UNESCO should reject a new bid to honor Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the president of Equatorial Guinea and now Africa's longest serving ruler, with a prize in his name, a group of nine human rights organizations said today.

A recent decision by the co-investigating judges at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia marks a setback to the principle that victims of international crimes should be given a voice in the courtroom.

The UN Human Rights Committee has found the government of Kyrgyzstan responsible for the 2004 death of a detainee in police custody, underlining continued concerns about the use of torture and violence by police in Kyrgyzstan.

The Open Society Foundations express grave concern over the recent announcement by the government of Kazakhstan that it will return oversight of its detention facilities to the Ministry of Interior.

The Open Society Justice Initiative and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights have urged Africa’s top human rights body to respond to the torture and prolonged detention of a critic of the Mubarak government in Egypt.

The Open Society Justice Initiative is deeply concerned by new legislation that allows suspects in serious crime cases to be held for up to 48 hours without access to defense counsel, and up to 5 days without court review.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the Czech Republic to end practices which segregate both Roma children and children with disabilities from mainstream education in its schools.

The Open Society Justice Initiative is calling on the Government of Hungary to withdraw a proposed parliamentary bill that would drastically curtail the most basic rights of suspects.