Whoever ends up the winner in Iraq's hotly contested parliamentary election, the key priorities for the newly elected government should be the same: prevent another catastrophic civil war and ensure respect for the rights of all Iraqis.
Eight years ago, Reed Brody stumbled upon the records of one of Africa's most brutal leaders, Chad's Hissène Habré. Now, two decades after he fell from power, Habré finally faces charges for his crimes -- if, that is, the trial actually happens.
Like torture victims, patients in severe pain told us that all they had wanted was for the pain to stop. Many torture victims do or say anything they think might stop the torture. Patients with untreated pain told us that they had contemplated suicide, told friends and relatives that they wanted to die, and prayed for death.
Usually, when one thinks of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, prisoners--not patients-- come to mind. The mistreatment of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prison involved medically trained individuals participating in so-called "biscuit" or "behavioral science consultation teams," but we rarely hear about ill-treatment by health providers as part of more routine medical practice.
Natalia Estemirova was Chechnya's great champion of human rights until her kidnap and murder last month. On the 40th day after her death, her friend Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch commemorates a uniquely courageous and selfless woman.
British forces did of course invade, occupy and govern part of Iraq and Saddam's torture chambers were shut down. But the evidence has grown that they were replaced with new forms of abuse of detainees, not only by the US but also by the British.
Since 2008, a wave of punitive house burnings has started in Chechnya, the latest chapter in the blood-soaked history of this republic in Russia’s North Caucasus. A new report from Human Rights Watch documents more than a dozen incidents of torchings in which the authorities were clearly responsible.
After the recent assassination attempt against the president of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the question of whether Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the Chechen republic, will be granted control over the neighboring Ingushetia has become a hot topic of debate. Yevkurov is now lying unconscious in the hospital and Kadyrov is proclaiming that President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia has given him a mandate to lead counter-insurgency operations in Ingushetia.
They might end up as costly baubles on sale in shops around the world. But for some diamonds mined in Zimbabwe, the journey begins in massive illegal pit mines where men, women, and children are forced to work long days under the brutal authority of government troops, who took over the mine in a spree of bloodshed.
Whoever ends up the winner in Iraq's hotly contested parliamentary election, the key priorities for the newly elected government should be the same: prevent another catastrophic civil war and ensure respect for the rights of all Iraqis.
Eight years ago, Reed Brody stumbled upon the records of one of Africa's most brutal leaders, Chad's Hissène Habré. Now, two decades after he fell from power, Habré finally faces charges for his crimes -- if, that is, the trial actually happens.
Like torture victims, patients in severe pain told us that all they had wanted was for the pain to stop. Many torture victims do or say anything they think might stop the torture. Patients with untreated pain told us that they had contemplated suicide, told friends and relatives that they wanted to die, and prayed for death.
Usually, when one thinks of torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, prisoners--not patients-- come to mind. The mistreatment of detainees in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prison involved medically trained individuals participating in so-called "biscuit" or "behavioral science consultation teams," but we rarely hear about ill-treatment by health providers as part of more routine medical practice.
Natalia Estemirova was Chechnya's great champion of human rights until her kidnap and murder last month. On the 40th day after her death, her friend Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch commemorates a uniquely courageous and selfless woman.
British forces did of course invade, occupy and govern part of Iraq and Saddam's torture chambers were shut down. But the evidence has grown that they were replaced with new forms of abuse of detainees, not only by the US but also by the British.
On June 12, the UN Human Rights Council, consisting of 47 member states of the UN, concluded the first comprehensive human rights review of Jordan.
Since 2008, a wave of punitive house burnings has started in Chechnya, the latest chapter in the blood-soaked history of this republic in Russia’s North Caucasus. A new report from Human Rights Watch documents more than a dozen incidents of torchings in which the authorities were clearly responsible.
After the recent assassination attempt against the president of Ingushetia, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the question of whether Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the Chechen republic, will be granted control over the neighboring Ingushetia has become a hot topic of debate. Yevkurov is now lying unconscious in the hospital and Kadyrov is proclaiming that President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia has given him a mandate to lead counter-insurgency operations in Ingushetia.
They might end up as costly baubles on sale in shops around the world. But for some diamonds mined in Zimbabwe, the journey begins in massive illegal pit mines where men, women, and children are forced to work long days under the brutal authority of government troops, who took over the mine in a spree of bloodshed.