Human rights

10 February 2008 -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says a formal apology for the past mistreatment of Aborigines will remove "a blight on the nation's soul."

Thousands of people are expected to gather in the capital, Canberra, later this week (on Wednesday) to hear Mr. Rudd deliver the apology as the first act of the new parliament.

Mr. Rudd acknowledged Sunday that a number of people have raised objections to the apology, but said he believes a majority of Australians felt an 'overwhelming desire' for the initiative.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who also sits on the panel, sent a letter Thursday urging Attorney General Michael Mukasey to clarify testimony given to the Committee during last week’s Department of Justice oversight hearing. In the letter, they ask the Attorney General to explain the scope of the Department’s investigation into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes showing the use of harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, of al Qaeda terrorist suspects.    » read more »

February 6, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey whether it is legal for the CIA to rely on contractors in interrogations that involve the use of coercive interrogation techniques.

Senator Feinstein’s letter came one day after CIA Director General Michael Hayden, in response to questions from Senator Feinstein during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, acknowledged for the first time that the CIA sometimes uses contractors in interrogations.    » read more »

07 February 2008 -- Lawmakers pressed the U.S. attorney general on Thursday for more specifics about the legal justifications used by the Bush administration in authorizing the past use of the extreme interrogation technique known as waterboarding. The subject was also a major topic in congressional hearings, and the focus of more questions at a White House briefing, as the debate continues over interrogation techniques.    » read more »

February 6, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Following recent statements by the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) reiterated his call for the Senate to support the National Security with Justice Act (S.1876), legislation that prohibits all United States personnel from using on a detainee any interrogation technique not expressly authorized by the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation.    » read more »

06 February 2008 -- The White House is defending the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding in certain, rare circumstances when suspects are believed to have knowledge of an imminent threat. The Central Intelligence Agency now admits it used the technique roughly five years ago on three top terror suspects.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto says President Bush personally authorized the disclosure - breaking with the long-standing practice in the administration of refusing comment on specific interrogation techniques.    » read more »

Governor championed passage of Equal Pay Act to ensure women and men paid equal wages for equal work

February 4, 2008 -- CHICAGO – Illinois Governor Rod R. Blagojevich announced today that Illinois has won its first Equal Pay Act case in court resulting in thousands of dollars in owed wages for a female employee. The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) found that Main Street Liquors located at 2000 W. Madison Street in Chicago violated the Act by paying a male clerk a higher wage for performing the same work as a female clerk formerly employed at the store. On Jan.    » read more »

Contrary to US Claims, Human Rights Watch Opposes Khadr Prosecution

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, February 5, 2008 – The US government fundamentally misrepresented Human Rights Watch’s position to justify its prosecution of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen facing charges for war crimes allegedly committed when he was just 15, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

05 February 2008 -- The director of the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that his agency used the extreme interrogation technique known as waterboarding on three terrorism suspects nearly five years ago. In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Michael Hayden urged lawmakers not to place restrictions on the interrogation methods available to U.S. intelligence agencies.

Director Hayden's testimony was the most detailed description to date of the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation techniques.    » read more »

In Letter to President, African Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Feingold Calls Current Crisis in Kenya a Reminder of the Critical Need for Political Reform

February 4, 2008 -- Washington D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold wrote to President George Bush asking him to emphasize continued democratic reform, respect for human rights and the rule of law, and peaceful conflict resolution during the President’s upcoming trip to Africa. Feingold, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations African Affairs Subcommittee, wrote that the U.S.    » read more »

30 January 2008 -- The United Nations estimates there are more than a quarter million children worldwide who are being drawn into armed conflict as child soldiers. Internally displaced children living in camps are at special risk.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warns in his annual report to the Security Council that internal displacement and the recruitment of children as soldiers are closely linked. Refugee and IDP camps are prime recruiting grounds due to the concentration of vulnerable children in them.    » read more »

Government Should Investigate Crimes of Former Dictator’s Regime

(New York, January 27, 2008) – The death of former president Suharto at age 86 provides an opportunity to commemorate the many victims of his oppressive regime, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said the Indonesian government should make a serious commitment to hold accountable the perpetrators of human rights abuses during his rule.    » read more »

January 25, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (both D-CA) today sent a letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam, calling on him to release Nguyen Quoc Quan, a U.S. citizen and democracy activist from Sacramento who has been imprisoned in Vietnam since November 2007.

“We write today to request that you help facilitate the release of Mr. Nguyen Quoc Quan…who traveled to Vietnam to promote non-violent democratic change,” the letter states.    » read more »

Governments Should Change Laws

New York, January 24, 2008 – The European Court of Human Rights’ ruling that a lesbian woman can embark on the process of adopting a child means European states should ensure equality in the right to found a family, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. --- January 18, 2008 -- Freedom in the Middle East took a step backwards in 2007, Freedom House reported in a worldwide survey of freedom released yesterday.    » read more »