Human Rights

The Institute for Economics and Peace has released its Global Peace Index report for the year 2014, and several North African and Middle Eastern nations performed poorly owing to the violence in the region. Countries were graded peace scores based on 22 different indicators, with each of the different indicators weighted according to importance. According to the report, global peace …

NCCM Op-Ed about government’s failure to assist Canadians detained abroad By Amy Awad There’s something about a Canadian passport that offers its owner a degree of confidence. After all, in the hierarchy of citizenships, Canada ranks near the top. A Canadian passport can get you into 170 countries without a visa. But it can’t get you out of jail; even …

By Judit Neurink SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The world is blaming the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) for fighting in Iraq to set up an Islamic state, but that is not the real story, say refugees from Tikrit and Samarra, who found safety in the northern Kurdistan Region. What the world does not realize, they say, is that …

On Sunday, the Sri Lankan media, in a rare show of unity, condemned the nation’s police forces for failing to control anti-Muslim Buddhist extremists. Religious tensions continue to grow in the island-nation in the wake of riots in the south. Four people were killed, 80 were wounded and over hundreds of shops and homes were destroyed in the anti-Muslim riots …

An Egyptian court on Wednesday handed a 15-year jail sentence to leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah for violating a protest law, among other charges, Fattah’s lawyer said. 33-year-old Fattah became a symbol of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak in 2011 due to his prominent role in demonstrations and on social media. The court handed out 24 other people the same …

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat on Wednesday called for immediate international action against Israel regarding its detention of over a 100 Palestinians who have been on a hunger strike since they were held without charges. “I am writing on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President Mahmud Abbas to request your immediate intervention on behalf of the approximately 130 …

US-based consultant company Gallup this week released a new study which ranked negative emotions in 138 countries in the world for 2013. According to the study, Iraq has the “highest negative emotions” in the world; five of the top 10 nations were from the Muslim World, with four of them being Arab countries. Gallup’s method for measuring negative emotions was …

International prosecutors on Tuesday said that despite China and Russia’s efforts to block war-crimes from Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), it was still possible for them to go after those responsible for the crimes. Last month, Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution which would have referred war crimes committed by both sides …

Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with government consent, were able to make a rare aid delivery in rebel-held parts of Aleppo province, a spokesman said on Monday. “Together with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, we were able to deliver food assistance and other essential items such as kitchen sets, hygiene kits, …

The announcement on 13 May by the International Criminal Court prosecutor that she is reopening a ‘preliminary examination’ into alleged British war crimes in Iraq seems to have taken many in the UK by surprise. But it’s less surprising to anyone who has followed the obstructive way UK authorities have handled numerous allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq. The UK …