Three Bosnian Serbs were arrested last week accused of crimes against humanity committed in 1992. Veljko Basic, 82, Predrag Bastah, 55, and Goran Viskovic, 54, are being questioned by Bosnian authorities regarding crimes committed in Susica camp in the town of Vlasenica in northeastern Bosnia. Some 8,000 local civilians, mostly Muslims, were held in the […]
Fifteen percent of the world’s people consumes more than 90% of all pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, some 2 billion people cannot get the essential drugs they need. A right to medicine is clearly a component of the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Drug companies have responsibilities to respect and promote the […]
Peter McGregor, Australian pacifist and ‘education radical activist’ for over 40 years, died yesterday. An academic by trade, McGregor was also a convener of the Australian Anti-Apartheid Movement along with Meredith Burgmann. Last year he attempted to arrest senior members of the Australian government on suspicion of war crimes. According to Queensland anti-war activist Ciaron […]
In November 2003, animal rights activist Ralph Hahnheuser stole onto private property on Australia’s south coast and poured shredded ham into the feed troughs of sheep awaiting live export to the Middle East the next day. His stated intention was to "taint the product or the animals in such a way that they are simply […]
The United Nations has sharpened its focus on combating violence against children with the creation last month of a new Special Procedure. This independent world expert will be called Special Representative to the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children. The job of this Special Representative, for an initial term of 3 years, will include maintaining international […]
Women the world over share a one-in-three risk of physical or sexual abuse, with rates reaching 70% in some countries. In Australia, over 400,000 men were violent towards women in 2005. Almost 1.3 million Australian women have experienced physical and sexual violence from a current or former partner. Women are at risk of violence in […]
One hears much about the rule of law and its importance to human rights. But what is it, exactly? I thank Prof. Tim McCormack for bringing this succinct definition to my attention. It comes from a 2004 report by the UN Secretary-General to the Security Council: The “rule of law” . . . refers to […]
The right to vote is universal, but not absolute, according to the UN Committee on Human Rights. The Australian Constitution reflects that understanding, according to a recent decision of the High Court dubbed "the biggest constitutional law case of the year", with a bearing on this month’s federal election. The Australian Constitution says that parliamentarians […]
Adolf Hitler is said to have assumed impunity for his Final Solution with a rhetorical, ‘Who remembers Armenians?’ His dismissive reference to the 1915-18 genocide of some 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman empire overlooks the genocide of 750,000 Assyrians by the same regime. The Christian population of the Middle East — from the Copts […]
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 […]
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