Human Rights | WPN World People News

UN MONUC staff visiting a women's shelter in Goma for victims of sexual abuse. The United Nations marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women this November 25

The Afghan government should immediately reject a proposal to restore stoning as punishment for adultery. A working group led by the Justice Ministry that is assisting in drafting a new penal code has proposed provisions on “moral crimes” involving sex outside of marriage that call for stoning.

Hamas authorities in Gaza have been harassing Palestinians suspected of supporting the “Tamarod Gaza” activist group. The authorities should stop the harassment, allow the group to hold demonstrations, and investigate the alleged torture of Tamarod’s supporters. Tamarod (‘Rebel’) has criticized what it calls poor governance by Hamas and abuses by security services, and has called on Hamas to relinquish power and hold elections.

Representatives to Yemen’s National Dialogue Conference should reject a proposal that would unnecessarily restrict the political rights of potential candidates for election to top offices. The conference’s Good Governance Working Group has proposed 15 eligibility requirements to run for office in Yemen’s next national elections, expected in early 2014.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.

Kyrgyzauthorities should immediately, thoroughly, and impartially investigate allegations that police illegally detained and ill-treated three people in connection with an armed robbery. Two of the men were hospitalized following alleged treatment amounting to torture. The authorities should also investigate allegations that the police sought to extort money from relatives of two of the men in exchange for their release.

Angolan authorities should prosecute all state security officials responsible for the killing of two protest organizers who have been missing since May 2012, Human Rights Watch said. A confidential Interior Ministry report leaked to the Angolan media on November 9, 2013, which Human Rights Watch believes is authentic, described the role of police and the domestic intelligence service, SINSE, in the abduction, torture, and killing of António Alves Kamulingue and Isaías Cassule.

Detention of Andrey Rudomakha on October 31, 2014

The United Nations General Assembly should approve a new resolution and make clear that indiscriminate surveillance is never consistent with the right to privacy, five human rights organizations said in a November 20, 2013 letter to members of the United Nations General Assembly.

Woman with baby carrying water back from the well to her village, near Catine, Mozambique