Fostering Equitable Trade and Development with Reference to Human Rights Principles

Ghana hosted UNCTAD XII in Accra from the 20th to 25th of April 2008. As a prelude to it there was a preliminary Civil Society Organizations’ Forum held from the 17th to the 19th of April 2008. It is the first time such a conference has been held in West Africa. It is not without significance that this region, and Africa in general, is composed entirely of developing and developed countries.

(New York, June 20, 2007) – The war crimes court for Sierra Leone has handed down the first convictions by a UN-backed tribunal for the crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. Human Rights Watch said that these convictions are a ground-breaking step toward ending impunity for commanders who exploit hundreds of thousands of children as soldiers in conflicts worldwide.

(Conakry, June 15, 2007) – Thousands of girls employed as domestic workers in Guinea face labor exploitation and physical abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today, on the eve of the International Day of the African Child. The new Guinean government, which took office in March, should fulfill its pledge to improve living conditions for youths, including child domestic workers.

(New York, June 7, 2007) – In the most comprehensive accounting to date, six leading human rights organizations today published the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret US custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper also names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.

(New York, June 7, 2007) – The United Nations Security Council should reiterate Khartoum’s binding legal obligation to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today. This morning the ICC prosecutor is briefing the Security Council on the progress of his investigations in Darfur, the week before a council mission to Khartoum.