Human Wrongs Watch

If added together, there would be a nation of nearly 700 million people—the third most populated one on Earth after China and India. Its population is made of over 210 million jobless, 215 million children obliged to work; 21 million victims of forced labor, and 228 million working poor youth living on less than the equivalent of US$ 2 per day.

More than 140 countries have passed counterterrorism laws since the attacks of September 11, 2001, often with little regard for due process and other basic rights, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.
The 112-page report, “In the Name of Security: Counterterrorism Laws Worldwide since September 11,” says that while terrorist attacks have caused thousands (read more)…

On the occasion of World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June, two United Nations independent human rights experts highlighted that of the 215 million children working throughout the world, more than half are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, including sexual and labour exploitation.

By Christoph Dreier, (WSWS*)

The Greek elections on 6 May will be contested by the greatest number of parties in any vote since the end of the military dictatorship in 1974. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that 32 of 36 registered organizations are permitted to participate. But despite the many parties on the ballot, workers have no voice in this election.

A senior UN official has strongly condemned the reported acts of sexual violence committed against Malian women and girls amid renewed fighting. Allegations include “abductions, public rapes and subjecting women and girls to acts of sexual violence in front of family members”.

Geneva-The world, in particular rich industrialized countries, is apparently unwilling to save the lives of 15 million human beings affected by the drought and conflict-related crisis in the Sahel region, with about 1.5 million are children who face the prospect of severe acute malnutrition.

Geneva, 7 April – Within the next five years, for the first time in history, the population of people aged 65 and older will outnumber children under the age of five. The World Health Organization (WHO) also informs that in the middle of the last century there were 14 million people in the world aged 80 years or older.

Geneva, 3 April – The United Nations refugee agency today voiced deep concern about the deteriorating political and security situation in Mali, where thousands of people continue to flee their homes due to fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels in the country’s north.

A “durable solution” has yet to be found to the displacement of communities affected by nuclear testing more than sixty years ago in the Marshall Islands, a UN independent expert warned.

In 2050, world energy demand will be 80% higher; urban air pollution is set to become the top environmental cause of mortality worldwide; global biodiversity is projected to decline by a further 10%; global water demand will increase by some 55%, and 2.3 billion more people than today –over 40% of the global population – will be living in river basins under severe water stress.