human rights

A new United Nations report published Monday reveals evidence of the "systematic" torture and mistreatment of detainees in Afghan detention facilities, including of children, showing more reforms are needed to build a fairer detention system in Afghanistan.

News of the murder of prominent Syrian Kurdish activist Mishaal al-Tammo comes on the back of several high-profile assassinations and attempts on the lives of public figures around the world in the last 12 months.

Despite its brutal crackdown on protesters and international calls to step down, the Syrian regime remains defiant, with the foreign minister Sunday threatening "tough measures" against any country that recognizes the newly formed opposition council.

Friday 7 October marks the 10th anniversary of the foreign troop's intervention in Afghanistan and recent polls show that 66 per cent of women said they feel safer now than they did 10 years ago and 72 per cent believe their lives are better now than they were 10 years ago. However, 87 per cent of all women in Afghanistan suffer domestic abuse, proving that there is still a long way to go before Afghan women can truly feel protected.

After 10 years of foreign military presence, the future of Afghanistan looks gloomy, with a weak and struggling government accused of corruption and an increase in violent insurgency as the promised withdrawal in 2014 looms.

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced his plan to bring ex-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he is preparing his return to the Kremlin as the country's next president.

Catgate, which derived from a Theresa May's claim that a Bolivian immigrant avoided deportation due to his pet cat, has rocked the cabinet and the Home Secretary's credibility, with the judiciary even commenting on the affair.

The Saudi Arabian government blamed an unnamed foreign power, with rumours pointing to Iran, for instigating trouble in the heavily Shia-populated area around the city of al-Qatif after 14 people were injured in clashes on Monday.

With Russia and China vetoing a UN Security Council resolution threatening action against Syria following the deadly and brutal crackdown on protests, cracks within the UN Scecurity Council are becoming more apparent.

Human skulls taken from Namibia by Germany during the colonial period have finally been returned after more than 100 years, but now historians and activists demand that Germany pay reparations for the slaughter of more than 60,000 people.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi claimed that his role in the attack has been given too much weight and the truth will surface soon.

Ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, British Home Secretary Theresa May suggested that this might be a good time to abolish the Human Rights Act.

As high profile Al-Qaeda leader Awlaki was killed in a strike on his convoy directed by the CIA and carried out with the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command's firepower, Obama it seems wants to prove he is in control when it comes to the war against terror, leaving little room for the republicans to attack him on the subject during the next presidential campaign.

Yusef Nadarkhani, an Iranian pastor facing the death sentence for converting from Islam to Christianity might be liberated after his lawyer told AFP on Thursday he is "optimistic" that the final verdict could see his client set free.

Just two days after Saudi King Abdullah's announced that Saudi women would be allowed to participate in elections, two Saudi women were punished for breaking the ban on female driving with one being sentenced to 10 lashes by a court in Jeddah while another was detained in Riyadh, leading rights activists to question the King's apparent new reformist tendencies.

While Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for a return to negotiation to try and prevent the Palestinian statehood bid from seeing light, recent settlements development prove that if peace will not come out of the UN it is even more unlikely to come from peace talks.

Syrian troops firing machine guns and backed by tanks have stormed into the restive central town of Rastan, activists say.

The residents at the UK's largest illegal Travellers site have won a temporary reprieve in their long-running battle to stay on Dale Farm.

For protesters still reeling from the execution of Troy Davis in Georgia, his death provides yet more evidence that the U.S. should abolish the death penalty.

Two Mexicans were recently accused of terrorism and sabotage for using the internet to spread false rumours about drug-related violence and, after much debate, the charges were dropped but the case is still causing an upheaval, as once praised for instigating change and helping revolution, governments are now accusing social networks of helping to spread violence.

Troy Davis' execution has been hailed as a miscarriage of justice and yet another illustration of racial discrimination but despite calls from activists, politicians and even religious figures the US state of Georgia went ahead and executed the young man even though doubts over his 1991 murder conviction that saw him become a symbol for global efforts to end the death penalty.

Despite months of protests and a harsh response from the governments of both Yemen and Syria, it seems that in both countries protesters are left to fend for themselves as despite calls for calm to be restored, the international community has instead focused on Libya.

Bailiffs have arrived at Dale Farm in Essex urging campaigners to stop obstructing the eviction process amid fears the standoff between the traveller community and the enforcement officers could turn sour with supporters warning that the vulnerable will be the most affected.

The standoff between the bailiffs and the residents of Dale Farm has started with members of the traveller community and activists claiming they will fight the "ethnic cleansing". So in the wake of David Cameron's speech on the riots with a strong emphasis on morality and days after singer Kelis spoke out about the insidious nature of racism in Britain, is the Dale Farm eviction an illustration of the increasing dislike of cultural differences or simply based on the non-respect of the ...

Following the launch of Adbusters' Occupy Wall Street protest on Saturday, hacker collective Anonymous has released a fresh statement and live video feed explaining and chronicling its involvement.

Months after ousting Mubarak, the dictator who many called the Pharaoh, Egyptians are still living under emergency laws and are ruled by a military council full of the former president's old ministers and advisors while the economic and social situation has slowly continued to degrade.

Australian passports will carry a new gender category beyond male and female with the indeterminate or X category being introduced in an effort to curb discrimination against transgender and intersex.

Anonymous has issued a series of statements alleging it has entered the final planning stages for its involvement in Adbusters' Occupy Wall Street Protest.

The fight for Sirte, Muammar Gaddafi's birthplace and one of his last strongholds, has started and the forces of Libya's interim Council have now entered the outskirts of the coastal city, according to Libyan officials.

UK has tightened rules effectively curbing immigration.