Full Coverage: Human rights

31.05.2004 The custodial death of a Christian accused of blasphemy in Pakistan last week has highlighted the harassment of religious minorities, who often face attacks from fanatics and apathy from authorities.

30.05.2004 «Les systèmes judiciaires des Amériques sont détournés de leur rôle et sont employés pour harceler les défenseurs des droits humains, ce qui les gêne pour remplir leur mission au service des droits humains», a déclaré Amnesty International alors que l'Union européenne (UE) et les États d'Amérique latine se réunissent à Mexico pour discuter des questions de cohésion sociale et d'intégration régionale.

28.05.2004 The murder of a university don in eastern Sri Lanka this week following a spate of killings in clashes between the two factions of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas has rekindled fears of ethnic warfare in the country.

28.05.2004 The body of an Iraqi would-be asylum seeker who died trying to enter Britain in 2001 has been left in a mortuary for almost three years because there are no funds to pay for its return.

28.05.2004 Indian NGO, Narmada Bachao Andolan says jailed villagers, who have gone on a hunger strike, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh are not being allowed to meet lawyers and relatives.

28.05.2004 A new report by a global research organisation - id21 - says that malnutrition levels in South Asia are high for children under five years of age.

27.05.2004 Amid an international uproar over prisoner abuse in Iraq, a lawyers' body in Indian administered Kashmir says relentless torture and malnourishment has caused insanity and organ failure among many inmates in this state's prisons, some of whom are from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

27.05.2004 "We were beaten and mostly were tied in the 'helicopter' position and tortured in groups of 10 to 15. We were tied up day and night, except for three short food and toilet breaks. I was tied up for two weeks. One of us got very ill with bronchitis and there was no medical treatmentÂ… Some got paralysed in the arms and legs." - Eritrean detainee in Adi Abeto prison

26.05.2004 PRISTINA, 25 May 2004 - A new human rights report from the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, issued today, shows that the March 17-19 violence further complicated the situation for Kosovo's smaller communities.

26.05.2004 Leading human rights group Amnesty International Wednesday said efforts by several governments -- including many in Asia -- to fight terrorism through stringent domestic measures in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the US are curtailing human rights across the world.

26.05.2004 Members of an Islamist vigilante group in Bangladesh have issued death threats to journalists reporting on their activities, ratifying a just-released report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that includes this country among the "World's Worst Places to be a Journalist."

26.05.2004 Members of an Islamist vigilante group in Bangladesh have issued death threats to journalists reporting on their activities, ratifying a just-released report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that includes this country among the "World's Worst Places to be a Journalist."

26.05.2004 Monday, May 24, 2004 - The Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, UNDP and OHCHR today presented the assessment reports on human rights situation in the first 16 municipalities within the RMAP - Rights based municipal assessment programme. Although these reports only contain the information gathered during the assessment phase, the second phase has already started - Planning Municipal Development Strategies and their Implementation.

25.05.2004 Villagers opposed to the construction of a big dam in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are on an indefinite hunger strike to protest what they describe as their illegal confinement after a demonstration last week.

25.05.2004 In a bid to control education in Nepal, Maoist rebels are abducting hundreds of teachers from far-flung rural areas to indoctrinate them, causing many terrorized educationists to flee their posts.

25.05.2004 Une enquête indépendante et exhaustive doit être menée sur la mort intolérable de plus de 100 jeunes détenus de la prison de San Pedro Sula, afin d'établir les responsabilités, actives ou par négligence, dans les faits qui se sont déroulés le 17 mai 2004, a fait savoir Amnesty International.

24.05.2004 Refugees based in various locales of West Africa can now communicate with one another, thanks to a phone service set up by the UN Refugee agency.

24.05.2004 A petition which urges governments to give more priority to fighting the crime of human trafficking and to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers.

24.05.2004 Indian NGO - Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra - working in the north Indian hills has successfully encouraged nomadic tribes, the Van Gujjars,
to undertake education.

21.05.2004 As India's first Sikh prime minister readies to take oath Saturday, members of the minority community are already vocalizing their demands, including building a memorial for victims of religious riots and reopening a probe into a politically motivated anti-Sikh holocaust in 1984.