RightsBase

human rights news & views

Bail out the world’s poor

Last month at the UN General Assembly, rock legend Bono lamented that for ten years he has begged the G8 for US$25 billion to relieve hunger and disease in Africa, with limited success.  Suddenly, the United States has $700 billion to spend on Wall Street. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz estimates that the US bailout package […]

UN seeks human rights experts

The United Nations wants to hear about people suited to the top human rights positions known as ‘Special Procedures mandate-holders’.  Also called Special Rapporteurs, Special Representatives or Independent Experts, or appointed to Working Groups, these leading experts investigate human rights violations and their causes. There are presently 13 country mandates concerned with the human rights […]

New commitment to ending child soldiers

Recruiting child soldiers under the age of 18 is a crime under international law. Recruiting children under the age of 15 is a war crime. The International Criminal Court‘s first trial will be that of DRC warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, charged with recruiting child soldiers as young as 10. The term ‘child soldier’ refers to […]

UN human rights defenders need your protection

A crucial feature of the UN human rights armoury is under threat: the Special Procedures. Some members of the newly constituted Human Rights Council are anxious to end this form of scrutiny, to the alarm of human rights NGOs. The credibility of the UN itself is at stake, says Amnesty International. The United Nations, like […]

Investment in cluster bombs outlawed in Belgium

Advancing the global campaign against explosive remnants of war, Belgium has taken the unprecedented step of banning investment in companies that manufacture cluster bombs. Belgium banned the weapon itself a year ago. Cluster munitions spread ‘bomblets’ — hundreds or thousands at a time — over wide areas from 1 to 20 square kilometres. Unlike landmines, […]