Human rights

Afghan women, girls face array of challenges after deadly earthquakes, UN says

By Associated Press

An update from U.N. Women highlighted some of the problems women are facing in areas of Herat province, where a series of violent earthquakes and aftershocks this month killed thousands of people, more than 90% of them women and children,…

Activists turn backs on U.S. officials as UN-backed human rights review of United States concludes

By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press

The protesters led the demonstration as U.S. Ambassador Michele Taylor wrapped up two days of hearings on the United States before the independent Human Rights Committee.

UN rights experts report a rise of efforts in Venezuela to curtail democracy ahead of 2024 election

By Associated Press

A U.N.-backed panel investigating human rights violations in Venezuela says the South American country's government has intensified efforts to curtail democratic freedoms with use of threats, surveillance and harassment.

The Taliban have waged a systematic assault on freedom in Afghanistan, says UN human rights chief

By Associated Press

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said that human rights are in a state of collapse in Afghanistan more than two years after the Taliban returned to power.

A half-century after Pinochet's coup, some Chileans remember the brutal dictatorship fondly

By Eva Vergara, Daniel Politi, Associated Press

The world remembers Gen. Augusto Pinochet as the dictator whose regime tortured, killed and disappeared 3,065 people in the name of fighting communism.

A human rights group in Niger says it can't get access to officials who were detained following coup

By Sam Mednick, Associated Press

A spokesperson for the ruling junta has said the detained officials were being treated humanely. The junta says it plans to prosecute Bazoum for "high treason" and undermining state security, crimes that are eligible for the death penalty.

Rights group urges rapid international intervention to end spiraling gang violence in Haiti

By Dánica Coto, Associated Press

A human rights group urged the international community on Monday to intervene quickly to end spiraling violence by gangs in Haiti as it detailed the brutal rapes and killings committed in the troubled nation's capital.

UN Security Council to hold first open meeting on North Korea human rights situation since 2017

By Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press

Thomas-Greenfield said the council "must address the horrors, the abuses and crimes being perpetrated" by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's regime against its own people as well as the people of Japan and South Korea.

Senate Democrats urge Biden to withhold $320 million in military aid to Egypt over rights abuses

By Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press

Nine senior Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are urging the Biden administration to withhold about a quarter of the United States’ more than $1 billion in annual military aid to Egypt for a third year.

Human rights court rules in favor of Olympic champion Semenya, testosterone rules may persist

By Gerald Imray, Associated Press

At least three other Olympic medalists have also been impacted by the rules that set limits on the level of natural testosterone female athletes may have if they want to compete.