CAIRO: Many Egyptian political parties, especially dominant Islamist groups, have refused to commit to protecting women's rights and to abolishing the death penalty, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

NAIROBI, 23 January 2012 (PlusNews) - A small Kenyan study has found that more women than men feel HIV is a less serious threat after their male partners are circumcised; the study also made local news for finding that female partners of recently circumcised men found sex more enjoyable. 

(New York) – The Indian government during 2011 failed to hold rights violators accountable or to carry out effective policies to protect vulnerable communities, Human Rights Watch said today in itsWorld Report 2012.

Marisela Escobedo’s life changed forever in August 2008 when her 16-year-old daughter Rubi failed to come home. What was left of Rubi’s body was found months later in a dump — 39 pieces of charred bone.

On Dec. 27, Brazil’s first female president, Dilma Rousseff enacted legislation, Provisional Measure (PM 557), that will require all pregnancies to be registered with the state, violating a woman’s right to privacy. 

It is easy to give up on Haiti reading through the litany of articles about where the country stands after two difficult years since the January 12, 2010 earthquake. In many ways, that was true even before the quake -- in the last five years, there have been food crises, multiple hurricanes, and political and electoral crises.

The Committee for Missing and Detained Persons in Honduras (Cofadeh), has expressed it’s concern for the security and wellbeing of Gilda Carolina Silvestrucchi, Journalist and Director for the past 10 and a half years of the Radio Program ‘En la Plaza’, who has been the victim of grave threats on her life, and on the lives of her small children.

The international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws is shocked to learn that the Iranian security forces have carried out a new wave of arrests against journalists and women’s rights activists. This is a worrying development, as it shows the pressure on political activities and prisoners are mounting in Iran.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Turkey.