Overseas news archive

16.03.2006 The creation of a UN Human Rights Council - to replace the much-criticized Human Rights Commission - has been greeted as "the first step on a new road towards the worldwide enjoyment of human rights and the protection of victims".

16.03.2006 IUCN-World Conservation Union Director General Achim Steiner has been nominated by UN Secretary=General Kofi Annan as the next Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

16.03.2006 The acquittal on defamation charges of Thai journalist Supinya Klangnarong and the Thai Post has been welcomed as a victory for free speech advocates in the region.

15.03.2006 Pakistan’s military government risks increasing threats to domestic and regional security if it insists on dominating post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, undermines civilian participation and allows banned jihadi groups to continue to wield influence, according to the International Crisis Group.

15.03.2006 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam subject Sri Lankan Tamils in Western countries to intimidation, extortion and even violence to ensure a flow of funds for operations in Sri Lanka and to suppress criticism of rights abuses, a new report claims today.

15.03.2006 International children’s agencies have called for urgent and far-reaching action to ensure that every child receives a birth certificate, a piece of paper that is crucial for international efforts to combat global poverty.

15.03.2006 'Deep concern' has been voiced over the potential effect on children of a recommendation by the UK Public Accounts Committee of increased use of detention for the purposes of immigration control.

15.03.2006 Pastoralists hit by the current East African drought may take 15 years to recover their livelihoods unless they are given appropriate support, an international development agency said today.

15.03.2006 The US government is to lead an international public-private partnership aimed at increasingthe range of HIV drugs available for the treatment of children.

15.03.2006 Police and security forces tore down the homes of more than 300 poor families in the Angolan capital in an operation in which a four-year-old girl was shot and several residents were beaten, according to eyewitnesses.

15.03.2006 Campaigners have criticised Baroness Tonge for calling the Kalahari Bushmen's hunting methods "primitive" and their way of life "stone age", for dismissing the court case the Bushmen are taking against the Botswana government, and repeating claims about their way of life that have not been upheld in high court evidence.

14.03.2006 A Burmese government plan to dam the Salween River "is not about electricity or irrigation. It is about subjugation and control. The dams will mean more soldiers, more landmines, and the gradual annihilation" of the country's Karenni people, claims a new report.

14.03.2006 The Taliban’s old adversaries in northern Afghanistan are disarming – but some of their weapons are being smuggled to the insurgents in the south.

14.03.2006 Maoist rebels are launching a 20-day blockade of Nepal’s major urban centres from Tuesday in a move they say is part of a new, more intensive struggle to overthrow the government.
* OneWorld UK Guide to Nepal

13.03.2006 Most of the world’s largest rivers are losing their connection to the sea, with nearly a quarter of those left risk being disconnected in the next 15 years.

13.03.2006 Violence against Iraqi women who do not wear headscarves has more than tripled in the three years since the US invasion, according to the Women's Rights Association in Iraq.

13.03.2006 Commonwealth countries must put the genocide of tribal peoples behind them by signing up to international law, an indigenous peoples lobby group said in a statement marking Commonwealth Day.

13.03.2006 As Iraq suffered one of its bloodiest days of violence on Sunday, the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq called for reconciliation, unity and an end to violence and pointed out that more than 50 aid workers had been killed since 2003.
* Iraqi TV journalist killed from station that has lost 11 reporters since fighting began
* Women say No to War

13.03.2006 The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has reprimanded the Botswana government over its eviction and harassment of the Gana and Gwi Bushmen.

13.03.2006 The African Union has extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region by six months, after which it will transfer the operation to the UN.
* Foreign Office grants visa to top Sudan official despite UN sanctions