Human Rights Watch gets Egypt all wrong

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just released its World Report 2012, in which it warns western governments not to ignore the popular will in the Arab world just because that has resulted in a massive victory for political Islam.

HRW is aware of the potential dangers for minority rights as well as of the possibility of a lurch back to authoritarianism but its thinking betrays a profound sense of co

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Palestinian warfare leads to stabbing

A Palestinian human-rights activist was stabbed on Friday in Gaza by unknown assailants, widely assumed to be Hamas.

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All humans have human rights

The Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour's Nation Estate is not as worthless as most agitprop. She does not scream at the audience but imagines the tiny homeland on offer to the Palestinians as a claustrophobic, concrete, tower-block. Her people are crammed inside, but you never see them.

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Hostile face of human rights

As an Israeli member of a UN Human Rights Council working group I have seen first-hand that much of the current international human-rights criticism of Israel suggests that the country is no longer a democracy.

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Durban III: the facts

Britain, Germany and France are among EU countries so far participating in the Durban III anti-racism conference in New York.

The main political declaration from Durban I, which formed the basis for Durban II in Geneva in 2009, targets only Israel as a human rights violator and lists the Palestinians as racism victims.

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Birthday honour for donor

Philanthropist Edward Atkin and law professor and barrister Jeffery Jowell QC were both recipients of Queen's Birthday honours last week.

Mr Atkin, 66, received a CBE for services to industry and to charity through the Atkin Foundation.

After selling his baby-feeding business, Avent, for £300m in 2005, he has dedicated his time to his foundation, which is one of the main supporters of the

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Amnesty in spotlight over hosting anti-Israel event

Labour Friends of Israel has accused Amnesty of having a "disproportionate focus" on alleged Israeli human rights abuses and of being swayed by "anti-peace" groups.

The criticism came as more than a dozen LFI members, including vice-chair Louise Ellman MP, wrote to Amnesty to complain about the NGO's plans to host an anti-Israel event.

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Human Rights Watch: Palestinian media abuses damaging press freedom

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Palestinian Authority of perpetrating "blatant attacks" on free speech in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past two years.

The New York-based organisation documented seven cases of abuse of journalists investigating corruption in the West Bank, as well as two instances in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

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Seven years for Israeli convicted of bribery in Georgia

An Israeli businessman has been sentenced to seven years behind bars in Georgia in a case which a top lawyer has called a breach of human rights legislation.

Rony Fuchs was convicted by a Georgian court and fined about £180,000 for allegedly attempting to bribe a Georgian minister over a breached agreement on the construction of an oil pipeline.

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High five for human rights

Last week we reported that four of the nine members of the new Commission on a Bill of Rights for Britain were Jewish.

Make that five. We mistakenly did not include the chairman of the panel, retired civil servant and Watford Synagogue member Sir Leigh Lewis.

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Experts on rights bill

Four Jewish human rights experts have been appointed to a newly formed independent commission to investigate a UK Bill of Rights.

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Four to join new human rights commission

Four leading Jewish human rights experts have been appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to investigate a potential UK Bill of Rights.

Nearly half of all the members of the newly formed independent commission are Jewish.

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Duggan mother to sue Germany over son's death

A mother is taking Germany to the Court of Human Rights accusing it of failing properly to investigate the mysterious death of her son, Jewish student Jeremiah Duggan, exactly eight years ago.

Mr Duggan's body was found beside the road in Wiesbaden on March 27 2003. The German police have consistently ruled it was suicide but a British coroner rejected the verdict.

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