World

Sudan: Cluster Bomb Found in Conflict Zone
Published May 25, 2012 - 10:55:18 AM
The Sudanese government should investigate the discovery of a cluster bomb in Southern Kordofan, a conflict zone hit by government bombing, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on Sudan to join the international treaty banning the weapon.

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Sharp food price hikes cause alarm
Published May 25, 2012 - 10:19:40 AM
Unexpectedly sharp price rises in April for local cereals like millet, rice and maize in parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad mean many vulnerable people in the drought-hit Sahel could find it even harder to get enough to eat.

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Bonn UN Climate Change meeting delivers progress on key issues
Published May 25, 2012 - 10:08:23 AM
Meeting in Bonn for the first time after the historic UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, governments made progress in ensuring that this year's conference in Doha, at the end of 2012, can take the next essential steps towards meeting the long-term challenge of climate change.

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More Vigilance Needed on Global Landmine Ban
Published May 25, 2012 - 10:07:05 AM
A meeting of nearly 100 states and dozens of international organisations to discuss progress on the global ban on antipersonnel landmines ended today with both good and bad news.

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U.S. State Department reports on China's efforts to control, marginalize and re-define Tibetan culture and religion
Published May 25, 2012 - 7:10:29 AM
The U.S. State Department has documented the Chinese government's efforts to control, marginalize and re-define Tibetan culture and religion. The findings are contained in the special Tibet section of the State Department's "Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011," released today in Washington, D.C.

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Tribal Rights Violations: Humiliation as Indian Minister scraps lecture rather than face accusers
Published May 24, 2012 - 9:26:00 AM
The controversial Chief Minister of an Indian state has pulled out of a public lecture after learning that human rights organizations would attend.

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Funds for the Sahel are needed now -- over 17 million people at risk of hunger
Published May 24, 2012 - 9:23:30 AM
On a visit to drought-stricken Chad, Spanish football star Raúl González added his voice to urgent calls for funding to prevent a full-blown food and nutrition crisis in the Sahel region of West Africa, where over 17 million people are at risk of hunger and more than one million children under five face acute malnutrition.

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IOC: Olympic Hurdles for Saudi Women Persist
Published May 23, 2012 - 7:30:52 AM
As the clock ticks down to the July opening ceremony, all nations except Saudi Arabia have confirmed that women athletes will participate in the London 2012 Olympics, Human Rights Watch said today. The International Olympic Committee's executive board is meeting in Quebec City from May 23 through May 25 to hear reports on the upcoming Games.

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Nepal: Women demand end to sexual harassment
Published May 23, 2012 - 7:29:09 AM
Sexual harassment is an everyday issue for women in Nepal, particularly in urban areas. Although exact numbers are unavailable, activists say the problem is on the rise and are demanding change.

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On biodiversity day, UN chief calls for greater protection of world's oceans
Published May 22, 2012 - 11:55:51 AM
Marking the International Day for Biological Diversity, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted the fragile state of the world's oceans, urging greater protection for marine biodiversity.

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Somalia bans antipersonnel landmines, despite ongoing conflict
Published May 22, 2012 - 11:52:31 AM
Somalia has become the 160th State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, the United Nations confirmed today.

This morning the news was announced to delegates from more than 95 countries, assembled in Geneva for a global conference to discuss progress on the landmine ban.

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New rendition data project launches online
Published May 22, 2012 - 7:49:00 AM
A new project which brings together all the available data on hundreds of victims of rendition, torture and secret detention launches online today.

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Why is Niger starving?
Published May 22, 2012 - 7:47:41 AM
More than six million people in landlocked Niger, and eighteen million across West Africa, currently face real hunger, according to the Save the Children. The immediate cause is a failed harvest caused by pest infections and erratic rainfall, following years of drought. This is made worse by high food prices, regional conflict, weak governments, child marriage and chronic poverty.

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Shell's obscure payments kill its case for weak US and EU transparency laws
Published May 21, 2012 - 1:29:11 PM
The details of payments agreed by Shell to the Nigerian Government for a controversial oil deal expose the urgent need for the very transparency measures which Shell is currently opposing.

