Human Rights

BOGOTA -- The US said on Wednesday that Colombia's armed forces were meeting human rights criteria and that as a result it would release more than $60m in military aid. Read More

Chocolate manufacturers, human rights groups and the Ivory Coast Government have signed pact aimed at ending the abuse of child labour in the chocolate industry. Read More

CUT THE LIFELINE! is an ongoing campaign aiming to cut the economic lifeline keeping the Burmese military dictatorship in power. The latest target in this campaign is Amerada Hess, an American oil company which owns 25 percent of Premier Oil. Premier Oil are the largest UK investor in Burma. Our campaign to persuade them to pull out has been backed by Aung San Suu Kyi and the UK government. Read More

In a statement issued on 24 April, the Haitian workers' organisation, Batay Ouvriye, denounces a month-long wave of violent repression endured by workers and peasants at the Guacimal orange plantation at St. Raphael in northern Haiti. The violence perpetrated by police, acting in collusion with the local landowners and agents of the Guacimal company, has forced workers in the area to go into hiding. Read More

Banana workers, including children as young as eight years old, suffer from a range of abuses on plantations in Ecuador whose government fails to enforce international labor standards or even its own national labor code, according to a report released in Washington Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Read More

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and database billionaire Larry Ellison were named this year's most notorious American violators of personal privacy by leading advocacy groups on Thursday. The annual ''Big Brother Awards'' are presented to government, corporations and private individuals who allegedly have done the most to threaten personal privacy. Read More

A class-action lawsuit filed by some 35 million descendants of black slaves against three companies with ties to the slave trade is aimed as much at shaking up U.S. society as at winning financial returns, say lawyers and observers. Read More

Restrictions on the movement of goods and people in Israel and the occupied territories in response to the 18-month old intifada have brought the Palestinian economy close to collapse, according to a new report by the World Bank. Read More

Starbucks serves fair-trade certified drip coffee on campus through Sodexho, the food-services vendor. But with the school considering bids for a new 10-year food-services contract, McDonald and the group he leads, Students for Fair Trade, are pushing for all coffee including decaf and espresso drinks on campus to be fair-trade certified. To be certified, third-party monitors must have confirmed that farmers were paid a fair price for their beans. Read More

M&M/Mars is currently asking consumers to vote for a new color of M&M's. On March 30th, participate in a Nationwide Day of Education and Action to rally the vote for Fair Trade Certified chocolate, the color of freedom and dignity! Read More