Latin America

“If I had only known that when I was young,” or “if they had only told me” are just some of the statements made by many women who seek assistance at the centre for victims of gender violence set up by the local government in a town on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.

We may soon look back on this period in Haiti with greater appreciation. Amidst the world-historic levels of death and suffering from last January’s earthquake, citizens have at least been spared the scale of government violence that has marked much of their nation’s past (notwithstanding attacks against internally displaced persons during forced evictions, and occasionally against street protesters.)

Amid a continuing crackdown against opposition forces, U.S. President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure to impose tougher sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In Burkina Faso, Niger, Kenya, Uganda: governments are worried by soaring prices – and by newly confident and enraged civil society. Governments are being challenged to take decisive action, despite lacking the tools to address rising global oil prices. Their responses could have important consequences for their legitimacy and survival.

Sunday’s killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by a small, helicopter-borne team of U.S. Navy Seals could result in significant impacts on U.S. relations and strategy both in Pakistan, where the raid was carried out, and neighboring Afghanistan, where it was launched, according to policy experts here.

In the middle of the night, in an affluent suburb a little over 50 kilometers north of Islamabad, Pakistan, Osama bin Laden was gunned down in a compound shielded by barbed wire-topped walls up to five-and-a-half meters high. He resisted, United States officials say, fighting till the death as he had vowed he would.

In the aftermath of the anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster in history, Ukrainian authorities have pledged not to abandon those still in need of assistance. But many of the country’s policies may be increasing the risk of a new catastrophe.

Estados Unidos obtuvo el dictamen que buscaba contra Siria en el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU. Pero dejó en evidencia que se desentiende de abusos tanto o más graves que los endilgados a Damasco y que se han denunciado en países también árabes, como Bahrein y Yemen.

As darkness fell across it, Deraa was a city under siege. Tanks and troops control all roads in and out. Inside the city, shops are shuttered and nobody dare walk the once bustling market streets, today transformed into the kill zone of rooftop snipers.

The Brazilian government must “put its house in order” and take a firm stand on respect for human rights if it wants a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, said Amnesty International (AI) secretary-general Salil Shetty.