Human Wrongs Watch

Geneva – The UN human rights chief spoke out against “the failure by the United States to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and to ensure accountability for serious violations – including torture – that took place there.”

“Countries throughout the world will experience an economic slowdown this year as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe continues to unfold,” says a UN report.

Geneva – The UN launched an emergency appeal for just over $300 million to assist Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank who are still dealing with the effects of the conflict that ended three years ago as well as various humanitarian needs.

(New York) – Egypt’s newly elected parliament should urgently reform the arsenal of laws used by the Mubarak government to restrict freedoms, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report.

Former US Middle East envoy George Mitchell says the idea of launching a military strike against Iran is untenable, as the measure could wreak tremendous havoc on Israel.

Dramatic improvements in water and sanitation services are needed to eliminate cholera in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, health experts who took part in a UN-organized briefing to outline concrete steps to stem the spread of the disease in the region stressed.

Geneva – A massive humanitarian operation to bring succour to people affected by inter-ethnic violence in South Sudan’s state of Jonglei is under way with United Nations having carried out relief needs assessments in most of the affected areas, a UN official said.

Geneva – Two years after the devastating earthquake that flattened Haiti, the country remains “a fragile State, beset by chronic poverty and under-development. Its weak institutions leave children vulnerable to shocks and the impact of disaster”.

With US and UK warships gathering in the Persian Gulf and US troops deployed in Israel, tensions in the region keep rising. But a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel explained to RT that Western powers are unlikely to invade Iran.

Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) naval forces says the world cannot last 24 hours without Persian Gulf oil, stressing that Tehran is fully capable of closing the Strait of Hormuz.