Without unlimited freedom of expression and press freedom, true democracy cannot be achieved
Sunday, March 14, 2010   15:52 GMT    
IPS Direct to Your Inbox!
 - Africa
 - Asia-Pacific
     Afghanistan
     Iran
 - Caribbean
      Haiti
 - Europe
      Union in Diversity
 - Latin America
 - Mideast &
   Mediterranean
      Iraq
      Israel/Palestine
 - North America
      Neo-Cons
      Bush's Legacy
Agencia de Noticias Inter Press Service
Agencia de Noticias Inter Press Service
Subscribe
Agencia de Noticias Inter Press Service
Agencia de Noticias Inter Press Service
 - Development
      MDGs
      City Voices
      Corruption
 - Civil Society
 - Globalisation
 - Environment
      Energy Crunch
      Climate Change
      Tierramérica
 - Human Rights
 - Health
      HIV/AIDS
 - Indigenous Peoples
 - Economy & Trade
 - Labour
 - Population
     Reproductive Rights
     Migration&Refugees
 - Arts &
          Entertainment
 - Education
 - In Focus
Languages
   ENGLISH
   ESPAÑOL
   FRANÇAIS
   ARABIC
   DEUTSCH
   ITALIANO
   JAPANESE
   NEDERLANDS
   PORTUGUÊS
   SUOMI
   SVENSKA
   SWAHILI
IPS Inter Press Service News Agency

See picture details
MIDEAST: Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare
By Mel Frykberg
JERSUSALEM - Israeli riot police and soldiers have, since Friday, sealed off the Al Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine, restricting entry to women and Palestinian men over 50.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
THAILAND: In Convoys of Red, Rural Masses Stage Historic Protest
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK - An unprecedented show of force by men and women from Thailand’s rural hinterland was on display over the weekend as they poured into Bangkok in the tens of thousands to stake a claim on having a voice in shaping this South-east Asian kingdom’s national agenda.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
RIGHTS-MALAWI: Country Not Safe for Homosexuals
By Claire Ngozo
LILONGWE - Malawi is quickly becoming unsafe for homosexuals as the country’s police service recently launched a campaign to hunt down and arrest prominent people who are suspected of being gay.
MORE >>
 

US-ISRAEL: Tiff or Tipping Point?
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - "Condemn" is not a word that rolls trippingly off the tongue of a U.S. politician addressing anything having to do with actions, however objectionable, by Israel.
MORE >>
 

RIGHTS-GUATEMALA: 'Our Lives Are Cut Short at a Stroke'
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY - "This is a time of great tension because we know that at any moment, when we least expect it, our lives can be cut short at a stroke," Tito Gálvez, a leader in the Resistance Front for the Defence of Natural Resources and Rights of the Guatemalan Peoples (FRENA), told IPS.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Law on Forest Rights Fails to Deliver
By Manipadma Jena
BHUBANESWAR, India - A four-year-old landmark law that was supposed to bring profound changes in the lives of India’s tribal and forest-dwelling peoples has failed to deliver on that promise.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
RIGHTS: Gender Confab Marked by Political Uncertainties
By Thalif Deen and Anna Shen*
UNITED NATIONS - When a two-week meeting on gender empowerment concluded at U.N. headquarters Friday, there were several lingering questions crying out for answers.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
POLITICS-NIGERIA : In the Shadows of Men: Women’s Political Marginalisation
By Mustapha Muhammad
KANO - Ten years after Nigeria returned to civil rule women still play second fiddle in the male-dominated politics of Africa’s most populous nation, women politicians and activists say.
MORE >>
 

DEVELOPMENT-CAMEROON: Are Women the Magic Bullet for "Electoral Apathy"?
By Mohamadou Houmfa
YAOUNDE - A support network for women's political participation, is challenging head-on what it calls "electoral apathy", after noting a growing trend in electoral abstention.
MORE >>
 

RIGHTS: Guatemala, El Salvador Ordered to Heed Rulings
By Edgardo Ayala
SAN SALVADOR - Guatemala and El Salvador have a terrible record in terms of compliance with the recommendations and sentences handed down by the inter-American human rights bodies on cases involving appalling abuses like forced disappearance, torture and massacres committed during the armed conflicts in the two Central American countries.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
PHILIPPINES: Reproductive Health Tests Candidates’ Political Guts
By Kara Santos
MANILA - Filipino voters who have yet to make up their minds about their choice for their next president are being advised: look at each aspirant’s stance on reproductive health to help them gauge the candidate’s leadership mettle and political guts.
MORE >>
 

IRAQ: Women Miss Saddam
By Abdu Rahman and Dahr Jamail*
BAGHDAD - Under Saddam Hussein, women in government got a year's maternity leave; that is now cut to six months. Under the Personal Status Law in force since Jul. 14, 1958, when Iraqis overthrew the British-installed monarchy, Iraqi women had most of the rights that Western women do.
MORE >>
 

