Human Rights | Human Rights News

2012-02-05: Headlines

  • Middle East North Africa Financial Network: Egypt council wants earlier presidential vote 2012-02-05
    IPO News Islamic Finance News Private Equity News | How-To Guides Technology Section Travel Section
  • Green Left Weekly: Peru: Mining conflict heats up 2012-02-05
    Cajamarca, a town with tragic associations in Peruvian history, is the setting of another devastating imperialist onslaught. | The brutal spirit of conquista is alive and well in contemporary Cajamarca, in the form of the US-based Newmont mining corporation, an outfit with a slick PR machine and a very dirty environmental and human rights track record.
  • Green Left Weekly: Refugee protest travels 800kms to detention centre 2012-02-05
    Activists from Western Australia€™s Refugee Rights Action Network traveled more than 800 kilometres from Perth to the remote Leonora detention centre over January 27-29. The journey sought to draw attention to the 160 unaccompanied minors locked up in the detention centre. | Immigration minister Chris Bowen had previously promised that all children would be moved out of detention centres by June last year.
  • Canadian National Newspaper: CSIS Spy Agency gets boycotted over human rights 2012-02-05
    MONREAL€”Nearly 70 groups across Canada have joined a campaign to no longer co-operate with the work of Canada's national spy agency, and are calling on others to join them. | "Visits [by CSIS] are meant to create psychological profiles, to instill distrust and to create tensions within groups and communities,€ said Marie-Ève Lamy, a spokesperson for the People's Commission Network, which has spearheaded this campaign."
  • Kashmir Watch: Remove the iron curtain 2012-02-05
    Remove the iron curtainLet the people of India know the real state of affairs in KashmirFor how long the people of the country will be kept in dark about the agonizing situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the nightmarish experience through which the hapless people have passed and their present predicament with denial of democratic rights and unending chain of human rights abuses?
  • Naharnet: Nine Syrian Soldiers Killed in Clashes with Rebels 2012-02-05
    Nine Syrian soldiers died and 21 were wounded in clashes overnight with armed rebels in the restive country's northwest, a rights group reported on Sunday. | The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian army casualties occurred in three separate clashes at Jabal al-Zawiya in Idlib province, which borders Turkey.
  • Foster's Daily Democrat: Ad buzz can last all year 2012-02-05
    A Tibet human rights organization called Free Tibet called the ad about Tibet exploitative. And Alterian, a firm that measures online activity, said it was among the five most-discussed ads online on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but the buzz...
  • TwoCircles.net: Human Rights Watch hails India vote on Syria 2012-02-05
    "By supporting the UN resolution, India has rightly supported the Syrian people," a spokeswoman for the US-based rights body told IANS. | "India has seen through (Bashar) Assad's lies, and shown itself to be an independent world leader," the spokeswoman said. | In a change in its stand, India Saturday voted in favour of an Arab League backed UN Security Council resolution calling on Assad to step down.
  • Agenzia Giornalistica Italia: 48 DEAD IN CLASHES IN SYRIA, INCLUDING 18 SOLDIERS 2012-02-05
    AGI - Agenzia Giornalistica Italia: The news was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights . The victims include the 12 civilians killed in Damascus' Daraya district after Bashar al-Assad's security forces opened fire on the funeral of the people killed the previous day. . .
  • Peninsula Daily: Forks rights group compiles report on West End Border Patrol activity 2012-02-05
    Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News FORKS — The Forks Human Rights Group, which recently released a four-year analysis of Border Patrol activity on the West End, received 20 hours of free training last April in how to document Border Patrol...
  • euronews: Syria government denies deadly night in Homs 2012-02-05
    At least 21 people were killed outside Homs on Saturday according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims. Opposition activists claim more than 250 people died on Friday in one of the deadliest nights since the uprising began...
