News headlines in June 2010, page 8

Time does not heal everything. Finding the Colombian state guilty in the murder of Patriotic Union (UP) Senator Manuel Cepeda, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights considered the 16 years of impunity enjoyed by the masterminds behind the killing an aggravating factor.

Baroness Lynda Chalker, a former British government minister, has been at the forefront of the intellectual property rights crusade to pass laws against counterfeits in east Africa. These laws threaten the use of life-saving generics in countries that depend on such medicines for some 90 percent of their healthcare needs.

The U.S. labour movement needs to be reorganised from the bottom up to include domestic workers, day labourers, restaurant workers, taxi drivers, farm workers, incarcerated workers, guest workers and those in the 'right to work' states.

The committed determination of young people in the environmental justice movement is emerging as a highlight of the 2010 U.S. Social Forum, which opened in Detroit this week with some 20,000 activists meeting in 'Motor City' to network and share their visions for social change.

'There are many people in the United States who believe in justice and actively support the Five, fighting every day for their freedom,' says labour and community activist Gloria La Riva, the head of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, responding to questions about her total dedication to the cause.

'Where is my daddy? Why is he not coming home? I want my daddy,' sobs seven- year-old Yasmin, her big blue eyes filling with tears. She wakes up crying every night.

Authorities in the Maldives view women’s issues as a core human rights problem and are keen to tackle them head on, but cultural and religious issues often stand in the way.

The lack of debate here concerning Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan is unlikely to change in the near future despite the recent deaths of five Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel in the war-ravaged nation.

Despite the growing international condemnation and isolation incurred by the government of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the right-wing leadership of the so-called 'Israel Lobby' here is riding high in the U.S. Congress.

'Sergio, your death will be avenged by the angry, organised people' reads graffiti under the Puente Negro railroad bridge connecting this border city with El Paso, Texas.