30 January 2011 – The United Nations and the Government of Afghanistan today signed an agreement in which the country made a commitment to protect children affected by armed conflict and to prevent the recruitment of minors into the national armed forces. “Today we come together to undertake a big step for a better future for the children of Afghanistan,” Zalmai Rassoul, Afghanistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, who represented the Government at the signing of the agreement in Kabul with Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict. Also...

27 January 2011 - On the same day in 1945, the largest and most notorious concentration camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was set free. The evidence of unbelievable cruelty that conquered the camp shook every modern man’s conscience. Hence, on this day, each year since 2006, the United Nations, in concert with the whole world, celebrates the Holocaust Memorial Day. Exhibitions, thru music, arts and speeches, are being held at various UN offices.  We, at  IIMA Human Rights Office, joined the celebration held at Palais des Nations, Geneva to unite with this generation not...

Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Mr. Kishore Singh, visited Senegal from 10 to 14 January 2011.  Mr. Singh met with various Government authorities in the education sector, international organizations and NGOs. During his visit, he also went to see the Senegalese schools and daaras (Quranic schools) both in the capital and in the rural areas.Mr. Singh drew special attention to issues such as access to  quality education as specified in the programme “Education for All”; access to quality technical schooling; strategies to face great challenges involving marginalized groups (girls, disadvantaged children, families living...