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Angola: Stop Rape, Abuse of Congolese Migrants
Published May 21, 2012 - 6:56:47 AM
Angolan security forces frequently abuse irregular migrants during expulsions from Angola, including sexual violence and other degrading and inhuman treatment, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

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Mineral-Rich Mongolia Rapidly Becoming 'Mine-golia'
Full story: NPR

Oxfam: G8 food security alliance answers question hungry people have not asked
Published May 18, 2012 - 1:10:46 PM
International agency Oxfam warned that today's announcement of the "New Alliance to Increase Food and Nutrition Security" focuses too heavily on the role of the private sector to tackle the complex challenges of food insecurity in the developing world. The organization called instead for G8 leaders to keep the promises they have already made to help developing countries invest in sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty.

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'Virulent' homophobic attacks put South Caucasus activists at risk
Published May 18, 2012 - 11:29:09 AM
Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan must do more to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, Amnesty International said after a spate of attacks on activists.

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Swaziland: IMF walks away from the kingdom
Published May 18, 2012 - 9:31:03 AM
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has withdrawn its advisory team from Swaziland, saying it is unable to support the government's proposed financial reform programme.

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Anti-migrant violence on the rise in Israel
Published May 18, 2012 - 5:26:46 AM
Blessing Akachukneu was already looking for a new place to live when her south Tel Aviv apartment, which doubles as a day-care centre, was firebombed in April. Her Israeli neighbours, she explained, had complained to the landlord about the noise from the day-care centre and she had been asked to leave. Otherwise, she had not had any problems in Shapira neighbourhood.

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Exposed: World's 'most threatened tribe' outnumbered 10:1 by invaders
Published May 17, 2012 - 9:22:40 AM
The extent of the peril facing the world's ‘most threatened tribe' was revealed today, as Brazilian authorities admitted that the Awá tribe are now outnumbered 10:1 inside just one of their reserves.

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An Open Letter to President Obama on the Eve of Talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at Camp David
Published May 17, 2012 - 6:14:49 AM
On the eve of upcoming meeting at Camp David on May 19, 2012, with four African leaders to discuss food security, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the Oakland Institute and the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), call upon President Obama to address what may be the single largest man-made contributor to food insecurity on the continent today: large-scale land investments by foreign investors.

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On anti-homophobia day, UN calls for repeal of discriminatory laws
Published May 17, 2012 - 6:09:59 AM
Marking International Day against Homophobia, senior United Nations officials today drew attention to laws around the world which discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, and called for equality and the repeal of such laws.

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World Trade Organization Ruling Threatens Future of U.S. Dolphin-Safe Labeling Law
Published May 17, 2012 - 5:30:45 AM
The Humane Society of the United States and its global arm, Humane Society International, are dismayed by a World Trade Organization ruling that finds the U.S. Dolphin-Safe label for tuna sold in the United States does not comply with certain WTO rules. To implement the ruling, U.S. lawmakers potentially could repeal or weaken the label – a bleak prospect for consumers and the dolphins.

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Dam Project Threatens a Way of Life in Peru
Full story: NY Times

Sub-Saharan Africa cannot sustain growth without ending hunger - UN report
Published May 16, 2012 - 7:44:45 AM
Sub-Saharan Africa cannot sustain its present economic growth unless it eliminates the hunger that is affecting almost a quarter of its people, according to a new United Nations report launched today, which calls for new approaches to empower local communities to ensure food security in the region.

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Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions
Published May 15, 2012 - 11:54:15 AM
Iraq's government has been carrying out mass arrests and unlawfully detaining people in the notorious Camp Honor prison facility in Baghdad's Green Zone, based on numerous interviews with victims, witnesses, family members, and government officials. The government had claimed a year ago that it had closed the prison, where Human Rights Watch had documented rampant torture.

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Analysis: Israeli government challenges the law to embrace illegal settler outposts
Published May 15, 2012 - 11:52:01 AM
Israeli settlers east of the separation barrier in the central West Bank occupy the land most critical for any future final status agreement under a two-state solution. But instead of limiting settlement expansion, critics say the Israeli authorities are setting a dangerous precedent by legalizing new outposts and undermining the law.

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Humanity is using resources and emitting waste at a rate 52 percent faster that the Earth can sustain
Published May 15, 2012 - 11:43:53 AM
Humanity is using resources and emitting waste (particularly carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning) at a rate 52 percent faster than the Earth can sustain, according to new Global Footprint Network data released today in conjunction with WWF's Living Planet Report 2012. The data is one of the primary indicators used in the WWF report, launched today from the International Space Station by André Kuipers, a European Space Agency astronaut.

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