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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: human rights

human rights stories: 114 news summaries

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OPINION

Obama Coming Up Short
on Human Rights

President's actions don't match the promises that wowed Berliners

Oct 20, 09 1:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama's decision to skip the celebrations of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall highlights the gap between his rhetoric on the campaign trail and the realities of his presidency, writes Bret Stephens. Obama hailed the "dream of freedom" in his big speech in Berlin last... More »

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China • Iran • human rights • Berlin • Sudan • foreign policy • Burma • Obama administration • President Obama

Two Pilots
Face Extradition in Dirty War Death Flights

Some 1,000 Argentines were hurled into sea

Oct 6, 09 5:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - Two Argentines charged with piloting notorious "death flights" during the country's brutal military dictatorship are facing extradition. The pilots, one arrested in Argentina and the other in Spain, are accused of flying the flights from which more than 1,000 drugged and blindfolded students, intellectuals, and trade unionists... More »

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Latin America • human rights • war crimes • Argentina • disappearance • dictatorship • pilot • Dirty War

Poland OKs Chemical Castration for Pedophiles

Controversial new law also covers incest

Sep 26, 09 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new law in Poland will require convicted pedophiles or those who rape family members to undergo chemical castration when their prison term is up. Human rights groups immediately raised objections, but Poland's prime minister isn't budging—he says the criminals in these cases don't qualify as "human,"... More »

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human rights • crime • Poland • pedophile • sex offenders • punishment • incest • castration

 US to Engage Burmese Junta 

Clinton announces change in policy, says sanctions will remain

Sep 24, 09 6:09 AM CDT
(Newser) - The US will directly engage with Burma's military leadership in addition to its current sanctions, Hillary Clinton said yesterday. The secretary of State acknowledged that sanctions alone had failed to change "the lack of democracy in Burma and the authorities’ abysmal record on human rights," and it was... More »

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Hillary Clinton • diplomacy • human rights • economic sanctions • Myanmar • Burma • Aung San Suu Kyi • military junta

Spain Nabs Alleged Pilot in 'Dirty War'

Charged in 'death flights' that dumped Argentines into sea

Sep 23, 09 12:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Spanish police have arrested a commercial pilot they say flew "death flights" that dumped political malcontents into the sea for Argentina's junta during the Dirty War, the BBC reports. Julio Alberto Poch was nabbed in Valencia as he was preparing to fly a Transavia passenger plane to Amsterdam.... More »

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human rights • Spain • war crimes • Argentina • Julio Poch

 Yemen Right-Wingers 
 Blocked Push to End 
 Child Marriages 

Conservatives claimed introducing minimum marriage age was un-Islamic

Sep 17, 09 3:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - Conservative lawmakers in Yemen, where a 12-year-old girl died giving birth to her husband's child last week, shot down an attempt to set the minimum marriage age at 17 earlier this year, CNN reports. The lawmakers kept the bill from reaching the country's president by arguing that it violated Islamic... More »

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human rights • children • Islamic Sharia law • childbirth • Yemen • child brides • child marriage • underage marriage

Yemeni Child Bride, 12,
Dies in Childbirth

Girl forced to marry 24-year-old dies after three days in labor

Sep 15, 09 3:03 AM CDT
(Newser) - A pregnant 12-year-old Yemeni girl has died after three days of excruciating labor that also claimed her baby, a human rights group tells CNN. Fawziya Ammodi's poverty-stricken family forced her to drop out of school last year to marry a 24-year-old man. More than half of Yemeni girls are married... More »

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human rights • children • baby • childbirth • Yemen • human rights abuse • child rape • child brides

Cuban Activists Rally Around Drunken YouTube Ranter

Man thrown in prison for video plea for food

Sep 8, 09 9:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Cuban activists have found an unlikely cause celebré in the case of Juan Carlos González Marcos, who was sent to prison last month for drunkenly interrupting a shoot for a video about reggaeton with a rant about hunger. González was drinking, as he often did, at his neighborhood... More »

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YouTube • human rights • hunger • free speech • Cuba

Pentagon Tells Red Cross Who's in Secret Prisons

Military grants group access to prisoners

Aug 22, 09 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - After years of refusing the Red Cross information about terror suspects held in two secret camps in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has quietly reversed course, the New York Times reports. The military has begun providing the identities of prisoners at the sites in Balad, Iraq, and Bagram, Afghanstan. Under... More »

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CIA • Pentagon • human rights • US military • Department of Defense • Red Cross • terror suspects

 Obama Defends 
 Mexico's Drug War 

Cartels are the biggest violators of human rights, president says

Aug 10, 09 2:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama expressed his support for Mexico’s war on drug cartels after today's North American summit, the New York Times reports. Obama defended Felipe Calderón—who some criticize for not holding the Mexican army accountable for reported human rights abuses against the drug traders—saying that the ruthless... More »

