The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Friday concluded its review of US compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) . The committee praised the US for reauthorizing key laws, including the Violence Against Women Act and the Voting Rights Act, but also expressed [...]

Total payments in clergy abuse settlements nearly doubled in 2007 to reach $526 million, the highest number ever, according to an annual report by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops released Friday. The number of new allegations of abuse fell for the third year in a row, dropping by three percent. The total number of [...]

Two former Bosnian Serb police officers pleaded not guilty Friday to war crime charges before the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Krsto Savic is accused of involvement in the arrest and killing of 80 Muslims in Kalinovik during the Bosnian war , while Milko Mucibabic is accused of involvement [...]

A bill that would overturn a decision by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny a greenhouse emissions waiver to California was introduced in the US House of Representatives Thursday. The bill, which would allow states to introduce higher greenhouse emissions standards than those mandated by federal law, would immediately grant California's waiver request [...]

Chinese rights activist Teng Biao has disappeared and is thought to have been detained by state authorities, rights group China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group said Friday. Teng, a lawyer with close ties to civil rights activist Hu Jia , did not return home Thursday evening, and neighbors witnessed an unidentified man being dragged into [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Friday that she will not seek a second term when her commission ends on June 30. Arbour's decision not to seek a second term was made public earlier this week, but Friday's comments during her annual report to the UN Human Rights Council mark Arbour's official [...]

Chadian President Idriss Deby said Thursday that he may pardon six French aid workers convicted in Chad in December of attempting to kidnap 103 African children within a month. In February, Deby said that he is prepared to pardon the French citizens , but that he would only do so upon an official request from [...]

Awzar Thi : "Human rights advocates, lawyers and journalists are often concerned with how special laws are used to suppress dissent and deny basic freedoms in countries around the world. Internal security acts and emergency decrees attract widespread interest and strong critiques. How ordinary laws are used to the same ends often obtains less notice. [...]

The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) Thursday condemned Israel's most recent offensive in the Gaza Strip in a resolution passed by the seventh session of the HRC. The resolution, which was introduced by Pakistan and other Muslim countries, likened Israel's attacks to collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and called for an immediate cease fire by [...]

A court in Niger sentenced the editor-in-chief of the bi-monthly L'Eveil Plus newspaper to one month in prison Thursday for "discrediting" judicial rulings by publishing an article contrasting the different sentences handed down to two politicians convicted of similar offenses. Boubacar Gourouza was also ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 CFA francs. Reporters Without [...]