Human Rights | WPN World People News

The International Labor Organization says more than 20 million people are subject to forced labor, working on farms, in factories, or as domestic helpers. Those who are fighting human trafficking say it is a problem in both the developing world and industrial countries, including the United States.

India’s parliament should approve changes to the country’s drug law to improve availability of strong pain medicines, Human Rights Watch and Pallium India said. The winter session of the Indian parliament opens on December 5, 2013.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop should ensure that human rights are a part of her discussions with leaders in Indonesia, China, and the Philippines Human Rights Watch said. She will visit those countries from December 5 to 8, 2013. The new Australian government should reverse its policy of downplaying human rights in its contact with other governments, particularly in Asia.

Deputy Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) Lakshmi Puri.

“I went to the police station two days later.... The only thing they asked me is where are you from, what happened....They told me, ‘Ok if we find [them], we will call you, we will try.’ They didn’t give me anything.”
Ali Mohammadi, a 25-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, said a police officer asked him why he had not fought back when he filed a complaint after a group of men attacked him in March 2011 in Aghios Panteleimonas square in Athens.

Riot police have used excessive force during the current demonstrations in Ukraine, based on accounts from witnesses. Witnesses described police attacks on people who were not using violence, including journalists and the elderly, during the protests in Kiev, Human Rights Watch said.

Political considerations should not be allowed to obstruct a full investigation and possible prosecution of a senior ruling party politician by Cambodian authorities in connection with a fatal hit-and-run traffic accident.

There are still over 11 million women in slavery around the world. We need to take action and EndSlavery Now!

Torture victims undergo rehabilitation at the African Centre for the Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts, in Senegal. The centre is funded by the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.

Dozens of Indonesian fishermen whose vessels were impounded by South African authorities for alleged illegal fishing say they were forced to work in slave-like conditions.