  • Jakarta Post: NGO says RI govt not serious in handling human rights cases 2012-02-05
    A human rights watchdog has slammed the government for not taking human rights cases in the country seriously. “To date, the government has continuously ignored any calls from the international community regarding the handling of human rights cases.
  • msnbc.com: Russia, China veto UN rebuke of Syrian president 2012-02-05
    World News: NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports. | Updated at 4:09 p.m. ET: Amid escalating bloodshed in the Syrian city of Homs, the U.N. Security Council on Saturday failed to pass a resolution calling on the Syrian president to step down. | The vote took place as Syrian forces pummeled the city of Homs with mortar and artillery fire that activists say killed more than 200 people in one of the bloodiest episodes of the uprising against Assad's regime.
  • Bloomberg: Russia's UN Veto on Syria Gives Assad 'License to Kill' 2012-02-05
    Members of the Free Syrian Army at the funeral for a fellow comrade in the Damascus suburb of Saqba on Jan. 27, 2012. | Failure by the United Nations Security Council to deliver global condemnation of Syria gives President Bashar al-Assad room to continue his deadly 11-month crackdown on protesters.
  • NL-Aid: SRI LANKA: An innocent man was illegally arrested and tortured 2012-02-05
    Name of the victim: Mr. Kanahipadi Kankanamge Nalin (29) of Dodamgo, Kaluthara Alleged perpetrator: 1. Police officer Kamalasiri 2. Civil Defence Force Officer Wickramasinghe 3. Sub Inspector (SI) Mahinda 4. Police Officer Kamalsiri 5. Police Officer Ishantha 6. Officer-In-Charge (OIC) | I am writing to express my serious concern over the case of Mr. Kanahipadi Kankanamge Nalin (29) of Dodamgo, Kaluthara.

2012-02-04: Headlines

  • BBC News: Syria forces 'in Homs massacre' 2012-02-04
    Anti-government activists describe violence in Homs as a "real massacre" | More than 200 people have been killed by Syrian government forces in the city of Homs, opposition groups say. | Activists accused the military of carrying out a massacre after a night of shelling in the city. Unverified videos on the web showed many bodies. | But the government denied the claims, saying activists were engaging in a propaganda campaign.
  • Zawya (registration): WSJ(2/4) Syria Resolution on Hold by Russia 2012-02-04
    Syrian forces unleashed a fierce assault with tank and artillery shells on anti-government neighborhoods in Homs, killing at least 58 in the heaviest assault there since last March, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights .
  • Telegraph.co.uk: Arrests at Syrian embassy as protests erupt 2012-02-04
    Human rights activists said on Friday night that Syrian forces had used tanks and machine guns to kill at least 200 people and wound hundreds in Homs, in what appeared to be the bloodiest episode since the uprising began.
  • The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: Calne drug farm pair want cash back 2012-02-04
    Two men who were ordered to pay £200,000 after their cannabis farm in Calne was uncovered are trying to get the money back as they claim it violates their human rights. | Richard Lambert, 57, and Ian Walding, 45, admitted producing cannabis after a 400-plant farm on the Porte Marsh Industrial Estate was rumbled in September 2008.
  • MSN Philippines News: Egypt clashes enter third day as death toll mounts 2012-02-04
    Egyptians have become increasingly angry with the junta, which they accuse of failing to manage the country and of human rights abuses. For months, they have taken to the streets to demand the ouster of the SCAF and its chief, Field Marshal Hussein...
  • Blottr: Congress protests Obama on Bahrain arms sale 2012-02-04
    Here€™s a quick update on the Obama administration€™s recent decision to sell arms to the regime in Bahrain, which has been accused of widespread human rights abuses in suppressing a protest movement in the Gulf nation. | ragically, even a brief survey of reports from reliable sources makes clear that the Bahraini government continues to perpetrate significant human rights violations.
