Stories of Human Abuse and Human being in wretched plight all around the World

States must not ignore human rights in efforts to end poverty © Anna Kari"> Improving maternal health is an area that has seen far too little progress © Anna Kari © Private"> women and girls continue to suffer from gender discrimination in all societies © Private © Nicolas Axelrod"> An estimated 1.4 billion people will live in slums across the globe by 2020 © Nicolas Axelrod 9 June 2010 Governments risk failing some of the world's most impoverished and vulnerable groups unless human rights are put at the centre of efforts to eradicate poverty, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday. In a new report looking at how to strengthen the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], the organization highlights how key targets fall short of existing international human rights standards. The report, From Promises to Delivery , outlines crucial steps governments can take to deli...

First convictions for 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal too little, too late © APGraphicsBank"> Thousands of pounds of deadly chemicals leaked from UCC's pesticide plant © APGraphicsBank 7 June 2010 Following convictions on Monday of seven Indian citizens for the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak disaster, Amnesty International has called on the Indian and US governments to take the next step by bringing the US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) to justice. Seven Indian nationals, who formerly worked for the Indian company Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL), were found guilty by the Bhopal Court of causing death by negligence, a charge that carries a maximum two year sentence. "These are historic convictions, but it is too little, too late. Twenty-five years is an unacceptable length of time for the survivors of the disaster and families of the dead to have waited for a crimi...

Suffocating Gaza - the Israeli blockade's effects on Palestinians © Amnesty International"> More than half of Gaza's population are children © Amnesty International 1 June 2010 Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide. Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law. The situation in Gaza has been made worse by the Egyptian government’s general closure of the Rafah crossing, although this was opened following the deaths of activists on the Gaza flotilla. However, it is Israel, as the occupying power, that bears the fore...

Zimbabwe's 700,000 victims of forced eviction still ignored five years on © Amnesty International"> Victims are left to survive in plastic shacks without basic essential services © Amnesty International 18 May 2010 The government of Zimbabwe must take action to protect hundreds of thousands of people left to survive in substandard settlements five years after a program of mass forced evictions, Amnesty International Zimbabwe and a coalition of partners said on Tuesday. Amnesty International and the Coalition Against Forced Evictions are calling on the government to provide adequate alternative accommodation or compensation to those left homeless and jobless. “It is a scandal that five years on, victims are left to survive in plastic shacks without basic essential services. The needs of these victims are at risk of being forgotten because their voices are consistently ignored,” sa...