Australia's human rights body Wednesday found the government breached the rights of a nine-year-old girl it detained for more than nine months, during which time she witnessed others self-harming.
Members of an influential Islamic body have visited Myanmar's Rakhine state, a government official said Tuesday, to survey fallout from deadly sectarian unrest between Buddhist and Muslim communities.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voiced hope Saturday that the US Congress would act this month to end Cold War-era trade restrictions on Russia but also raised concerns on human rights.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday became the latest senior official to insist there is no evidence of an alleged massacre of some 80 Yanomami indigenous people.
Arab Gulf monarchies lambasted Syria's regime for deploying heavy weapons against its civilians, as over 100 people were killed in raids, bombings and air strikes according to a watchdog toll count.
An overwhelming majority of Americans, particularly whites, are adamant about the constitutional right to bear arms, a poll showed this week amid a rash of shootings across the US.
Authorities in the southern US state of Texas executed an African American man on Tuesday despite protests from human rights groups that said he was mentally disabled.
Communist Vietnam is considering legalising same-sex marriage, which would catapult it to the fore of gay rights in Asia, where traditional values dominate many societies and sodomy is illegal in some.
Gays and lesbians puckered up at "kiss-ins" outside Chick-fil-A outlets across the United States in protest over the fast-food chain's opposition to same-sex marriage.
A Japanese paper firm whose factory was at the centre of deadly weekend protests in China said Monday it was concerned about the demonstration, but rejected pollution claims as "groundless".
North Korea's notoriously harsh secret police consists of vast and sometimes competing agencies that will pose a major challenge to any potential attempts at reform.