A Year in Review: Women's Rights in 2012
Throughout 2012, structural and institutional forces such as politics, religion, culture and inequality continued to impact women's rights
Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) under scrutiny by the state
With the upsurge in the criminalization of civil society, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders' 2012 report discusses how States use legislation to regulate the activities of human rights defenders (HRDs).
Grave human rights abuses in Honduras prompt an International Call to Action on October 11, 2012.
Honduras, considered to be one of the world's most dangerous countries, is plagued by assassinations of journalists, lawyers and activists, very few of which are ever prosecuted. Since the coup d'?tat in June 2009, there has been an on-going and worsening situation in Honduras of systemic violence and assassinations of human rights defenders.
A coup d?tat and the occupation of northern Mali by Islamists have left many searching for answers to a deepening crisis.
West African Mali has a population of approximately 14.5 million concentrated primarily in the south. In the north, where some 1.5-2 million Malians reside, the provinces of Timbuktu, Kidal and Gao are a mosaic of traditional clans. Following independence from France in 1960, Mali suffered droughts, rebellions, coup d'?tats in 1968 and 1992 and 23 years of military dictatorship succeeded by democratic elections held in 1992.
Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) in Uganda charged with "living on the earnings of prostitution" - the same law that targets third parties like pimps, brothel owners, advertisers and human traffickers.
Although sex work is illegal in Uganda, providing services and support for sex workers is not.