Human Rights | WPN World People News

In a joint letter, the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have declined the invitation of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to appear before it. The Sri Lankan government is promoting the Commission as an independent mechanism for reconciliation and restorative justice after its decades-long civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), yet the Commission fails to meet basic standards and is fatally flawed in structure and practice.

Tribal conflicts, roadblocks, hijacking and unexploded mines are hindering effective aid delivery to thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Al-Jawf governorate, say aid workers and community leaders.

A place where there is no room for justice is not a nation but a madhouse. That is what Sri Lanka has become today. Ask anyone who has sought justice for any problem they have faced.

Darfur, described recently by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as still “dangerous, difficult, not stable”, is among the world’s most challenging environments for humanitarian workers.

Latin American countries must increase their annual education budgets if they are to reach the goals they have set for improving their national education systems, according to a new United Nations report released today.

Although the number of hungry people in the world has fallen below 1 billion thanks to renewed economic growth, it remains “unacceptably” high, two United Nations agencies stressed today.

French strikers have gone to war with the government over plans to extend the retirement age.

The pension plan strikes have crippled train services and flight traffic in France, and are expected to severely disrupt all forms of daily life, especially in Paris.

Investing first in the world’s most disadvantaged children and communities can save millions of lives and help spur progress towards achieving internationally agreed development targets, according to a new study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Many European companies that publicly embrace workers' rights under global labor standards nevertheless undermine workers' rights in their US operations, Human Rights Watch said in a report issued today.

Myanmar’s military government, with soldiers scattered throughout the country, is arbitrarily levying fees from the rural poor, pushing some into hunger and debt, experts say.