Archive for the ‘Human Rights’ Category

Amnesty International Charges Tunisia Gives Only Lip Service to Human Rights

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

In New Report, Human Rights Organization Reveals Serious Violations in
the Name of Security

WASHINGTON, June 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Tunisian government is misleading the world by conveying a positive image of the human rights situation in the country while its security forces committed abuses with impunity and it continues unabated, Amnesty International revealed today in a new report, “In the Name of Security: Routine Abuses in Tunisia.”

“The Tunisian government has repeatedly asserted that it abides by its international human rights obligations, yet this is far from the reality. It is high time that the authorities stop paying lip service to human rights and take concrete action to end abuses,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Program. “As a first step, the Tunisian authorities must acknowledge the disturbing allegations documented in this report, commit to investigating them and bring those responsible to justice.”
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Rights officials find mass grave in Chechnya

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

GROZNY, Russia - A mass grave of some 800 people, mostly civilians, was reported in the war-torn Chechnya’s capital Grozny, human rights officials said Friday. for more click here

Prophet cartoons ‘did not aim to insult’

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

A DANISH appeals court has rejected a suit filed by seven Muslim organisations against newspaper editors who in 2005 first published a dozen controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The appeals court judges ruled that the caricatures, which have since sparked angry and in some cases deadly protests across the Muslim world, did not aim to insult followers of Islam, as the plaintiffs had charged. for more click here

Zimbabwe violence grows

Friday, June 20th, 2008

As Zimbabwe’s opposition leader attends court on possible treason charges, violence in the country escalates. for more click here

The Right’s America-Hating Preacher

Friday, June 20th, 2008

One of the advantages that the American Right has achieved from investing tens of billions of dollars in media – from talk radio and cable TV, to print and the Internet – is the ability to define what is and what isn’t a “scandal,” a powerful factor in determining who wins national elections. for more click here

UN’s Arbour opposes “taboos” in human rights body

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour voiced concern on Wednesday over “taboos” on discussion in a key U.N. forum of subjects that Islamic countries see as offending their religion.

Her comments followed a row at the forum, the 47-nation Human Rights Council, after Islamic countries intervened this week to stop mention of their system of sharia, or Islamic law, and the body’s Romanian president appeared to back their stance. for more click here

Zimbabwe a ’silent genocide’, UN Human Rights Council told

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

The Zimbabwean woman who sat next to the general secretary of the World Council of Churches telling her story was quite blunt. “Please don’t write my name - if it is known I will be killed,” she said at the meeting moderated by the WCC general secretary, the Rev Samuel Kobia. for more click here

Amnesty is a Red Herring

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

The debate about amnesty in Kenya has become intensely politicized. The Prime Minister and the President are taking apparently opposing positions. The dangers of the debate turning sour are obvious, threatening to undermine the fragile solidarity that gave birth to the National Accord and Reconciliation Act and the coalition government. What should be the way forward? for more click here

Rights commission to review Internet hate laws

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

OTTAWA - Amid mounting public and political controversy, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has launched an independent review of the way it deals with hate speech on the Internet.

Chief Commissioner Jennifer Lynch announced Tuesday she has asked Richard Moon, a leading constitutional expert at the University of Windsor, to conduct the study. His report, expected this October, will help shape the commission’s position on whether Internet hate laws should be changed, she said. for more click here

Because They Hate…

Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Because They Hate…

What happens when you tolerate intolerance?
Intolerance takes over.

But what if you are intolerant towards intolerance?
Haven’t you become intolerant yourself?
And if you have become intolerant, what happened to tolerance?
Is therefore tolerance an impossibility, the stillborn child of wishful thinking? for more click here