Human Rights – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been seeking an entry into Homs to evacuate the seriously wounded, women, children, sick civilians, and journalists from the combat ridden area. Negotiations have resumed today to secure safe access to the area after...

Human Rights – Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues, has launched a new initiative entitled “One Billion Rising.” Ensler’s goal is to have one billion women and men come together to demonstrate the need to end the global violence against women. The year-long...

Human Rights – As Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) continues to struggle to control the country, Amnesty International has issued reports of rampant detainment and torture by armed militia groups. It quoted interviewed detainees as revealing that “they had been...

Human Rights – An independent United Nations human rights expert has voiced his concerns in regards to the health of Khadar Adnan, a Palestinian detainee who has been on a hunger strike for two months to protest his imprisonment without charge by Israel. Adnan has been refusing all...

Human Rights – Proposals have been tabled by the UK’s Border Agency that would allow for the deportation of unaccompanied migrant children. Highlighted by Human Rights Watch, the proposal would come into play early this year with 16 and 17-year-old Afghans sent back to...

Just Weird – If you’re looking for a titillating vacation destination, Blogger Iva Rose Skoch has written an account of her recent trip to the Lingam Fertility Shrine, a.k.a., the penis shrine, that might just make up your mind for you. The setting, which she describes as...

Human Rights – African immigrant girls in Spain are being confronted with the threat of female genital mutilation (FGM), a violently barbaric practice that has been made tradition by sub-Saharan immigrants. The process, literally female circumcision, is known for its sheer brutality and...

Human Rights – Activist group Avaaz has released a report showing that the Syrian regime has a whopping 416 detention centers for political prisoners. According to Avaaz, 69,000 people have seen the inside of one of these detention centers since the uprising began in March of last year....

Human Rights – It is only February and the Iraqi government has already executed more than 60 prisoners this year, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW). In Iraq, people can be executed for nearly 50 crimes including murder and acts of terrorism, as well as what might...

Human Rights – MTV is asking its audience to take on a new challenge, and it doesn’t involve sitting through another episode of Jersey Shore. The “Against Our Will” campaign is asking college students to submit a creative idea to “raise awareness of and encourage...

Human Rights – The United Nations is strongly condemning the escalation of brutal and violent attacks on civilians as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad steps up his campaign to annihilate his opposition. The past week alone has seen the death of hundreds of men, women, and children as...

Human Rights – The battle between the Egyptian military regime and human rights NGOs has intensified following an announcement that 43 NGO workers will face criminal trial. Charges have been brought under a Mubarak-era law that prohibits NGOs from receiving foreign funding without...

Human rights organization Amnesty International has hit 50 years of age. To celebrate, it is releasing a compilation of Bob Dylan songs covered by a diverse range of artists. The compilation, Chimes of Freedom, features an absurd variety of acts, from Queens of the Stone Age, Silversun...

Human Rights – Johannesburg, South Africa – Six years ago, 19-year-old Zoliswa Nkonyana was stoned and stabbed to death by four men only 10 feet from her home because she lived openly as a lesbian. After the trial was postponed 50 times, her killers, Lubabalo Ntlabathi, Sicelo...

Human Rights – KABUL, Afghanistan – According to authorities, 22-year-old Storai Mohammad was strangled to death by her husband for giving birth to second baby girl instead of a son that he was hoping for. Storai was found dead in her home by a neighbor in the Khanabad district of...

Human Rights – Do You know where your chocolate comes from? CNN reports that Americans consume around 11 pounds of the cocoa-goodness per person per year, but that most of those same people don’t realize the significant violations of human rights that may occur in order to get that...

Human Rights – Though some Latin American countries are making strides in LGBT rights, Ecuador has long struggled to break free of its homophobic ideology. Until recently, the small South American country was the home to a number of sketchy “clinics” that were reportedly...

Human Rights – The United Nations human rights chief spoke out this week against the glaring failure on behalf of the United States to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility as promised by a newly elected President Obama in January 2009. “It is 10 years since the US...

Human Rights – In what comes as no surprise, Apple’s audits of the abysmal Chinese factories that make its products shows an even greater toll than the already well known Foxconn worker suicides. It also reveals the company’s rather indifferent approach to these conditions,...

Human Rights – The Nigerian non-governmental organization, Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), has taken in over 160 children labeled as “witches.” Scores of children have been abused, abandoned, and even murdered in a misguided attempt by families to...

Human Rights – Accusations are emerging that the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) has been keeping Palestinian children in solitary confinement. The notorious Cell 36, in the heart of Israel’s Al Jalame prison, has allegedly been playing host to youths accused of a range of offences,...

Human Rights – Following the death of Wilman Villar, a Cuban dissident whom Amnesty International describes as a prisoner of conscience on a hunger strike, the Cuban government is lashing out at Washington for meddling in Cuba’s internal affairs. Cuba claims that they have no...