  • The Associated Press: UN: Afghan civilian deaths in war hit 5-year high 2012-02-04
    Keywords: €” Last year was the deadliest on record for Afghan civilians with 3,021 killed, a rise of 8 percent from the year before as insurgents ratchet up violence with roadside bombs and suicide attacks, the United Nations said Saturday. | Taliban-affiliated militants were responsible for more than three-quarters of the civilian deaths in 2011, the fifth year in a row in which the death toll went up, the U.N. said.
  • Channel News Asia: Army attacks Syria's Homs, 200 killed 2012-02-04
    The Syrian army unleashed a massive attack on the city of Homs early Saturday, bombing the protest hub and killing at least 260 people in a bloody 'massacre', activists and witnesses said.
  • Jamaica Observer: Martelly says he won't meddle in Duvalier case 2012-02-04
    Haitian President Michel Martelly says he won't interfere in the case of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, the National Palace said yesterday. The office of the president issued a statement saying he respects...
  • Regina Leader-Post: PM says OAS changes 'being considered' 2012-02-04
    Harper made the comment in a candid interview in his office across from Parliament Hill with Postmedia News and the National Post. | The interview came at the end of a stormy week in the House of Commons, where opposition parties have blasted Harper for publicly signalling recently that the pension system needs to be reformed to ensure its long-term affordability.
  • Staunton News Leader: Va. House of Delegates OKs bill to allow adoption discrimination 2012-02-04
    The House passed the Republican-backed bill 71-28 a day after rejecting several amendments offered by Democrats aimed at softening the measure. Earlier Friday, the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee endorsed its version of the bill on an 8-7 party-line vote, sending it to the floor next week. | Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell will sign the bill if it reaches his desk, press secretary Jeff Caldwell said.
  • KCCI Des Moines: UN Security Council To Meet On Syria As Deaths Mount 2012-02-04
    The meeting was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET Saturday. It was not clear which way Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, would vote. | "The U.N. isn't doing anything about it. The Arab League isn't doing anything... While they're having their little discussion, people are sitting here and they're dying," said an activist CNN is identifying as Danny. | "These aren't animals here."
  • Albany Democrat Herald: Syrian activists: 200 dead in government assault 2012-02-04
    In a barrage of mortar shells, Syrian forces killed 200 people and wounded hundreds in Homs in an offensive that appears to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said Saturday. | The assault in Homs, which has been one of the main flashpoints of opposition during the uprising, comes as the U.N.
  • Louisville Courier-Journal: Demonstrators seek revision of terrorist detention act 2012-02-04
    More than 50 Occupy Louisville and other demonstrators Friday waved signs, beat drums and gave speeches calling for the repeal of a new law they fear could allow the U.S. government to jail its citizens without charge.

2012-02-03: Headlines

  • Antiwar.com: Iraq's Crisis: Vice President Hashemi Speaks 2012-02-03
    Keywords:... have been “disappeared” or how many secret prisons still operate. He warned that the human rights situation in Iraq was getting worse, not better, and that the recent reports on the situation by Human Rights Watch and others “bring shame to us all.”
  • Human Rights Watch: Syria: Stop Torture of Children 2012-02-03
    Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations Security Council to demand that the Syrian government end all human rights violations and cooperate with the commission of inquiry dispatched by the UN Human Rights Council and the Arab League observer mission. The government should stop deploying security forces in schools and hospitals, Human Rights Watch said.
  • Democratic Voice of Burma: Attacks continue despite Karen ceasefire 2012-02-03
    Keywords: €œTwo days ago in the mountains, we could hear the Burma Army shelling towards Karen villages as they advanced to supply their camps,€ FBR staff reported from the field. Sporadic clashes between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and government forces also took place.
  • Hutchinson News: Stars cover Dylan songs for Amnesty International 2012-02-03
    Ke$ha is one of the more unlikely stars to contribute to the compilation, released Tuesday. The pop star defined by party anthems like "Tik Tok" and "Your Love Is My Drug" took on Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." As she found herself alone in her bedroom for the first time in months, the words of the song - about a person bidding goodbye to a lover - took on a new, deeply personal meaning. She realized she was saying goodbye to her...
