At least 12 people are reported to have been killed in fighting between Iraqi government forces and armed militia in Basra.
Fighting erupted between Iraqi forces and members of the Mahdi Army – followers of Shi’a Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr – on Tuesday. As fighting spread, curfews were imposed by the Iraqi authorities in Basra and [...]

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Police Threaten to Return Peaceful Tibetans Protesters to China
The government of Nepal should end arbitrary detention, threats and harassment against peaceful Tibetan protesters, Human Rights Watch said today. Government forces are pre-emptively arresting Tibetans in Kathmandu as they attempt to move around the city on foot, in taxis, or on buses. The police have directly [...]

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Bringing to justice the killers of an imam detained by the military in Thailand’s southern Narathiwat province will be a key test for the Thai authorities, Human Rights Watch said today. Violence is escalating in the south, where the Thai military is fighting a Muslim separatist insurgency that has frequently targeted civilians.
Link to hrw.org

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Signer of Torture Memos Unfit to Head Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel
In a letter addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Policy Center say that the US Senate should reject Steven Bradbury’s nomination as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) because he authorized torture.
Link [...]

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Uribe Adviser’s Statements Contribute to Climate of Intolerance That Fosters Violence
Recent statements by a close adviser to Colombian President Álvaro Uribe contributed to “a climate of political intolerance that fosters violence” shortly before a wave of killings, attacks, and threats against trade unionists and rights activists, a group of 22 international human rights organizations said [...]

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The Human Rights Council should actively engage on serious human rights abuses wherever they occur, including the current crisis in Tibet, Human Rights Watch said today. In the council’s session yesterday, states and nongovernmental organizations raising the situation in Tibet were continually interrupted by China and other states, and discussion was eventually curtailed by procedural [...]

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We urge you to add your name to an urgent petition calling on the Chinese government to respect human rights in Tibet and dialogue with the Dalai Lama. This is really important, and we thought you might want to take action:
Sign the petition now.
After nearly 50 years of Chinese rule, the Tibetans are sending [...]

Tags: China, Take Action, Tibet

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Chinese police are sweeping through the homes of Lhasa residents in search of people involved in recent protests in the city.
While streets in the Tibetan capital are reported to be quiet and empty, there are continued reports of unrest in neighbouring Chinese provinces with large populations of Tibetans.  According to reports from  the Tibetan Centre [...]

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Rural women living with HIV in circumstances of poverty in South Africa face discrimination in relationships and in communities because of their gender, HIV status and economic marginalization.

A new Amnesty International report based on interviews with rural women, the
majority of them living with HIV, exposes the overwhelming challenges they face
in the midst of the severe [...]

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Guatemala’s first ever trial for enforced disappearances began last week. A former paramilitary, Felipe Cusanero, was accused on Monday 10 March of participating in the enforced disappearance of six civilians, with the complicity of the army.
Cusanero is accused of forcibly disappearing Lorenzo Ávila, Alejo Culajay, Filomena López, Encarnación López, Santiago Sutuj y Mario Tay [...]

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