Human rights

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has seized the COVID-19 pandemic to undermine fundamental principles of democracy and rule of law in a way that is hard to reconcile as necessary for public health. Read More »

The orders seem prudent in the bid to thwart the spread of the novel coronavirus: Don’t go out, don’t gather with others and keep your stores closed. But growing segments of the U.S. population say state and federal governments are trampling on freedoms central to American life in the name of protecting public health. Read More »

By IPS International Desk NEW YORK, Mar 20 2020 (IPS) – For Dr Edna Adan Ismail maternal health and midwifery is deeply personal. In an interview with Women Deliver Young Leader Musu Bakoto Sawo, Ismail recalls her mother’s devasting experiences which impacted on her own life’s choices. Read More »

Journalist Ariful Islam Rigan, who was jailed through a mobile court earlier this month and tortured , returned home from hospital on Saturday. Read More »

The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) calls on the Government of Pakistan to release the Jang Group Editor-in-Chief, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, who has been in detention since 12 March. His arrest and detention by the National Accountability Bureau before substantive hearings have begun are contrary to the bureau’s established practice and are being widely seen as an attempt to intimidate the country’s ... Read More »

Second Militia Attack on Ogossagou Village Killed at Least 35 Bamako – An ethnic militia in Mali massacred over 35 villagers on February 14, 2020, after government troops left the area, Human Rights Watch said today. The killings in the village of Ogossagou occurred hours after village leaders alerted government officials that the Malian army had vacated a post created ... Read More »

UN human rights experts on Monday urged states to avoid overreach of security measures in their response to the coronavirus outbreak and reminded them that emergency powers should not be used to quash dissent. Read More »

The government has rejected as “one-sided and unacceptable” a human rights report in which the US criticised Bangladesh over “lopsided” 2018 parliamentary polls. Read More »

A woman has reportedly been forced to swallow urine after her head was shaved by her husband at Mistripara in Baliadangi upazila for her refusal to engage in anti-social activities. Read More »

The protection of human rights defenders, whistle blowers and journalists, as well as freedom of expression, information and assembly must be priorities for leaders of the 54 Commonwealth countries who need to work for transparency, good governance and rule of law, said the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). Read More »

Dhaka, March 08 – The International Women’s Day is being celebrated in the country, as elsewhere across the globe, on Sunday highlighting women’s rights and equality. Read More »

By Prof. Margaret Kobia, Amb. Aline Kuster-Ménager, Amb. Erasmo Martinez Martine and Siddharth Chatterjee Gender equality is a basic human right and a prerequisite for sustainable development, so why does inequality persist in so many countries, and what can we all do to address it? Read More »

by Heinz Sünker on 3rd March 2020 Educational research models children as autonomous actors. Education policy, notably in Germany, still, however, aims to guide innate capacities into adulthood. Read More »

Mar 6 2020 (IPS) – The narrative surrounding women’s rights in 2020 carries much hope and possibility. This year’s International Women’s Day, bearing the theme “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights,” falls on the celebration’s 110th anniversary. Read More »

Civilians Bear the Brunt of Renewed Fighting Hanan Salah Senior Libya Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division Amy Braunschweiger Senior Web Communications Manager Extensive fighting in Libya re-ignited last April when an armed group based in eastern Libya launched an offensive against Tripoli, a city in the west of around 1.2 million. The fighting has killed hundreds of civilians ... Read More »

Tea Trumbic Today, women have just three-quarters of the legal rights of men. In 1970, it was less than half. The Women, Business and the Law 2020 report presented results from our recent effort to document how laws have changed since 1970. This exceptional dataset has already facilitated ground-breaking research that shows that a country’s performance on the Women, Business ... Read More »

Myanmar’s legal counsel in an ongoing genocide trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) once compared the government’s treatment of Rohingya Muslims to Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews during the Holocaust, according to a previously unreleased video footage of 2013 obtained and published by Fortify Rights on Friday. Read More »

By Mario Osava RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 5 2020 (IPS) – “Slave labour is not declining; it has taken on new forms and is growing; it expanded to new sectors where it did not previously exist,” said Ivanete da Silva Sousa, an activist in the fight against modern-day slavery in northern Brazil. Read More »

By Jennifer Morgan AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands, Mar 5 2020 (IPS) – Gender inequality – like the climate emergency – is not inevitable, but is kept in place by the poor choices too many cis men make on a daily basis. And it is not just womxn who are hurt and trapped by this patriarchal problem, but girls and non-binary people ... Read More »

By Natalie Southwick and Renata Neder NEW YORK, Mar 4 2020 (IPS) – Brazilian journalist Patrícia Campos Mello made her career reporting from conflict zones around the world — but lately, the greatest threats to her security are coming from closer to home. Read More »

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 4 2020 (IPS) – Twenty-five years after the historic Beijing women’s conference in China – a milestone in advancing equal rights – violence against women and girls is not only common, but widely accepted, a new UN report revealed. Read More »

by Sarah Chander on 25th February 2020 The sociologist David Williams has said racism makes us sick and this is also true at work. How can we create workplaces which promote wellbeing for all? How work affects our mental health and the importance of wellbeing in the workplace is slowly beginning to be acknowledged. This is an important step forward. ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 24 – The High Court on Monday issued a rule asking the government to explain why sections 25 and 31 of the Digital Security Act 2018 which involved publishing the false or intimidating information, and crimes and penalty for deterioration of law and order, should not be declared illegal. Read More »

Supporters of Julian Assange gathered Monday outside a high-security London courthouse, where a judge is set to begin hearing a U.S. extradition case against the WikiLeaks founder. Read More »

By Akash Chhetri KATHMANDU, Feb 21 2020 (IPS) – A major discrepancy between Nepal government and foreign records of the number of Nepali children adopted in North America and Europe has exposed a trafficking ring that involves various child welfare agencies in Kathmandu. Read More »

The father of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has told the BBC his son would face what is effectively a “death sentence” were he sent to the United States to face trial. Read More »

GENEVA (12 February) – The UN Human Rights Office on Wednesday issued a report on business enterprises involved in certain activities relating to settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in response to a specific request by the UN Human Rights Council, contained in a March 2016 resolution, that mandated the Office to produce a database of business enterprises involved in ... Read More »

Dhaka, Feb 10 – The authorities failed to submit a report on journalist couple Sagor and Runi even taking times for 71 times from the court in last eight years of their gruesome killing in the capital. Read More »

In the age of social media, citizens are not safe from the risks that affect journalists, and there is no alternative to developing awareness and technological skills for everyone to keep up with the changing times, speakers at a programme here said on Wednesday. Read More »

State Secretary at Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said they expect Myanmar to fully implement the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Read More »