Human Rights

LONDON - Britain said Wednesday it plans to get rid of DNA profiles of most innocent people after six years in response to a European Court ruling that said keeping the information indefinitely was a violation of human rights. Full Story »

BAGHDAD - The ongoing dispute between Iraq's central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish authorities in the country's north threatens to create a "human rights catastrophe" for minority communities in the region, a leading rights watchdog warned in a report Tuesday. Full Story »

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Minorities, including Christians, in northern Iraq are the collateral victims of a conflict between Arabs and Kurds over who controls the country's disputed provinces, Human Rights Watch warned Tuesday. Full Story »

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Kurdish-Arab tensions in the disputed Nineveh province may create a human rights catastrophe for minority groups that have faced rising attacks since the 2003 U.S. invasion, a rights group said on Tuesday. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government reacted swiftly after Chinese authorities announced the first executions relating to violence in China's far western city of Urumqi in July that left at least 197 people dead. Full Story »

THE HAGUE (AFP) - Iranian lawyer and journalist Shadi Sadr was awarded a Dutch human rights prize Monday, worth up to 110,000 euros, for her fight against stoning as punishment, the Dutch foreign ministry said. Full Story »

MANILA, Philippines - President Barack Obama will meet leaders of Southeast Asian nations, including Myanmar, in a high-level affirmation of Washington's new policy of engaging the military-ruled country despite its dismal human rights record. Full Story »

CAIRO - An international human rights group said Friday it has documented three cases of sexual assault against detainees arrested during Iran's postelection turmoil, including one that was supported by an official report but not investigated further. Full Story »

MOSCOW - A suspect in the killing of a human rights lawyer and a journalist has confessed to the crime, his lawyer said Friday. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The nominee for US envoy on human rights in North Korea said Thursday he would press China for better treatment of refugees fleeing the impoverished neighboring state. Full Story »

LONDON - A group of British lawmakers proposed new laws Thursday to ban the use of airports, harbors or highways in the secret rendition of suspected terrorists, while a human rights group urged the government to stop detaining terror suspects without charge. Full Story »

MOSCOW - A Russian rights group said Chechen authorities on Thursday abducted a human rights advocate in Moscow who has been critical of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed leader. Full Story »

MOSCOW (AFP) - Two Russian nationalists have been arrested and charged in the high-profile killings of a human rights lawyer and journalist who were gunned down in Moscow in January, officials said on Thursday. Full Story »

BEIJING - Thousands of people will send letters to President Barack Obama this year. Few besides Yang Zili are likely to risk jail by doing so. Full Story »

HAVANA - The European Union's development commissioner wants Cuba to show signs it's serious about protecting fundamental human rights. Full Story »

HAVANA (AFP) - The European Union does not seek a regime change in communist Cuba, but expects progress on human rights, a visiting EU official said after meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro. Full Story »

COLOMBO (Reuters) - U.S. authorities allowed Sri Lanka's military chief to return home without being questioned over human rights violations in the last months of the country's 25-year civil war, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Full Story »

KINSHASA, Congo - A top human rights group is accusing the Congolese military of killing more than 500 civilians in eastern Congo and says the U.N. peacekeeping force in the area did nothing to stop the soldiers from decapitating men and raping young girls. Full Story »