Human Rights

Honouring over 15 million victims of slave trade, UN calls for end to remnants of slavery

546069-banslavery_0_0.jpg
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at event to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. General Assembly Vice President Ken Kanda is at right.

UN: Emphasize Rights in Development Agenda

Equality, Transparency, Accountability are Central

2010_uganda_disabilities_0_0.jpg
crank bicycle to move around her village. After 20 years of displacement and war in northern Uganda, women with disabilities - physical, sensory, mental and intellectual - face an even more complex and grueling process of return and relocation than their neighbors. They experience stigma and sexual violence and are often denied access to health care and justice.

Russia: New Pressure on Civil Society

Government Inspects Dozens of Groups With Foreign Funding in NGO Crackdown

A wave of inspections of nongovernmental organizations in Russia is intensifying pressure on civil society since the adoption of a series of restrictive laws in 2012.

Gay Marriage Battle Reverberates at US Capitol

VOA20130325A_0.jpg

UN agency deplores killing of five Palestinian children in Syria

19-palestinian_2_0.jpg
A Palestinian child.

BURMA: President too quick to proclaim state of emergency

The Asian Human Rights Commission has been following with concern news of the latest outbreak of communal violence in Burma. Although the circumstances of how the violence began are clouded, the president on 22 March 2013 declared an indefinite state of emergency over four townships of Mandalay Region--Meikhtila, Wundwin, Mahlaing and Thazi--after the imposition of an order under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code on March 20 to shut down businesses until the situation improved failed to quell growing conflict that has officially left eleven people dead. Eyewitness accounts put the number of dead possibly in the dozens, with many people besides injured.

Zimbabwe: End Police Crackdown on Civil Society

SADC Should Press for ‘Democratic Space’ Ahead of Elections

The government of Zimbabwe should immediately end the police crackdown on civil society groups, which has intensified as the country prepares for national elections.

Iraq 10 Years Later, Creeping Authoritarianism

US, UK and Iraqi Governments Contribute to Abuses, Lack of Security

2010_Iraq_Map_0_0_0.jpg

Send Bosco Ntaganda to the ICC

The Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Monday announced that Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese rebel leader wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, surrendered himself to the United States embassy in Kigali, Rwanda. The U.S. government has publicly confirmed this information.

World Bank: Investigate ‘Development’ Project Abuses

Rigorously Apply Social Safeguards in Ethiopia

2011_Ethiopia_Gambella_0_0.jpg
The new village of Bildak in Ethiopia's Gambella region, which the semi-nomadic Nuer who were forcibly transferred there quickly abandoned in May 2011 because there was no water source for their cattle.