News

In a last-ditch, get-out-the-vote effort to convince the anti-abortion Democrats in the House to vote for a healthcare bill that contains anti-abortion language beloved by anti-abortion Democrats in the Senate, President Obama issued an executive order on Sunday promising to never, ever allow a single federal or unsegregated private dollar to pay for a single abortion in the United States (except in the cases or rape, incest or the life and health of the mother). He did this to provide Democratic congressman Bart Stupak the political cover he needed to vote for healthcare reform. Apparently, some people have said this executive order makes Stupak the hero of healthcare reform. It's a sad statement on American politics that working to defeat a piece of legislation that has the potential to bring health insurance (and thus better care) to millions of Americans – its other, many flaws aside – can ultimately lead to someone being labelled a hero. By Megan Carpentier

People from across the world, including key human rights activists, public intellectuals and citizens groups have supported a global petition demanding public clarification and accountability from Amnesty International. Press Release: World Wide Outcry To Make Amnesty International See Reason and Make Amends.

Clashes between government troops and Islamist insurgents have displaced more than 55,000 people from Mogadishu since the beginning of February, with many of them heading out of Somalia to neighbouring Kenya, according to the UN Refugee Agency. In the border town of Liboi, people told IRIN by phone that 300 to 400 Somali families were waiting there to be registered as refugees. In all, almost 570,000 Somalis are refugees and most of them live in camps in Kenya. "Staying in Mogadishu now is like a death sentence: you are not safe; your neighbour is not safe," Hawo Sheiikh Ali, one of the refugees, told IRIN on 22 March.

On 10 March 2010, the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Amnesty International, and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), in collaboration with the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRD-IC), organised a side event entitled Cooperation with UN Human Rights Bodies and Mechanisms: Challenges Faced by WHRDs and HRDs.