Human Rights | WPN World People News

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has emphasized the need to promote the concept of human security, noting that the challenges facing the world today threaten the lives of millions and undermine development efforts.

United Nations development chief Helen Clark has lauded the progress made by Ghana towards women’s empowerment and gender equality, one of the eight social and economic objectives known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that world leaders have pledged to achieve by 2015.

United Nations human rights experts today called for ensuring that measures to protect the rights of people affected by humanitarian emergencies are integrated in all stages of the response effort.

Argentina legalized same-sex marriage Thursday, becoming the first country in Latin America to give gays and lesbians all the legal rights that marriage brings to heterosexual couples.

John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, today chaired the launch of the Humanitarian Appeal Mid- Year Review for 2010. The Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the United Nations, Ambassador Libran N. Cabactulan, and the Chief Executive Officer and President of InterAction, Samuel Worthington, also participated. The revised appeals are now seeking a total of $9.5 billion to help 53 million people in 34 countries. Funding is now at 48 percent, leaving $4.9 billion still needed.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is extremely concerned for the safety and health of a young boy, after he was badly tortured by the family of a police inspector. The 14 year old boy worked as a domestic helper in the house of Police Inspector Chet Bahadur Pathak in Kathmandu, and was violently interrogated and brutally assaulted by his employers. After his rescue by local people we are told that the lawyers of several organizations who helped him were threatened, and that Maoist-affiliated persons have influenced the handing of the boy to his aunt, who returned him to the house of his abusers. The condition of the boy is currently unknown.

A total of 126 women died as a result of domestic violence in Argentina during the first half of this year, 40 percent more than during the same period in 2009, according to statistics published by the organisation La Casa del Encuentro.

Women in Latin America and the Caribbean are still discriminated against in the labour market and receive lower wages than men for the same work, according to a new United Nations report which also points to women in the region spending more time on unpaid domestic or care work.

The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan confirmed this week that at least 10 members of the Taliban are in the process of being removed from a U.N. blacklist at the request of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. It's seen as a step toward peace talks that both military and political leaders agree is the only way to end the nine-year insurgency.

Kabul, 12 July 2010: Almost six civilian people were killed and eight were wounded each day in conflictrelatedincidents from 1 January to 30 June 2010, Afghanistan Rights Monitor (ARM) said today in amid‐year report on civilian casualties of war.