get across the border. recently, we were all worried about the wall rising green prices, missile, and people going hungry, or there are real consequences from all of that or less realty are totally literate . melia is a small city with a population of around $90000.00. it's one of the few european territories which has a land border with africa. journalist javier says spain as happy to pay out millions to its african neighbors to keep migrants back from its border. marika philip

morocco basically does a dody woke for us. we want to be seen as a beacon for human rights, but he yeah, yeah, what i would him for lucky in this fence for example, was previously especially wishes typo for. he's a shot bob wire. i'm rights activists complained that the spanish took it down to that then that would but then speed, just speed morocco, more money than what i mean and not exactly the same res offense has gone up on the other side. what would it be? not in a level my. okay. several spanish cities saw protests after the unrest on june 24. the interior minister now has to testified before the european parliament, but the prime minister pedro sanchez has praised the security forces on both sides . back in morocco, a true remains. undeterred, he's already tried 10 times to get into spain and he's ready for attempt number 11 . us discuss this with a partner. your ta. so sousa,

senior act to advocate for europe, refugees international to join us from washington, d. c. welcome to d, w. can we start with your reactions to the allegations of brutality by spanish police? i'm the spanish american police work together to illegally push migrants back across the border. well certainly, and these are just horrific images that we've seen coming from the attempt in june to cross the border. and it really just enforces how policies of external like highland procedures and closing borders. village rising borders really just has tremendous human costs for people who are simply seeking protection and are denied the ability to do so. by authorities. do you think the brutes, how to see that has been a lead you do you think that is systemic rob van? exceptional, i think it is, and it, it reflects a broader trend of kind of criminalizing and,

and secure it ties in responses to asylum and migration throughout the, you know, this is not the 1st time that we have seen a brutality use violence used at the border at the borders, i'm sure many listeners will remember the riffing video. we saw of young men trying to cross the fence in the back in in march. that was was widely circulated. and certainly we know that not just on the land borders, but also in attempts to cross the sea to reach the you, including the canary islands, through the atlantic. many people lose their lives because they have to resort to these very dangerous means of reaching the e u. i. in the absence of safe and legal migration channels. group reports i've read about was that these ex clave say there was chaos as anywhere between 1502000 people rushed the border,

tried to scale 2 sets of 6 metre fences to get to the spanish territory. so in practical terms, how do you believe the police should have reacted? well, i just want to to reinforce that i, the excessive use of force is not allowed in these. in any circumstance, certainly, countries do have the right to manage their borders, but that does not justify the use of excessive force and violence and the violations of people's human rights to life. and i haven't seen what was there, but i'm sure that everybody absolutely accepts what's what you say about the use of excessive force, but 1500 to 2000 people rushing at you in practical terms. what do you think of those police should have been doing? well, i would just come back to really looking at the underlying causes of these kinds of

situations. which is that if there were safe and legal channels and, and more easily accessible access to international protection for asylum seekers and migrants, people wouldn't have to resort to such desperate desperate means. i mean, we've seen you can look at a very clear contrast to the situation we see on the you borders with you praying where facilitating entry of people seeking asylum seeking protection from serious situations has really reduced a lot of the kinds of risk in chaos as you describe it that we saw on the borders here. so that provides really a stark contrast that shows the importance of maintaining open borders and facilitating access to protection. if you would say that there are safe and legal channels of people come apply from outside. certainly when it comes to migration for full financial purposes. well,

i think the important thing to emphasize is that certainly i would say it, there's not enough. there aren't enough legal, legal challenge not, not easily accessible enough for many of the people who need them, who are looking to migrate for economic opportunities. but more importantly, the thing to emphasize here is that the right to seek asylum is a human right. it is not a legal to ask for asylum and by summarily preventing people from even accessing a territory from even being able to request asylum authorities are making assumptions about their intentions. their motivations without actually giving people access to their right to request that asylum to make their claim. not every country certainly don't have an obligation to grant everyone asylum, but they do have an obligation to review a claim of anyone who intends, who would like to seek asylum. and by simply pushing people back,

preventing them from accessing the territory. you deny them that right, and you need them the ability to make to make their claim for protection. and so we can't just look, we can't just look across the border across the sea and identify who is a quote unquote you so called the 2nd nomic mike and asylum seeker. and just in july, we saw the american court sentence to 33 migrants 11 months in jail for what they called illegal entry and disobedience after by crossed after i tried to cross the border wall between morocco and billy in june. i'm guessing that you would regard that as a wrong decision, as well. indeed, and it's not the only incense it in the u and, and globally, in which we've seen the criminalization of asylum seeking. and it's very important to ensure that we don't do that, that is not an effective deterrent mechanism, nor is it just us and, and what just just survive running on time, i just want to just pick up on this idea of the legality. are you saying that all

countries should have no rules on how people are access them and therefore you can come any way you like. well, there are rules. there are international laws that govern annisa. you break them, why shouldn't you be prosecuted? oh, but one of those rules is under international law is the right is the obligation to allow people to seek asylum and what happened here is that that, that chance is not even given. right. ok. i'm this keeps happening in the particularly in these 2 as place and of course at europe, so borders, so this points to a larger problem as you would say. indeed it's, it's a regional trend that we've seen. both the, the use of pushback, as the council of europe recently reported you and special operators have reported

on the use of pushback, throughout the u. n. globally, in fact, but also the externalization of asylum, the reliance on 3rd countries to, to implemented quite often quite forceful means of preventing people from even trying to migrate or trying to seek asylum rather than taking responsibility themselves in the u. thank you for joining us. for your partner, you're taught us from that refugees international. thank you very much. dave's home. the day is almost done. that's conversation both continue alive if you like, you can find this on twitter either at cdw. we can follow me at gail before we leave at a good news. the congo vessel and v rezone loaded with ukraine south 1st, maritime grain shipment. since rushes invasion has been cleared by turkish inspectors to travel up to its destination lebanon. to relieve you with these images off the ship tom, to think a turkish boss for a straight. i've a good thing

ah ah, with ah, with a into the conflict with sebastian little is mona bobby, in the workings of the kremlin, especially with vladimir putin in power. but my guest this week, photo prime, if somebody called customer, what with he knows what happened behind the close pool

with on dw lebanon's crisis. ah. even after the explosion that rocked the way 2 years ago, nothing has changed. the corrupt ruling class is still driving the country towards bankruptcy. ah, rampant inflation is making survival daily struggle for the people in 45 minutes on d, w. a . in many countries, education is still

a privilege. tardy is one of the main causes. some young children walk in mind trav instead of going to class others can attend classes only after they finish working with millions of children all over the world. can't go to school with. we ask why? because education makes the world more just a make up o d. w. made for mines. little is known about the inner workings of the kremlin, especially with vladimir putin in power. but my guest this week, former prime minister because cassiano worked on the putin in the early 2 thousands and he knows what happens behind the closed doors of the russian government. he says he feared for his own life after.