- News /
World news
United States: Force against prisoners with mental illness
Jail and prison staff throughout the United States have used unnecessary, excessive, and even malicious force against prisoners with mental disabilities, Human Rights Watch charged in a report released today.

Third atheist blogger killed in Bangladesh
On 12 May, an atheist blogger for

Libya: Horrific abuse driving migrants to risk lives in Mediterranean crossings
Refugees and migrants across Libya face rape, torture and abductions for ransom by traffickers and smugglers, as well as systematic exploitation by their employers, religious persecution and other abuses by armed groups and criminal gangs, according to a new Amnesty International briefing published today.

A record 38 million internally displaced worldwide
On 6 May, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), part of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), launched its Global Overview 2015: People internally displaced by conflict and violence at the United Nations in Geneva.
North Korea's Kim ordered execution of 15 officials this year: South's spy agency
(Reuters) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year as punishment for challenging his authority, South Korea’s spy agency told a closed-door parliament meeting on 29 April 2015.

Nils Muižnieks: 2014 was a bad year for human rights in Europe
On 23 April, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has presented his annual activity report 2014 in Strasbourg.
Top UN officials condemn murders of politician, journalist in Ukraine
17 April 2015 — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced serious concern over recent reports regarding the killing of prominent political and media figures in Ukraine.
DOHA: At Crime Congress, UN spotlights ‘epidemic’ of prison overcrowding
16 April 2015 — With over 10 million people in prisons worldwide, prison overcrowding has reached epidemic proportions in many countries, a senior official from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said today at the 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Protests in U.S. cities against police violence prompt arrests
(Reuters) — Protesters in several U.S. cities blocked highways and swarmed police precincts, leading to at least two dozen arrests in demonstrations touched off by fresh cases of police violence against unarmed black men.
After migrant catastrophe in Mediterranean, UN urges ‘robust’ rescue operations
15 April 2015 — The latest maritime catastrophe to claim the lives of refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea is yet another indication of the need for a «robust» rescue-at-sea mechanism aimed at preventing future tragedies, the head of the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) declared today.