Reported plans by the governor of the southern Turkish province of Adana to cut health care from demonstrators and their families violate international standards, Amnesty International said today.
Demonstrations against the alleged ill-treatment of imprisoned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan have taken place across the southern and eastern provinces of Turkey since 17 October. [...]

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Tens of thousands of domestic workers in Jordan live in appalling conditions with many forced to work up to 19 hours per day and denied their salary. Amnesty International is urging the Jordanian authorities to ensure that the current review of employment regulations leads to a drastic improvement in their working conditions.
Jordan has some 40,000 [...]

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The Colombian government is painting a positive picture of the human rights situation in Colombia, despite increasing reports of forced internal displacement, attacks against social and human rights activists and killings by security forces, said Amnesty International in a report today.
“The Colombian authorities are in absolute denial, even refusing to admit there’s an armed conflict [...]

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Inter-American Commission Should Press Nations for Action
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is in a crucial position to bring overdue attention to the violations and abuses that women’s human rights defenders face in the Americas, four rights organizations said today after a historic hearing that raised these issues before the commission for the first time.
The [...]

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New Voluntary Standards Could Safeguard Freedom of Expression
A new voluntary standard that internet and telecom companies have agreed on could help safeguard freedom of expression and human rights in China and other countries where the internet is censored, Human Rights Watch said today.
Participants in the Global Network Initiative (GNI) include Human Rights Watch, Google, Microsoft, [...]

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To Avoid Torture Risk, Include Provision to Challenge Transfer
The United States should not transfer detainees in US military custody to Iraqi custody under a US-Iraqi security agreement if they face the risk of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.
The US government currently holds about 17,000 detainees, most of them Iraqis, citing UN Security Council resolutions [...]

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The suspension of the peace talks between the government of the Philippines and insurgents in the southern island of Mindanao threatens hundreds of thousands of civilians facing escalating hostilities, said Amnesty International in a new report today.
Amnesty International representatives travelled to Mindanao during the onset of heavy fighting in August to research the conflict, where [...]

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Killings of civilians
• More than 70,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in Colombia’s armed conflict over the past 20 years.
• At least 1,400 civilians were killed in 2007 (around 1,300 in 2006), compared with a recent high of 4,000 in 2002.
• Of those cases where the perpetrator is known, in 2007 paramilitaries were responsible [...]

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The Syrian authorities must immediately release 12 activists who have been victims of an unfair trial which could see them sentenced for up to 15 years in prison, Amnesty International said today.
“Syria must put an end to its policy of silencing peaceful dissent and punishing people who dare to speak out,” said Philip Luther, Deputy [...]

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Amnesty International’s Secretary General Irene Khan will lead a visit to Chile between 3 and 8 November 2008, ten years on from the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London.
During the visit, Irene Khan will meet  survivors and relatives of victims of human rights abuses committed during the Pinochet regime, as well as some of those [...]

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