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Barack Obama • human rights • Mexico • Mexican drug war • Mexican army • drug cartel • Obama administration • President Obama • drug cartels

(Newser) - More than $100 million in anti-narcotics aid to Mexico has been delayed because of alleged human rights abuses in the country's war with drug cartels, the Washington Post reports. Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of a subcommittee that oversees foreign aid spending, blocked plans to release a favorable State Department report... More »

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human rights • Mexico • State Department • Patrick Leahy • Mexican drug war

 Judge Orders Gitmo Detainee 
 Returned to Afghanistan 

But Mohammed Jawad may still face conventional prosecution

Jul 30, 09 2:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Guantanamo Bay inmate may be released to Afghanistan next month after successfully challenging his detention under habeas corpus, the Washington Post reports. US District Judge Ellen Huvelle ordered Mohammed Jawad’s release based on the dodgy evidence against him—mainly, a confession allegedly obtained by threatening to kill Jawad... More »

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Afghanistan • Congress • human rights • Guantanamo Bay • detainee • Guantanamo prisoners • confession • Mohammed Jawad

(Newser) - The kidnapping and murder of activist Natalya Estemirova in Chechnya was horrific, her friend writes in a Washington Post op-ed, but not surprising in the "grossly misruled" region where "anyone who challenges the authorities risks her life." Tanya Loshkina, a director of Human Rights Watch, had... More »

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Russia • human rights • Vladimir Putin • Chechnya • Natalya Estemirova

(Newser) - A human rights activist whose probes into abuse by authorities were a constant irritation to authorities has been kidnapped and murdered in Chechnya, the Wall Street Journal reports. Natalya Estemirova was found shot dead along a roadside hours after witnesses saw her being bundled into a car. Chechnya's president, pro-Russia... More »

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human rights • murder • Chechnya • activist • Anna Politkovskaya • human rights activists • Ramzan Kadurov • Natalya Estemirova

(Newser) - The Bush administration stonewalled human rights organizations and branches of the US government that sought an investigation into the alleged mass murder of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan in 2001, the New York Times reports. As many as 1,500 people may have died in the incident, under the command... More »

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Afghanistan • Bush administration • Taliban • investigation • FBI • human rights • war crimes • Department of Defense • Northern Alliance • Obama administration • mass graves • Abdul Rashid Dostum

 Mexican Army Slammed 
 for Drug War Torture 

US holds up aid until Mexico can 'pass' human rights investigation

Jul 9, 09 3:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - A growing body of evidence points to widespread human rights abuses by the Mexican military in its battle against drug cartels, the Washington Post reports. Human rights groups say the army has responded to the traffickers' brutal tactics with equal brutality, carrying out deadly campaigns of "disappearances," forced... More »

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torture • human rights • Mexico • Mexican drug war • Mexican army • drug cartel • human rights abuse • drug traffickers

 Shell Settles 
 Nigeria Case 
 for $15.5M 

Saro-Wiwa settlement is milestone for international law

Jun 9, 09 5:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Royal Dutch Shell agreed to settle a lawsuit over the 1995 deaths of Ken Saro-Wiwa and other Nigerians for $15.5 million, reports the Financial Times. Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists against petroleum exploitation were executed by the Nigerian military government, allegedly at the behest of the oil giant. In... More »

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Africa • oil • human rights • Shell • Nigeria • petroleum • international law • Royal Dutch Shell • Ken Saro-Wiwa

(Newser) - Judges in Spain are pressing human rights cases against top officials around the world, prompting threats abroad and criticisms at home, the Washington Post reports. Invoking so-called universal jurisdiction, judges are probing 16 cases, including US approval of torture and Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. But nervous Spanish lawmakers... More »

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China • Israel • human rights • Spain • human rights abuse • judges

Pelosi Won't Slap China on Human Rights

Long critical of Beijing, speaker will focus on environment in visit

May 24, 09 1:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - Like Hillary Clinton before her, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will sidestep Beijing's human rights record on her weeklong trip to China that began today, reports the Washington Post. Pelosi, who has been a vocal critic of the Tiananmen Square massacre and Chinese policies on Tibet, says the focus of her... More »

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China • climate change • Nancy Pelosi • human rights • Beijing • Tiananmen Square • Tibet • human rights abuse

Obama Meets With Human- Rights Leaders

Under fire for recent moves, holds 'probing' pre-speech discussion

May 21, 09 10:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Dogged by criticism over recent decisions, President Obama invited a crew of human-rights and civil-liberties leaders and academics to discuss Guantanamo, tribunals, and transparency ahead of today’s speech on similar themes, the Huffington Post reports. Obama said he was unhappy with Congress’ denial of funds to close Gitmo and... More »

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Barack Obama • military tribunal • human rights • Guantanamo Bay • civil liberties • academics • human rights activists • transparency • President Obama • meeting • torture photos

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