  • ScandAsia.com: Cambodian Workers Hold 'People's tribunal' to Look at H Factories 2012-02-03
    The minimum wage in Cambodia is the equivalent of just $66 (£42) a month, a level that human rights groups say is almost half that required to meet basic needs. A spokeswoman for H said: "Workers should earn a fair wage and we strive for decent...
  • Sunday Times.lk: Taliban modernizing, says former anti-vice enforcer 2012-02-03
    Keywords: “We know human rights better than you guys as we have been told of human rights by God. “We do respect the women rights, we know the women rights in an Islamic framework,” said Qalamuddin, who also has two daughters, who are “at home”.
  • RadioVop: MDC Sets Up Commission To Probe Provincial Disputed Congress Elections 2012-02-03
    The other members of the commission included, Zimrights deputy chairperson, Pelagia Razemba, prominent human rights lawyer, Trust Mahanda and Jonah Hokova of the Christian Alliance of Zimbabwe.
  • North County Times: China criticizes Iran sanctions as Merkel visits 2012-02-03
    Merkel said her agenda also included "more sensitive topics" such as human rights and the rule of law but gave no details. She said she also planned to raise complaints about Chinese market barriers to foreign companies. AP researcher Zhao Liang...
  • Long Beach Press-Telegram: NAACP president addresses CSULB students and faculty 2012-02-03
    During his career, Jealous has served as president of the Rosenberg Foundation, director of the US Human Rights Program at Amnesty International and as executive director of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a federation of more than 200...
  • Zambia Daily Mail: State committed to implementing ICGLR objectives 2012-02-03
    Mwazipeza Chanda: Mr Lungu said this in Lusaka on Wednesday when he officially opened an expert workshop on the 2012-2016 strategic plan of the Levy Mwanawasa regional centre for the promotion of democracy, good governance, human rights and civic education.
  • AFP: Germany's Merkel holds talks with China's president 2012-02-03
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel met China's president on Friday as she seeks to lift Beijing's confidence in Europe where the sovereign debt crisis threatens to tip the region into recession. | Merkel's meeting with President Hu Jintao came a day after talks with Premier Wen Jiabao, who said Beijing was looking at ways it could contribute to Europe's bailout funds and warned of an "urgent" need to solve the debt crisis.
  • Mainichi Daily News: French court upholds Scientology fraud conviction 2012-02-03
    A French appeals court on Thursday upheld the Church of Scientology's 2009 fraud conviction on charges it pressured members into paying large sums for questionable remedies. | The case began with a legal complaint by a young woman who said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of 21,000 euros ($28,000) on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited in 1998.
  • Ghana Business News: AMA has interest of residents at heart – Assembly Members 2012-02-03
    Everyone wants to think they are special. You can make your customers feel special if you treat them like your family doctor treats you. For the time you are with them, concentrate on them and what they are telling you. Exclude everything else for that period of time.

2012-02-02: Headlines

  • MidEastPosts: Republicans Condemning Israel to Generations of Violence in Blind Devotion 2012-02-02
    Without citizenship in a state, Palestinians never really own property or have any other civil or human rights , since if someone steals from them they have no state to back their claims. In almost all legal proceedings, they lack standing.
  • Zee News: Sweden questions Nobel Peace Prize selection basis 2012-02-02
    Oslo: Swedish authorities are looking into whether the Nobel Peace Prize has been going to the "wrong" type of people, like human rights campaigners and environmentalists, in violation of prize founder Alfred Nobel's will.
  • Reuters Africa: UN investigates reports of S.Sudan massacre 2012-02-02
    The U.N. mission in South Sudan is investigating reports of a massacre of nearly 80 people by armed men in uniforms in Africa's youngest nation, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
  • Reuters Africa: UN cautions its Darfur envoy over Bashir encounter 2012-02-02
    The United Nations has told its top official in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region to avoid encounters like one last month when he met Sudan's president - wanted by the International Criminal Court - at a wedding, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday. | New York-based Human Rights Watch protested in a letter last week to U.N.
