Human Rights | WPN World People News

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, speaks to journalists on the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Egyptian authorities should stop prosecuting writers and repeal laws violating freedom of expression, including those banning “contempt of religion.” Egypt’s 2014 constitution guarantees freedom of belief.

Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should fully and impartially investigate threats and violence against Virunga National Park rangers and local activists, Human Rights Watch said. The government should examine whether the incidents are linked to plans to explore for oil within and near Virunga Park by SOCO International, a British oil company operating in eastern Congo.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay addresses the opening of the twenty-fifth regular session of the Human Rights Council.

Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Heiner Bielefeldt.

African peacekeepers from Congo-Brazzaville during fighting between the Seleka and antibalaka militias in Bossangoa, on December 5, 2013.

The Cambodian government should quash the convictions of 25 human rights activists, factory workers, and others for lack of evidence, Human Rights Watch said. On May 30, 2014, the Phnom Penh municipal court convicted the defendants in three cases of committing violence during recent demonstrations and imposed suspended sentences of up to four-and-a-half years. While none received prison time, their convictions incur penalties such as a prohibition on serving as union leaders.

On June 5th, 2013 the Guardian newspaper published the first of a series of government documents released by Edward Snowden. Over the weeks and months that followed, a continuous stream of stories proved what many privacy advocates had suspected for a long time: the world’s digital communications are being continuously spied upon by nation states with precious little oversight.

UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) welcomed the first African Union campaign to end child marriage launched in Addis Ababa.

UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) welcomed the first African Union campaign to end child marriage launched in Addis Ababa.