25 YEARS LATER: 7 SHOCKWAVES FROM BREAKUP OF SOVIET UNION

The Soviet Union broke up without a civil war, thank God, says Yevgeny Roizman, 54, a historian and mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia's third-largest city, which borders Siberia... READ MORE›

UK ACCUSED OF DOING CHINA'S BIDDING AFTER POLICE RAID HOME OF TIANANMEN SQUARE SURVIVOR OVER PEACEFUL PROTEST

Dr Jiang, traumatised after witnessing seeing Chinese soldiers shoot fellow unarmed protesters at Tiananmen Square in 1989, was re-arrested in 1995 before fleeing China in 2003... READ MORE›

HOW THE USSR'S EFFORT TO DESTROY ISLAM CREATED A GENERATION OF RADICALS

They did, and by the '70s Islam had made a comeback in much of Central Asia... READ MORE›

WHY DO SO MANY PEOPLE MISS THE SOVIET UNION?

Russia will mark the 25th anniversary of the Soviet Union's dissolution at the end of the year... READ MORE›

4 CARTOONS THAT SUM UP THE ABSURDITY OF SAUDI ARABIA LEADING A UN HUMAN RIGHTS PANEL

Cartoons taunting Saudi Arabia's membership of the United Nations human rights council have gone viral on social media after the kingdom executed 47 people in one day... READ MORE›

'LADY SOS': THE WOMAN SAVING SYRIAN REFUGEES AT SEA

Muslims and refugees are being scapegoated and alienated as attacks claimed by ISIL rise, Human Rights Watch says... READ MORE›

IN 1983 WAR SCARE, SOVIET LEADERSHIP FEARED NUCLEAR SURPRISE ATTACK BY U.S.

In 1983 we may have inadvertently placed our relations with the Soviet Union on a hair trigger the review concluded... READ MORE›

LOOMING CRUCIFIXION SPARKS GLOBAL CALLS TO SPARE LIFE OF YOUNG SAUDI ALI MOHAMMED AL-NIMR

Many Western countries, including the United States and Australia, have diplomatic and trading ties with Saudi Arabia... READ MORE›

GOVERNMENT URGED TO REVEAL ITS ROLE IN GETTING SAUDI ARABIA A UN HUMAN RIGHTS ROLE

Exclusive UK Government urged to reveal its role in getting Saudi Arabia onto UN Human Rights Council... READ MORE›

'DEMOCRACY WAS HIJACKED. IT GOT A BAD NAME'

The town of Sokh, for example, is part of Uzbekistan, but fully surrounded by Kyrgyzstan, and its 20,000 population are almost entirely ethnic Tajiks... READ MORE›

ISLAM KARIMOV DIES AT 78 ENDING A LONG RUTHLESS RULE OF UZBEKISTAN

MOSCOW -- Islam Karimov, a ruthless autocrat who ruled Uzbekistan for almost three decades, died on Friday in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent... READ MORE›

PALU JOURNAL A CITY TURNS TO FACE INDONESIAS MURDEROUS PAST

Mastura signed a local regulation officially recognizing human rights abuse victims in the city... READ MORE›

THIS RANT COMPARING IDS AND CHINA WAS TOO MUCH FOR EVEN THE QUESTION TIME AUDIENCE

I just wonder how the Conservative government can scrutinise China for their human rights violations when they are being investigated themselves he said... READ MORE›

PUTIN SIGNS LAW ALLOWING RUSSIA TO OVERTURN RULINGS OF INTERNATIONAL RIGHTS COURTS

MOSCOW President Vladimir Putin has signed a law allowing Russia's Constitutional Court to decide whether or not to implement rulings of international human rights courts... READ MORE›

SOVIET LEADER GORBACHEV SAYS A NEW UNION COULD RISE AGAIN

Gorbachev may well have a rose-tinted view of the Soviet Union, but many in Russia feel the same... READ MORE›

The Aral Sea has been retreating over the last half-century since a massive Soviet irrigation project diverted water from the rivers that fed it into farmland... READ MORE›

WHY IS IT LEFT TO US NGOS TO EXPOSE AUSTRALIAN MINING'S WRONGDOING IN AFRICA?

The economy of Eritrea has experienced considerable growth in recent years, explains the website for Australian mining company Danakali... READ MORE›

FIVE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS BACKED BY THE U.S. WHOM YOU NEVER HEARD OF

More than 30 were killed, mostly at the hands of Bahraini security forces, and hundreds more were wounded, according to human rights groups... READ MORE›

SAUDI ARABIA CARRYING OUT 'UNPRECEDENTED WAVE' OF EXECUTIONS

There's a lot of speculation, says Adam Coogle, who monitors Saudi Arabia's use of the death penalty, for Human Rights Watch... READ MORE›

U.S. BLOCKS SOME ANTI-DRUG FUNDS FOR MEXICO OVER HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS

State Department has decided that Mexico failed to reach some human rights goals triggering a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid... READ MORE›

NOT BEING TORTURED ISN'T THE ONLY HUMAN RIGHT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED

A day does not go by without news reports of grave human rights abuses in countries across all regions of the world... READ MORE›

SENIOR UN OFFICIAL CASTIGATES WORLD BANK OVER ITS APPROACH TO HUMAN RIGHTS

For decades, the World Bank has argued that human rights and development are mutually reinforcing... READ MORE›

AI WEIWEI ACCUSES CAMERON OF SACRIFICING BRITAIN'S VALUES BY PURSUING CHINA'S MONEY

Ai Weiwei accuses David Cameron of sacrificing UK's human rights record for Chinese cash... READ MORE›

RUSSELL BRAND DESCRIBES ONE-MINUTE'S SILENCE FOR TUNISIA VICTIMS AS 'ABSOLUTE BULL****'

Russell Brand describes one-minute's silence for Tunisia victims as 'absolute bull '... READ MORE›

Related Stories Torture is still rife in Mexico and is routinely used to extract confessions, according to a new report by human rights organisation Amnesty International... READ MORE›

WHAT THE WORLD IS SAYING ABOUT THE CIA TORTURE REPORT

But the Obama administration, having formally banned torture, hasn't lifted a finger to punish those guilty for these egregious human rights abuses... READ MORE›

WOMEN IN INDONESIA SUBJECTED TO PAINFUL 'VIRGINITY TESTS' TO JOIN POLICE FORCE

The Government in Indonesia is subjecting female recruits for its national police to painful and traumatic virginity tests, a human rights watchdog has found... READ MORE›

BRITAIN'S RUSSOPHOBIC HAWKS SHOULD BE CAST BACK TO SWINGING 60S IF WE WANT NEW EAST-WEST DETENTE

It's worth pointing out that at this time it wasn't just left-wingers like Wilson who supported improved relations with the Soviet Union... READ MORE›

DAVID CAMERON DISMISSES RISK OF RIFT WITH US OVER CHINA

Amnesty International has also promised demonstrations in London over China's human rights record... READ MORE›

UN LASHES AUSTRALIAN 'CONTEMPT AND HOSTILITY' TOWARD ASYLUM SEEKERS

"Too often, governments try to avoid their legal obligations to refugees and victims of human trafficking by characterising them all as 'migrants', labelling victims of abuse as 'illegal'," it says... READ MORE›