  • Reuters Africa: Kabila party loses seats in Congo parliament: results 2012-02-02
    Tensions have been high in Congo since the election which pitted Kabila against his chief rival Etienne Tshisekedi. Human Rights Watch has said at least 24 people have been killed by security forces since the first results were announced.
  • DAWN.com: Indonesian atheist's arrest sparks tension online 2012-02-02
    Keywords: “This is a law that has been used to promote mob violence and intimidation against those who do not agree with…vigilante groups,” said the letter, copies of which were also sent to the United Nations and Human Rights Watch. Aan's proclamation has been...
  • FM.co.za: SADC Tribunal 2012-02-02
    Its work was suspended over a fallout with Zimbabwe following two judgments on cases dealing with land disputes and human rights abuses. For almost 18 months, the SADC legal regime, which includes the tribunal, has been left dangling .
  • Al-Arabiya: From The Saudi Gazette: 3 Saudi docs sue Canada university for $155 million 2012-02-02
    Keywords:... reported Al-Hayat Arabic daily. The Vancouver Sun English daily, in a report published on Jan. 31, said that the three doctors filed their lawsuit in November 2011 at the Human Rights Court in Ontario, but only announced it on Monday.
  • Sowetan: Jozi run to mark Rights Day 2012-02-02
    But the firecrackers were part of the launch of the eagerly anticipated Nike Run Free: Run Jozi 10km race, which will be held on March 21 to commemorate Human Rights Day. | The announcement was made at a launch in Braamfontein overlooking the Nelson Mandela Bridge, as media, athletes, stakeholders and friends of the leading sports brand got a taste of what the race will offer.
  • Charleston: Mary C. Snow: 'She has given so much of herself' 2012-02-02
    Along with being the first black principal after integration, Snow received a wide range of awards and recognitions throughout her lifetime. She served on the Human Rights Commission and was a recipient of both the governor's Living the Dream Award...
  • Channel News Asia: Merkel seeks to ease eurozone fears in China 2012-02-02
    Merkel's trip to China comes just days after deadly unrest hit the nation's Tibetan-inhabited areas, with the leader saying human rights would be on her agenda. "Germany has always advocated an open, political dialogue, including on controversial...
  • Environmental Expert (press release): Solar electric light fund launches `Energy Is A Human Right” campaign 2012-02-02
    The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit working to eliminate energy poverty through the use of solar power...
  • The Epoch Times: Rally for Rights Sees Hundreds Take to Hill 2012-02-02
    Several hundred Falun Gong adherents took to Parliament Hill on Tuesday calling on the Prime Minister to urge the Chinese regime to end its persecution of the group in China. (Gordon Yu/Epoch Times) | OTTAWA€”Parliament Hill was swept by snowflakes Tuesday as several hundred Falun Gong practitioners held a mass meditation and urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to raise their plight on his upcoming trade trip to China.
  • Mizzima News: How Burma is changing and what it means 2012-02-02
    Over the past year, the pace of change in Burma has reached an inflection point and the momentum has pushed one of the most repressive states in the world for five decades into a sudden political shift toward democracy that has taken the world by surprise.
  • Daily Herald: Reforms in Myanmar may spark refugee return 2012-02-02
    The children who live in this camp for Burmese refugees have known no other life.
  • Daily Herald: US, allies urge UN action to end violence in Syria 2012-02-02
    United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton addresses a Security Council meeting on the situation in Syria, as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, left, looks on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 at United Nations headquarters. Syrian troops crushed pockets of rebel soldiers Tuesday on the outskirts of Damascus, fueling some of the bloodiest fighting of the 10-month-old uprising, as Western diplomats tried to overcome Russia's...
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