For several years any thought of Rwanda immediately invoked memories of the scenes of the brutal massacre of nearly 800,000 people in the space of 100 days. Cognisant of the imprint which the genocide has left on the country, Rwanda’s...

… Or so they say. I’m not too sure that Naomi Campbell – this morning at least – was thinking that as she stood to testify at Charles Taylor’s trial at The Hague about rough diamonds which the former Liberian President was alleged to...

President Bashir was oozing with confidence as he stepped off the plane in N’djamena yesterday. This, to me, suggests that he knew he would be pretty safe from arrest during his trip to Chad. If he did have any concerns then clearly...

“Officers should not be armed with Tasers if they cannot use them properly,” said Peter Cox from Bridgwater to the Mirror after accidentally being shot in the groin with a Taser as a police officer was lowering the weapon. With that...

Having worked at Amnesty for a few years now, I’ve got used to the fact that the train of ‘international human rights treaty-formation’ chugs at what I think is a rather slow pace. I recall when I first joined Amnesty the excitement...

The BBC and the Telegraph today report that the first seven of the 52 Cuban political prisoners recently released are on their way to a life in exile in Spain . The Guardian reports that one journalist – Omar Ruiz – doesn’t consider...

Open any newspaper on any day and you will almost certainly read an article thats criticising the government in one way or another. Whether it be the governments stance on immigration, on the economy or even on the human rights of...

While queuing to buy a paper at my local newsagents this morning I noticed Michael Jackson’s greatest hits were being played in the background. It took me a little while to clock that as well as the shop owners being Jacko fans, they...

I admit it. I know absolutely nothing about football. I don’t know my penalty-kicks from my corners. But that said, I always enjoy the World Cup. It’s the buzz, the spirit of national camaraderie and the general jubilant atmosphere...

It’s been nearly a week since the violence in the beautifully-named Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica escalated, and still the situation is not under control . The Voice of America reports that the death toll has now reached 73 and hundreds of...

On 2 November 2000, ten people waiting for a bus in a village in the Indian province of Manipur were shot dead by a group of paramilitaries. The next day, deeply upset by the bus stop killings, Sharmila Irom began her hunger strike...

If on the evening of 6 May you've cast your vote (or not) and are in need of respite from election fever, and you’re near Shoreditch then head along to Amnesty’s Human Rights Action Centre for a free screening of Crude. The film...

It isn't often that the news cycle has an opportunity to reflect on the USA’s civil rights movement. So it’s refreshing to be able to pay tribute to the strength and courage of some of the defenders of that time now and again. And...

You may have already spotted a few stories marking 30 years of independence in Zimbabwe which falls this Sunday. Petina Gappah provided a thoughtful account of Zimbabwe over the last 30 years in the Guardian , where she highlighted...

The Telegraph today carries a story revealing that pregnant women living in the UK are more likely to die in childbirth or for pregnancy related factors than women in Poland, Hungary or the Czech Republic. This is certainly surprising...

“Men are superior to the woman because they have paid ‘bride price’ to bring the woman into the man’s household. He can therefore do with her as he pleases.” That was the view of one man in Uganda who took part in an Amnesty-run group...

The sight alone of the Taser XREP – or ‘super Taser’ – is enough to send chills down the spine of even the bravest person. Described by my colleague Oliver Sprague as a ‘ shotgun that fires electric-shock bullets ’, the XREP is a...

Reports that the Lord’s Resistance Army carried out a brutal massacre against men, women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s north-eastern Orientale province last December have been today refuted by the rebel group...

Spiked batons, thumb cuffs and stun belts are not exactly commodities you’ll see on a shopping channel or your average retail catalogue here in the UK. But these tools of torture – which really are the stuff of nightmares – are...

Figures out today show that the situation for thousands of women in developing countries today is as bad as it was for women in the UK in 1910. In 1910 in the UK, figures available show that 355 women per 100,000 live births died as a...