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This 67-page report details the brutal slaughter of more than 865 civilians and the abduction of at least 160 children between December 24, 2008, and January 17 in the Haute Uele district of Congo. In some of the most devastating attacks, LRA combatants waited until people had come together for Christmas festivities and then hacked their victims to death with machetes and axes or crushed their skulls with clubs and heavy sticks.

–Burundi’s parliament should respect its human rights obligations and reject a pending criminal code revision that would outlaw consensual homosexual conduct–Human Rights Watch

On January 28, Republic of Azerbaijan ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, will undertake a country visit to Republic of Kenya from 16 to 25 February 2009 at the invitation of the Kenyan Government.

A Bosnian court has found an Imam (local Islamic priest) guilty of sexually abusing an underage girl and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, in a case that shocked Bosnia and stirred up tensions between local media organizations and the country’s influential Islamic Community. The family of the girl pressed charges against the Imam last year, accusing him of sexually molesting their underage daughter during religion classes.

Deputy Head of human rights research centre receives death threat from neo-Nazi group.

A judge at the Hague tribunal granted permission last week to former Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic to be interviewed by a Dutch reporter from his cell. This is the first time that tribunal allows a defendant to give a media interview.

Regarding upcoming UPR (Universal Periodic Preview) session for the Republic of Macedonia (May 2009), Amnesty International raised concern in its submission, over several human rights issues that this former Yugoslav republic faces with.

China rejected any mention of the human rights situation in Tibet at the conclusion of a major international review of its human rights record in Geneva yesterday. the People´s Republic of China rejected many of the recommendations made by UN member states to implement specific measures and reforms for genuine human rights in the People´s Republic of China.

“It was the cruellest crackdown in the 13 year history of St. Valentine’s Day rallies. They were beating up even girls,” says Zmitser Dashkevich, a leader of the opposition youth organisation Young Front.

“Гэта самы жорсткі разгон за 13-гадовую гісторыю арганізацыі святкавання Дня святога Валянціна. Білі нават дзяўчат,“ – казаў арганізатар акцыі Зміцер Дашкевіч.

Belarusian human rights defenders have their own test of the regime readiness to provide democratic reforms and maintain dialogue with the West.