Human rights

14 May 2007 -- A top United Nations envoy says the world body will investigate human rights violations committed during recent fighting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator John Holmes says the Somali government has agreed to the probe, which will look into abuses committed during fighting between allied Somali-Ethiopian forces and Islamic rebels.    » read more »

13 May 2007 -- Pope Benedict XVI has expressed concern about authoritarian governments and Marxist movements in some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Pope Benedict spoke to more than 160 bishops and cardinals meeting near Sao Paulo for the fifth conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops. He said many things have changed since the regional group last met in 1992 in Dominican Republic to discuss ways to strengthen the Roman Catholic church and defend against challenges to its authority.

Latin America is home to nearly one half of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.    » read more »

Arbitrary Arrest of Haleh Esfandiari Coincides With a Week of Crackdowns

Washington, DC, May 12, 2007 – Iran should immediately release Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari and allow her to return to the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch expressed concern that Iranian authorities have subjected Esfandiari to arbitrary detention and coercive interrogation.    » read more »

Labwani’s Sentence Discredits Syrian Claims of Political Reform

New York, May 11, 2007 – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should immediately exonerate prominent human rights activist Dr. Kamal al-Labwani, who was sentenced today to 12 years in prison including hard labor on politically motivated charges, Human Rights Watch said.    » read more »

Army Arrests Tasneem Khalil of Human Rights Watch

London, May 11, 2007 – Bangladesh’s military-backed care-taker government should immediately release Tasneem Khalil, an investigative journalist and part-time Human Rights Watch consultant, who was detained by security forces late last night, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

Joint Statement by Human Rights Watch and CLDH

Beirut, May 11, 2007 – Lebanon’s judiciary should investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment of nine detainees whose trial before a military court began on April 21, Human Rights Watch and CLDH (Lebanese Center for Human Rights) said today.    » read more »

(Washington, DC, May 11, 2007) — A Congressional vote removing all nine judges of Ecuador’s Constitutional Court is the latest in a series of arbitrary actions by competing political factions that have undermined the autonomy of the country’s democratic institutions, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

U.N. officials call on Burma to free political prisoners

10 May 2007 -- United Nations -- More than a dozen international human rights experts are calling on Burma to release Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners.

The 14 U.N. special rapporteurs May 10 joined to call for the release of Burma's more than 1,300 political prisoners as May 27 -- the end of the current term of detention for Aung San Suu Kyi -- approaches.    » read more »

10 May 2007 -- A top U.S. envoy says Washington is concerned about the continued deterioration of human rights in Sri Lanka.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher made the remark Thursday following talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse in the capital, Colombo.

Boucher told reporters there are two aspects that concern Washington, one is the abductions and killings blamed on the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, and the other is the freedom of the press.    » read more »

May 9, 2007 -- Sudan, North Korea and Uzbekistan are prominent among the most repressive regimes in the world, according to a report released by Freedom House.

The study, “The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2007,” named seventeen countries with the worst records for political rights and civil liberties, and pointed to thirteen countries which have been on the list for five years or more.    » read more »

09 May 2007 -- The human rights organization, Amnesty International, has presented an appeal from 147 countries to the United Nations to maintain an independent and effective system of human rights experts. A petition signed by more than 12,500 people calling for stronger measures to help victims of human rights abuse was presented to the president of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA.    » read more »

07 May 2007 -- The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, says countries in Central Asia continue to use the war on terrorism as an excuse to violate the human rights of their citizens. Arbour has just returned from a two-week visit to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA on a news conference given by the High Commissioner on her return to Geneva.    » read more »

4 May 2007 -- The Carter Center is reinvigorating its presence in the Palestinian Territories in support of peace for Israel, justice for the Palestinians, and the emergence of a viable, democratic Palestinian state.    » read more »

Repressive regimes trying to silence writers on World Wide Web

04 May 2007 -- United Nations -- The Internet is a key component of press freedom in the 21st century, yet Internet journalists and bloggers increasingly are coming under attack by repressive regimes trying to block the free flow of information and expression, say journalists and activists.    » read more »

02 May 2007 -- A bipartisan U.S. government panel that studies religious freedom around the world is warning of an alarming deterioration in religious freedom in Iraq and recommends that it be put on a watch list of countries where such freedom is under threat.

Iraq has landed on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's "watch list" for the first time since Saddam Hussein's ouster in 2003. The commission cited soaring sectarian violence, discrimination against religious minorities, arbitrary arrests, and torture as the most alarming developments.    » read more »