Human Rights | WPN World People News

A young Syrian refugee with his brother in Jordan. The boys fled Syria with their parents.

A court in the far western Chinese province of Xinjiang has sentenced to death an Uighur man for masterminding a knife-and-hatchet attack on a busy street last month that led to the deaths of 15 people.

A prisoner covers her face while sitting outside a room that she shares with 15 other women prisoners in March 2010. Women in Afghanistan face serious barriers to obtaining custody of their children in the event of a divorce. Several women told Human Rights Watch that when they left prison they would have to choose between returning to an abusive husband with custody of their children or never seeing their children again. Most planned to return to their husbands.

Lufthansa and Air Berlin, two of Germany's biggest airlines, scrapped more than 460 flights worldwide Tuesday due to a strike by baggage handlers and security staff at the country's main airports.

Hamza was detained by the Israeli military for four and a half months after he was caught throwing stones

The United Nations tribunal trying key suspects implicated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda today ordered the case of an indicted suspect who remains at large be referred to the Rwandan High Court for trial.

President Barack Obama says the United States is committed to developing new technologies to produce peaceful nuclear energy. He made these remarks on Monday at the start of a nuclear security summit in Seoul, South Korea.

The United Nations Human Rights Council’s adoption of a resolution condemning human rights violations in North Korea signaled both the gravity of the abuses and the need for the new president, Kim Jong-un, to make major reforms, Human Rights Watch said today. For the first time, North Korea’s allies in the council did not call for a vote, and instead allowed the resolution to pass by consensus. The council ended its four-week session on March 23, 2012.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today paid tribute to all the brave individuals worldwide who have devoted their lives to protecting human rights and to promoting access to truth and justice.

The top United Nations human rights body today called on the Government of Sri Lanka to take "credible" steps to ensure accountability for alleged serious violations committed during the final stages of the country's civil war.