Human Rights Watch and the Nepal-based Advocacy Forum said today in a letter to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly that the government’s proposed bill to criminalize enforced “disappearances” and to provide for an independent high-level commission to investigate cases occurring during Nepal’s bloody civil war could be a step toward systematic impunity for human rights violations in [...]

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Russian authorities should take immediate steps to stop South Ossetian militias from attacking ethnic Georgians in Akhalgori district in South Ossetia. Russia should also ensure that local residents remain able to move freely to and from the rest of Georgia.
“South Ossetian militias are running wild attacking ethnic Georgians in Akhalgori,” said Tanya Lokshina, deputy director [...]

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Jamaica’s crime epidemic must be solved with reforms to the police and the justice system, not with more death, said Amnesty International after the Jamaican House of Representatives voted a motion to retain the death penalty.
“Supporting the death penalty to tackle Jamaica’s spiralling violence and crime is like trying to put out a fire with [...]

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Amnesty International today called on the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to pardon 59 year old medical scientist Wo Weihan, echoing his daughter’s concerns about the fairness of his trial and conviction.
The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court told his family last week to apply for visitation permits within seven days. The Court had previously [...]

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Today, the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) sent a letter to Czech authorities expressing its concern regarding recent violent clashes between the police and anti-Romani protesters and the rise of anti-Romani hate speech in the Czech Republic’s public domain.
On 17 November 2008, demonstrators affiliated with the far right Workers’ Party diverted from their declared route, [...]

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Congolese state security forces have killed an estimated 500 people and detained about 1,000 more, many of whom have been tortured, in the two years since elections that were meant to bring democracy. The brutal repression against perceived opponents began during the 2006 elections that carried President Joseph Kabila to power, and has continued to [...]

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The OSCE Mission in Kosovo launched a campaign against human trafficking today, and called on the public to report any relevant information using an anti-trafficking helpline.
“Trafficking in human beings is a serious crime and a gross violation of human rights worldwide,” said Ambassador Werner Almhofer, the Head of the OSCE Mission.
“Unfortunately, human trafficking occurs in [...]

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The Sri Lankan government should take immediate steps to address the deteriorating human rights situation in the Eastern Province, where there has been an increase in killings and abductions in recent weeks.
Many abuses in the Eastern Province appear to have been carried out by armed elements of the Tamil Makkal Vidulthalai Pulikal (TMVP). The TMVP [...]

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Amnesty International today called on the Colombian Congress not to approve the draft “Victims’ Law”.  This draft followed the government’s watering down of the original bill, which would have gone some way towards guaranteeing reparation to the victims of the country’s 40-year internal armed conflict.
“The original draft did offer some hope of reparation to the [...]

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The Kuala Lumpur High Court has acquitted Dr Irene Fernandez, co-founder and executive director of Tenaganita, a nongovernmental organization that exposes the abuse of migrant workers in Malaysia.
The first words as she was congratulated, Irene said, “I am free! At last I am free!”
A scheduled court appeals hearing, which was to last until Friday 28 [...]

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