Human Rights – LGBT – Ambassador Perezi K. Kamunanwire, the Ugandan representative to the United States, claimed to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) that Uganda’s controversial bill to imprison for life or execute those found guilty of homosexuality has been withdrawn...

Human Rights – The Burmese government has taken a huge step in the right direction by releasing 651 political prisoners, including activists, ethnic leaders, journalists, bloggers, and monks. Nilar Thein, Burma’s most prominent female activist, her husband, as well as members of...

Human Rights – Malawians have turned out in their thousands to protest a recent outbreak of attacks on women wearing trousers and skirts. Several attacks have been reported in which females were beaten and stripped in public for failing to wear traditional dresses. While Malawi remains a...

Human Rights – Russia has officially stated that it will not respond to a proposed resolution to cease arms deliveries to Syria, and that it, along with China, will not allow the UN Security Council to intervene in the matter. As both Russia and China hold vetoing power, this agreement...

Human Rights – “The Invisible War,” an emotional and intense Sundance documentary, reveals a dark secret hiding within the U.S. military: soldier-on-soldier rape (of both men and women). The violations have been called the most “under-reported” story of the...

LGBT – Kuwait City – Kuwait is a dangerous place in general, but it’s a totally different story when it comes to the country’s transgender population. Under a 2007 discriminatory law, Kuwait police have justified their acts of torture and sexual abuse on transgender...

Human Rights – In 2009, The United Nations launched the Blue Heart Campaign to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking and its impact on society and to encourage involvement in helping stop this crime. Last year, President Obama declared January as National Slavery and Human...

Human Rights – Politicians and human rights activists are not too keen on a video showing women from a protected tribe in the Indian islands dancing for tourists in exchange for food. The women, of the Jarawa tribe of the Andaman Islands, are accused of being put on display by a bribed...

Human Rights – One of Iran’s top nuclear scientists was killed in a Hollywood-style assassination plot on Wednesday, after a motorcycle driver sped up to his car and attached a magnetic bomb to it…KABOOM! According to Iranian Media, “the blast killed Mostafa Ahmadi...

Human Rights – The U.S. State Department is pressuring Bahrain to investigate an incident involving Nabeel Rajab, a high profile Bahraini human rights activist who was attacked by national security forces at a recent march. Rajab was reportedly thrown to the ground and beaten severely on...

Human Rights – After increasing pressure from women’s rights and gay advocacy groups, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has made the first major change to the definition of rape in more than eighty years. U.S. Officials have said the term will now not only acknowledge...

Human Rights – In its 2011 review, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has hailed the year as one of the most “challenging and tragic” for journalism in the Americas. 24 journalists were killed in the Americas over the course of the year, with the majority of these...

Human Rights – While Brazil may be known for its colorful festivals, sexy women, and a great cup of coffee, most people never hear about the slave-like working conditions that plague thousands of workers throughout the country. Since 2005 Reporter Brasil, a non-governmental...

Human Rights – After months in adjournment, the trial of former-Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, has resumed amidst rumors of a possible dismissal of charges against the ousted leader. While these initial sessions will be mainly procedural, the New Year will see a host of witnesses...

Human Rights – California based musician, Justin Dillon, is leading a social media campaign to inform citizens about the prevalence of slavery and slavery-fueled goods in our society. Dillon, recently given a 200k grant from the State Department, has created a website that estimates a...

Human Rights – Details are emerging of a 15-year-old Afghan girl who was held captive and tortured by her in-laws for refusing to work as a prostitute. The girl was imprisoned for six months in a basement, having her fingernails ripped out, her fingers broken, and facing torture with...

Human Rights – In response to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s continued slaughter of opposition protestors (including women and children), the 88-member Arab Parliament is now calling for the “immediate withdrawal” of it’s Arab League monitors (ALM). Activists...

Human Rights – Security forces in Egypt have been carrying out a series of raids on human rights organisations suspected of receiving foreign funding. While it is known that select NGOs have been the subject of investigation for a number of months, the raids demonstrate an escalation of...

Human Rights – President Bashar Assad’s regime continues to slaughter unarmed protestors as Arab League monitors tour the country, leading many members of the Syrian opposition to deduce that the “mission” is a farce meant to buy time for the brutal autocrat and a ploy...

Human Rights – At a time when Iran’s relations with the West could hardly be called friendly, the trial of U.S. citizen Amir Mirzaei Hekmati on charges of spying for the CIA points to increasing tension. The Iranian news agency, Fars, has indicated that, if found guilty, Hekmati...

Human Rights – An Egyptian Court has banned the use of forced virginity tests on women detained in military prisons. This decision comes at the end of a case brought by activist Samira Ibrahim, who claimed that the military forced her to undergo an invasive virginity exam while...