EGYPT: Population Growth Overtakes Literacy Rise
By Cam McGrath
LUXOR - Literacy programmes are teaching millions of Egyptians to read, but are struggling to keep up with the country's high population growth.
MORE >>
 

MIDEAST: Building Settlements, Not Peace
By Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler
JERUSALEM - "The best laid-schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley" (Scottish for 'going wrong').
MORE >>
 

RIGHTS: U.S. Concerned Over Curbs on NGOs, Press, Internet
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - Releasing its annual report on the state of human rights around the world, the U.S. State Department Thursday said it was increasingly concerned about curbs imposed by foreign governments on civil society groups, the press, and Internet use.
MORE >>
 

POLITICS: Sri Lanka Garners Support Against U.N. Probe
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - Sri Lanka, which won a grueling decades-long battle against one of the world's most ferocious terrorist organisations last May, has scored a diplomatic victory in its ongoing war of words with the United Nations.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
CHILE: Aftershocks Rock Inaugural Ceremony
By Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO - While Chile's new rightwing President Sebastián Piñera, who announced that he would lead "a government of reconstruction," was being sworn in Thursday, the earthquake-ravaged country was shaken by major aftershocks.
MORE >>
 

KENYA: Proposed Constitutional Amendment Sets Back Women’s Rights
By Susan Anyangu-Amu
NAIROBI - Lillian Mutuku, a 34-year-old mother of three, describes her home in Katine area, in Kenya’s Eastern province Tala, as a harsh place to live. The soil is poor, she says, the sun beats down mercilessly and vegetation is sparse.
MORE >>
 

EGYPT: U.N. Slams Abuse of Emergency Law
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - Despite diplomatic maneuvering designed to block any review of its human rights record, a United Nations special rapporteur has told the U.N. Human Rights Council that proposed changes in Egypt's constitution "would create a permanent legal state of emergency".
MORE >>
 

SOUTH AFRICA: Gender Loses Out in Basic Education Crisis
By Ann Hellman
CAPE TOWN - With the 15th-year review of the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women taking place at the ongoing Commission on the Status of Women in New York, South African teachers and education experts say they fear that a special focus on the advancement of girls is getting lost amidst the growing levels of poverty in the country.
MORE >>
 

See picture details
Q&A: Equality Is Feminism
Sabina Zaccaro interviews Nobel Peace Laureate SHIRIN EBADI*
UNITED NATIONS - "I think that Islam has been misinterpreted. No Islamic law says violate women's rights and repress women," says Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi. "Democracy, human rights and women leadership are absolutely not hostile to the Islamic doctrine." And women in Iran are well aware of that, she says.
MORE >>
 

 

Next >>

 
RSS News Feeds RSS/XML
Make as home Make IPS News your homepage!
Free Newsletters Free Email Newsletters
IPS Mobile IPS Mobile
Text Only Text Only

Human Rights - News in RSSOne world, one humanity, now one court to defend its rights. Another step towards universal human rights, but not remotely a step far enough. The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights more than half a century ago, but that has done little to stop violations the world over, just as the Geneva Convention has not protected prisoners of war enough. Democracy itself and the freedom it presupposes has not been protective enough. This is the century to move from politicisation of human rights towards humanising political ways. IPS keeps an eye on that difficult path.

Bitter Pill - Obstacles to Affordable Medicine
Roxana Saberi Charged With Spying
Colombia Hostage Emergency
Flare-Ups In Sri Lanka
Guns and Roses: IPS's Reporting On Global Armed Conflicts and Resolution Efforts
The Dark Side - IPS's coverage of terrorism
Cluster Bombs
Women: Leading the Way
Children Under Siege
Dictatorships Meet Justice, Decades On
Development Deadline 2015
Religion in the News
News in RSS
MEXICO: Music and Dance Classes Foster Tolerance, Self-Esteem
MIDEAST: Israel Lands in Public Relations Nightmare
THAILAND: In Convoys of Red, Rural Masses Stage Historic Protest
RIGHTS-MALAWI: Country Not Safe for Homosexuals
US-ISRAEL: Tiff or Tipping Point?
RIGHTS-GUATEMALA: 'Our Lives Are Cut Short at a Stroke'
ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Law on Forest Rights Fails to Deliver
HEALTH: U.S. AIDS Fund Flat-Lining, Groups Complain
MEXICO: Consumers on the Offensive
RIGHTS: Gender Confab Marked by Political Uncertainties
More >>
Tribune des Droits Humains /  Geneve 2006
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR)
Disability Rights Commission (DRC)
Human Rights First
United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF)
U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees
International Court of Justice (ICJ)
U.N. Commission on Human Rights
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
International League of Human Rights
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
African Commission on Human and People's Rights
Asian Human Rights Commission
European Centre for Minority Issues
IPS is not responsible for the content of external sites