If anyone doubts that social and economic rights are real human rights, then they should take a look at this powerful picture, by Brazilian photographer Luiz Vasconcelos, one of the winners of the 2008 World Press Photo of the Year...

Afghan civilian casualty rate at highest since Taliban rule, the Guardian headline reads today. A UN report says that more civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2008 that in 2007. The number of civilians killed by US, NATO and Afghan...

Dame Stella Rimington, former head of MI5, has spoken out in a Spanish newspaper ( syndicated to the Telegraph ) about her worries that the government is exploiting fears of terrorism to expand its powers and undermine civil liberties...

I don't know If Dame Stella Rimington is an Amnesty member or not. But she should be. The former spy-boss has become one of the UK's most eloquent defenders of rights and liberties since she left the government's payroll and started...

News that the Pakistani government is likely to allow the authorities in the Swat valley area of Pakistan to set up shari’a courts ought to give us pause. It’s not that the imposition of shari’a law will automatically mean that human...