Every year, more than 300,000 people are killed with conventional weapons. Many of these weapons come from the poorly regulated international arms market.
As UN member states meet in October to consider moving towards negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty, a new detailed report by Amnesty International urges world leaders to adopt a “Golden Rule” on [...]

Tags: UN

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Government Critic Held on Fabricated Charges, Ill-Treated in Custody
Uzbek authorities should drop all charges against a human rights defender and opposition activist who faces politically motivated prosecution and immediately release him, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial against Akzam Turgunov resumes on September 16, 2008 in the remote town of Manget. Human Rights Watch [...]

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In Security Vacuum, Frequent Attacks and Pervasive Fear
The European Union observer mission scheduled to move into areas near South Ossetia must be given both a mandate and adequate resources to protect civilians, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch researchers in Georgia in recent days have documented numerous attacks by Ossetians against civilians in [...]

Tags: EU, Georgia, Russia

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“On 21 September, the International Day of Peace, I call on world leaders and peoples around the world to join forces against conflict, poverty and hunger, and for all human rights for all.” – U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
The International Day of Peace (”Peace Day”) provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create [...]

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An anti-government activist leader in Myanmar remains at risk of torture following her arrest last Wednesday.
Nilar Thein went into hiding more than a year ago after leading some of the initial anti-government protests in August 2007.  She was taken to Aung Tha Pyay Detention Centre in Yangon (Rangoon, Myanmar’s largest city) for interrogation after her [...]

Tags: Burma, Myanmar

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Trial Chamber I yesterday sentenced Rasim Delić to three years imprisonment for crimes committed by the El Mujahed Detachment of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina against captive Bosnian Serb soldiers during the 1992-1995 conflict in the Balkan state.
Delić, the former Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and [...]

Tags: Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN

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While welcoming the release of 11-year-old Pakistani-American, Muhammad Ahmad, from the murky realm of US custody in Afghanistan, the Asian Human Rights Commission is still waiting for information on where and why the child was detained and for how long, plus information on his current condition and official status.
No information about the child’s missing younger [...]

Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan, UN, USA

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The British head of the UN Mine Action Programme in southern Lebanon and his 990-member team of mine clearers will receive the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award for their courageous work in removing tonnes of deadly munitions that had prevented the safe return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres [...]

Tags: Israel, Lebanon, UN

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Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has signed a power-sharing agreement with the leaders of the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara. The agreement will pave way for the creation of a unity government to end the Zimbabwean crisis that started in 2000. Full details of the deal have not [...]

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Three men were executed in Japan on Thursday. Amnesty International has called for the government to immediately adopt a moratorium on executions.
The organization called on new Japanese Minister of Justice Yasuoka Okiharu to conduct a thorough re-examination of the country’s death penalty policy after Mantani Yoshiyuki (68), Yamamoto Mineteru (68) and Hirano Isamu (61) were [...]

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