Pakistani officials and human rights advocates are expressing concern today about the large number of detainees being held in extralegal detention by Pakistan’s military in the tribal areas. 　　According to reports, most of the thousands of detainees have been held for nearly a year and have been given no access... More

　　The torture of Iraqi detainees at a secret prison in Baghdad was far more systematic and brutal than initially reported, Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday. 　　The existence of the prison, which housed mostly Sunni Arab prisoners, has created a political furor in Iraq, prompted government denials and fanned sectarian... More

　　Private Afghan security guards protecting NATO supply convoys in southern Kandahar province regularly fire wildly into villages they pass, U.S. and Afghan officials say. 　　The guards shoot into the villages to intimidate any potential fighters, the officials say, but also cause the kind of civilian casualties. 　　"Especially as they go... More

　　A majority of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, including three out of four children, live in poverty, an Israeli rights group has said. 　　In a report released on Monday, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri) accused Israel of neglect and discrimination in its policies. 　　Despite the conditions, only 10... More

　　The Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, approved the construction of 14 units in Maaleh David outpost, which is a new settlement neighborhood planned to be built in Ras Amoud Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. 　　Israeli Peace Now Movement issued a press release stating that the new settlement will... More

　　The journalist who helped break the story that detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were being tortured by their US jailers told an audience at a journalism conference last month that American soldiers are now executing prisoners in Afghanistan. 　　New Yorker journalist Seymour Hersh also revealed that the... More

　　When asked for a definition of "peace" during a CBC interview, Canadian scientist, educator and renowned activist Ursula Franklin stated: "Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the presence of justice and the absence of fear." This simple definition helps explain why there is still no peace... More

　　Pakistan suffered the highest number of internally displaced people in 2009 due to Pakistan's army attacks on civilian regions where Pakistani Taliban is powerful, a United Nations study showed on Monday. 　　The number of internally displaced people worldwide reached 27.1 million individuals in 2009, the highest number since records began... More

　　The Iraqi government says that there are 3.5 million orphans in Iraq; the UN estimate is around one million. 　　Noor Abdul-Rassoul Ali, of the Iraqi Orphan Foundation, estimates that there are about five million orphans. 　　Whatever the true number, the children of war face an uncertain future, Zeina Khodr, Al... More

　　An international children's rights charity has said it has evidence that Palestinian children held in Israeli custody have been subjected to sexual abuse in an effort to extract confessions from them. 　　The Geneva-based Defense for Children International (DCI) has collected 100 sworn affidavits from Palestinian children who said they were... More

　　Authorities in Bangladesh have lifted the ban on Facebook, the social networking website. 　　The website had been blocked a week earlier over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed and "obnoxious" images of Bangladeshi leaders. 　　The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordered the country's international Internet gateway providers to unblock the site... More

　　The US and its main ally in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, are pursuing contradictory policies when it comes to dealing with Somalia's Islamist movements. 　　While Addis Ababa is pursuing its traditional unaccommodationist and at times hostile policy towards these groups, Washington is encouraging all those Islamist movements that are... More

　　Although the international media has under-reported it, the world has recently witnessed a major event in the Horn of Africa - a free, fair and generally peaceful election in Somaliland. 　　On July 2, Isse Yusuf Mohamud, the chairman of Somaliland's election commission, announced that Ahmed Mohamud Silanyo, the leader of... More