Human Rights | WPN World People News

DR Congo citizens deported from Brazaville waiting in a Maluku transit camp near Kinshasa, May 2014.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture found that the widespread sexual violence within the Catholic church amounted to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment prohibited by theUnited Nations Convention Against Torture. The committee issued concluding observations following its questioning of Vatican representatives, earlier in May, regarding the Vatican’s record on preventing, punishing and redressing torture. That hearing was the second time in four months that top Catholic officials were called before the UN to account for the Vatican’s human rights record on addressing the ongoing worldwide crisis of sexual violence within the Catholic Church. Attorneys from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) submitted reports to both committees and attended both hearings in Geneva.

Ethiopian migrant, 19, at a local medical facility in Haradh. He said he was tortured for a month and shot in the leg by traffickers trying to extort money from family members abroad, May 2013.

The United Nations human rights chief has voiced her “very serious concerns” about a recent incident involving the killing of two Palestinian teenagers in the occupied West Bank.

Iran’s judiciary should drop the case against seven youth for participating in a video showing them dancing and end any further legal proceedings or harassment against them and their families. Authorities released six of the seven on bail on May 21, 2014, the day after authorities showed the suspects on television “confessing” and expressing remorse for their roles in the video.

Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights.

Fifty-eight countries issued a statement and letter on May 19, 2014, calling on the United Nations Security Council to adopt a French-proposed resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The countries also urged other UN members to officially endorse the resolution.

The Thai military’s imposition of nationwide martial law is effectively a coup that threatens the human rights of all Thais, Human Rights Watch said. The United States and other influential governments should call for the immediate restoration of civilian rule and an end to censorship.

A new report finds traffickers, employers and organized crime rake in $150 billion a year from commercial sexual exploitation and forced economic exploitation.

At the conclusion of a five day visit to China, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake commended the Government of China for its commitment to address socio-economic disparities facing the country. He also discussed with the Government, the continued need to prioritize efforts to reduce inequity, especially for children in the remotest corners of the country.