Human Rights | WPN World People News

UN team on assessment mission to the flood-affected areas.

The New Palace, the official seat of the President of the Republic of Serbia, 31 August 2008.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has sent a delegate today to observe the court trial of Temogen "Cocoy" Tulawie, a human rights defender who is presently detained and prosecuted on evidence obtained through torture and a forced confession.

The Asian Human Rights Commission is pleased to learn that the criminal charges brought against Chotisak Onsoong and his friend for allegedly defaming the monarchy have been dropped by the prosecutor. The charges stemmed from the couple's decision not to stand during the royal anthem and video montage lauding the life of the king played prior to the screening of a movie in a central Bangkok theatre on the evening of 20 September 2007. When they did not stand up, Navamintr Witthayakul, a man standing in front of them, turned around and yelled at them. When they did not comply, an argument ensued and Navamintr physically assaulted Chotisak. Later that evening, Navamintr filed a complaint against Chotisak and his friend of violating section 112 of the Criminal Code, which mandates that, "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years." Simultaneously, Chotisak filed a complaint against Navamintr for physical assault. While the prosecutor dropped the assault charges against Navamintr in September 2008, it took four-and-a-half years, until April 2012, for the charges against Chotisak and his friend also to be dropped.

Displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are often subject to indiscriminate attacks as fighting continues between government and rebel troops.

Two men sit under the the remnants of their homes in Sittwe, the provincial capital of Myanmar's western Rakhine State.

The United Nations human rights office today voiced concern over a reported request by the Nepalese Army to the Government to promote a senior military officer, Colonel Raju Basnet, implicated in serious crimes and human rights abuses.

WHO is supporting the massive health relief effort in Pakistan.

Somali refugee Asmaa Abdullah, 35, and her three children, have been struggling to get water for more than a year in the run-down Safia neighbourhood of the Yemeni capital, Sana'a.