Human Rights

News : Human Rights

The request today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to the court's judges to open a Kenya investigation is a decisive step toward justice for the country's 2007 post-election violence, Human Rights Watch said. The move comes after more than a year of inaction by Kenya's authorities on national prosecutions. (AllAfrica)

The clean, ultra-modern chrome and glass lines of the Bella Centre, in the Danish capital Copenhagen, is a world away from the thronging canopy suspended over the tropical forests of Uganda, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Cameroon. (AllAfrica)

In more than 34 years as a judge, he has not been as deeply concerned by anything as he was by the recent comment of a South African deputy minister of police that police officers should shoot and "kill the bastards". (AllAfrica)

THE Rapaport Diamond Trading Network -- an overseas-based global network of companies that supports the development of free, fair and competitive global diamond markets -- said yesterday it had banned trading of diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange fields because of severe human rights violations. (AllAfrica)

Charles Taylor today admitted that he sent his Chief of Protocol to accompany a Sierra Leonean rebel commander to Burkina Faso in 1998 but denied that he helped him transport arms and ammunition through Liberia for use by rebel forces in Sierra Leone. (AllAfrica)

The Nigerian government has not brought a single prosecution or even begun investigations a year after Nigerian policemen and soldiers killed more than 130 civilians in responding to deadly sectarian clashes in the central Nigerian city of Jos, Human Rights Watch said today. (AllAfrica)

Britain's ambassador to Rwanda, Nicholas Cannon, gave a revealing insight into British policy on Rwanda in his interview with the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) on 17 November. (AllAfrica)

Standing by Kigali against some of the latest fiercest critics such as the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW), the British envoy Mr. Nicholas Cannon says their attacks are "unfair". (AllAfrica)

UNITED Nations Children's Funds (UNICEF) has lamented the fate of children in the country, stating that the only genuine way of showing commitment towards their protection was passing into law, the Child Right Bill by the various State governments. (AllAfrica)

Wednesday evening's fundraising in aid of those evicted from the Mau Forest was a major political statement, interpreted as an alliance against Prime Minister Raila Odinga. (AllAfrica)

Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony survived the aerial-UPDF 'surprise' attack, code named Operation Lightning Thunder, on his camp in Garamba, in December 2008 because he had intelligence information on the assault two days before. (AllAfrica)

Head of National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Christopher Molomo has revealed that though in Botswana homosexuality is outlawed, NACA involves homosexuals in its work to fight HIV/AIDS. (AllAfrica)

Vice president Goodluck Jonathan has called for international cooperation and support against the trafficking in persons in the country. (AllAfrica)

A human rights activist and social crusader, Mrs. Olushola Akai, has frowned at the rampant cases of sexual abuse against the youths in the present-day society. (AllAfrica)

The Rapaport Group and the RapNet Diamond Trading Network have implemented an immediate trading ban on all diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields due to severe human rights violations. As Marange rough diamonds are uniquely identifiable, the ban does not apply to diamonds from Zimbabwe that are not from the Marange area. (AllAfrica)

In support of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign, the South African Navy members will on Thursday march in the City of Tshwane. (AllAfrica)

I read with wonder and bemusement an article by Mr. Derek Ingram titled Should Rwanda be allowed to join the commonwealth? Mr Ingram ably articulates the justification for Rwanda joining the Commonwealth as being adjacent to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and teaching English in its schools and playing cricket among others. (AllAfrica)

Burundian authorities should immediately retract an ordinance outlawing the Forum for the Strengthening of Civil Society (FORSC), an umbrella organization representing 146 Burundian civil society associations, said Amnesty International, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, and Human Rights Watch in a joint statement issued today. The government should also end threats and harassment against civil society activists, the groups said. (AllAfrica)

HIV prevention efforts - and the promise of antiretroviral therapy as prevention - are being undermined by punitive laws targeting those infected with and at risk of HIV, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of World AIDS Day. (AllAfrica)

ODM leaders meet on Thursday for talks expected to bring together the feuding camps in the party. The party's National Executive Council is expected to discuss the party's position on the proposed constitution. But the differences between Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Agriculture minister William Ruto could cast a dark shadow on the talks. (AllAfrica)

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Britain's ambassador to Rwanda, Nicholas Cannon, gave a revealing insight into British policy on Rwanda in his interview with the Rwandan News Agency (RNA) on 17 November.

read more

(The Hague) - The request today by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to the court's judges to open a Kenya investigation is a decisive step toward justice for the country's 2007 post-election violence, Human Rights Watch said. The move comes after more than a year of inaction by Kenya's authorities on national prosecutions.

read more

(New York) - HIV prevention efforts - and the promise of antiretroviral therapy as prevention - are being undermined by punitive laws targeting those infected with and at risk of HIV, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of World AIDS Day.

read more

As Rwanda applies this week to join the Commonwealth, the international grouping dominated by ex-British colonies, both its membership application and a number of recent books on Central Africa are focusing new attention on the current government's human rights record. (AllAfrica)

The eviction of squatters from the Mau Forest was top on the agenda of the weekly meeting between President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday. (AllAfrica)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is concerned by the growing tension between the parties to the Western Sahara negotiations, which have increased following the recent detention of several groups of Saharawi activists. (AllAfrica)

Conditions in Equatorial Guinea cast serious doubt about the credibility of the forthcoming presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today. (AllAfrica)

The MP for Lobatse, Nehemiah Modubule has appealed to President Ian Khama to strike out the 'D' for Democracy because he has shown no commitment towards it. (AllAfrica)

The Forum for Democratic Change President, Dr Kizza Besigye has, in his first major press conference since returning from a 10-day tour of Karamoja, accused the Uganda People Defence Force of gross human rights abuses during the disarmament programme. (AllAfrica)

A court in Canada has formally proffered genocide charges on Jacques Mungwarere, a genocide suspect arrested in Canada earlier this month. (AllAfrica)