See this petition from Avaaz against the crackdown in Guinea. The petition is to leaders of the African and European Unions. Avaaz is pressing for travel sanctions against the ruling elite of the west African country of Guinea; they...

I noticed a debate on the BBC World Service website about Untouchables and the caste system in India. Is this system an abuse of human rights and should the international community press India for reforms? I have also been reading in...

Philippines: Holy Warriors is about a conflict over land between Christians and Muslims on the island of Mindanao. Already the fighting has claimed 100 000 lives and driven 600 000 people from their homes. It will be shown on Channel 4...

Four refugees who have fled from danger tell their stories through the objects that they most treasure. This is in Memento, a programme on BBC World Service that will be broadcast several times on Friday 2 October 2009. The BBC gives...

Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia in west Africa, is on trial in the Hague accused of war crimes. How was he overthrown? It was largely thanks to the women of Liberia, as shown in True Stories: Pray the Devil Back to Hell...

Environment reporters face danger writes Roy Greenslade on his blog on the Guardian website, pointing us to a report from Reporters Without Borders .

This evening's Channel 4 news had a report on 250 child deaths in Peru because of severe winter weather in the Andes. Experts are blaming climate change as an important factor. Many thousands of miles from Peru the weather in Mongolia...

I have been reading the latest issue of Amnesty magazine. I was pleased to see an interview with Noam Chomsky, a provocative thinker. This could be a useful introduction to his ideas if you have not met them before. His books tend to...

There is a new campaign against the traficking of children . The three-year campaign involves ECPAT UK and the Body Shop. A survey has shown that many people in the UK are not aware of the scale of child traficking.

I have read on the internet about a film, The Singing Revolution . The documentary, by James and Maureen Tusty, shows how the power of song helped to free the people of Estonia from oppression. I would certainly like to see the film...

In May 2009 a group of legal academics in Beijing published a report on the government's handling of the unrest in Tibet in the spring of 2008. What was the Chinese government's response? Did they take the report seriously and look...

The Independent reports today that a Saudi princess has been given asylum in the UK because she would be in danger of being stoned if she returned to Saudi Arabia. She won her claim to political asylum, telling a judge that in Saudi...

Admiral Michael Mullen, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has warned that the US should limit civilian casualties to avoid alienating the people of Afghanistan. I admit to being a bit slow noticing the article, dated 19 May 2009 from...

In the north-west region of Xinjiang the Uighur people are angry that the Chinese authorities did not act to protect migrant Uighur workers in the south-east of China. That seems to have been the spark that ignited the recent protests...

I have written before about the School of the Americas , where military and police from Latin America attend courses. Many of them have gone on to commit serious abuses of human rights including killings. SOA Watch have now achieved...

More than 240 MPs have signed a motion ( EDM 713 ) to freeze UK military aid to Colombia until human rights concerns have been satisfied. It is unusual for an Early Day Motion to attract so much support. Among 243 who have signed the...

You might expect VeggieKris to be against vultures but it is not the carnivorous birds I am talking about. MPs demand an end to debt vultures . Brave Sally Keeble (seen with a vulture perched on her hand) has tabled a motion in...

If you Love Music and Hate Racism have a look at these events. Shropshire had a Love Music, Hate Racism event on Saturday 20 June 2009 at Shrewsbury College. It was not far from me but I was not able to attend. Maybe you did?

A BBC series presented by Alice Roberts, The Incredible Human Journey , has been showing the way that humans spread out of Africa to populate the rest of the world. Yes, even the leaders of the British National Party have African...

I have just walked down the road to vote in the local and European elections. When many politicians have been found with their snouts in the trough it is easy to get cynical and to feel that no politician can be trusted but I feel that...