Tag: Rights

BUCHAREST - The One World human rights film festival kicked off in Bucharest Thursday offering 37 documentaries promising to tackle sometimes prickly issues under the theme "What a wonderful world?!". Alongside the showings at the six-day festival in the Romanian capital will be debates on its main themes with surprise 2010 Colombian presidential candidate Antanas Mockus, the ecologist ex-mayor of Bogota, a star guest.
The event is sorted into the categories "What would you do

GENEVA - The office of the UN human rights chief on Friday urged Saudi Arabia to exercise restraint and allow free assembly, as protests were planned in the kingdom to press for democratic reform. "We are concerned about what may happen later today in Saudi Arabia, where the situation is very tense," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. "As in other similar situations in the Middle East, we're calling for restraint on the part of the

ISLAMABAD - Christian Progressive Movement (CPM) Chairperson Naila Joseph Dayal on Monday strongly condemned the assassination of slain minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti and demanded the promulgation of "Islamic Jurisprudence" in the country to stop 'cruelties towards the minorities'. Addressing a news conference here at National Press Club (NPC), Naila dispelled the impression that some Islamist elements were behind the murder of Shahbaz Bhatti. "Islam preaches peace and love,

LAHORE - Minhaj-ul-Quran International (MQI) women's league organized a seminar on the International Women's Day at the central secretariat of MQI on Monday. MQI women league secretary general advocate Sumaira Rafaqat said, "People with narrow mindset deprive women of their rights in the name of religion, which is violation of Islamic teachings." She said Islam bestowed respect and sanctity on the women in every relationship. She urged the women to play their due role in educational,

LOS ANGELES - The DreamWorks studio has optioned movie rights to a pair of books about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his controversial website that is bent on revealing government secrets, company officials said on Thursday.
One of the books is 'WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy' by journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding. The other is 'Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website' by Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a defector

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations on Tuesday suspended Libya from its main human rights body over Moamer Kadhafi's crackdown on protests amid warnings of new Security Council action against the regime. With growing western calls for a no-fly zone over Libya, Britain's UN envoy said the council would take "whatever measures we consider necessary to respond to events on the ground."
The 192-member assembly passed a suspension resolution by consensus, without a vote, after UN

LAHORE - As many as 10 people were injured and one died in a scuffle between two cable network groups over cable distribution rights in Green Town on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Qaisar (20), a Satukatla resident.
The injured were identified as Muhammad Hussain, Khaild Hussain, Mazhar Hussain, Akram, Yousaf, Ghulam Murtaza, Faryad and others. The scuffle started between two groups: Faryad Group and Bhola Group on the ownership of a cable contract in PCSIR (Staffers

GENEVA - The UN human rights chief on Tuesday warned Yemeni authorities against the violent repression of peaceful protests, saying that people have the right to express their grievances.
"People have the legitimate right to express their grievances and demands to their government," Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. "We have seen over and over again in the past few weeks that violent responses, in breach of international law, do not make the

PESHAWAR - Urging the media to focus attention on the poor literacy rate, Inayat Ullah Khan, President Pakistan Association for Adult Continuing Education (PACADE), Saturday said the systematic destruction of schools and colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA was depriving the children of their basic right to get education.
Addressing 'Media Forum for the Promotion of Literacy in Pakistan' at Peshawar Press Club (PPC), he called for stemming the trend and taking steps to root

GENEVA - The UN rights chief decried Moamer Gaddafi regime's "callous disregard" for Libyans during a special Human Rights Council session on the crisis on Friday, amid calls for an international probe into the violence. Western nations also led a call for the country to be excluded from the council, but Cuba opposed the move while China and Russia expressed reservations.
Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned the 47 member council that thousands may have been

LAHORE - Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) organised a three-day training of trainers titled 'Empowering the activists to defend women workers' rights'. As many as 35 Muslim and Christian participants including working women and representatives of civil society organizations actively participated in the training held at Dar-ul-Kalam.
The purpose of the training was to equip trainees in order to promote and protect human rights of working class. The

ISLAMABAD - Former federal minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi on Friday failed to convince the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) about the ownership of his property in Rahim Yar Khan. According to a source in the FIA, Kazmi told a team that some one had gifted him the said property.
When Kazmi was asked why he did not transfer the property in the name of seminary he had been running for years, he could not provide a satisfactory reply. However, he maintained that

Usher is at the centre of legal action from a student songwriter who alleges he was cheated out of ownership rights for the R&B superstar's album track 'Monster.' The 'Yeah!' hitmaker included the song on his 2010 release Raymond vs. Raymond, but Kameron Glasper claims he was conned into signing away half of his interest in the tune, which was part of a ten-track package deal he entered into in 2009 for Legendary Poets Music Publishing.
Glasper, also known as Kam Parker, insists

LAHORE - Punjab chief minister (CM) has been taking interest in working for child rights and will receive regular notifications regarding any issues concerning child rights, said advisor to CM Zakia Shahnawaz at a workshop held by Sahil, a child rights organisation.
The workshop attempted to gather professionals from fields related to child rights and issues, including officials from government departments, such as Social Welfare, Child Protection and Welfare Department, Labour

TUNIS - Tunisia's new interim government should "urgently" investigate killings of protesters by security forces earlier this month under the country's ousted regime, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday. "Things are moving fast in Tunisia, but finding out who opened fire on demonstrators and why can't wait," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director for the watchdog, told reporters in Tunis.
"The units and commanders responsible for these apparently unlawful

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday advanced one step forward to have a watchdog to check human rights violations when the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights presented its report on the National Commission for Human Rights Bill 2008 in the House.
A formal bill will soon be tabled in the Parliament to give legal effect to the formation of the National Human Rights Commission in the light of committee's recommendations. According to the bill as amended by the

DAVOS - Human Rights Watch (HRW) fears that Egypt's army may open fire on protesters during demonstrations planned for Friday, the head of the New-York based group said on Thursday.
Police in Cairo have already fought thousands of Egyptians who defied a government ban on Wednesday to protest against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year-old rule, firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowds and dragging away demonstrators.
"We are enormously fearful that the army would