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UN Rapporteur On Torture Concerned By Uzbekistan

Manfred Nowak, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, says he is "very concerned" by reports indicating that ill treatment and torture of prison inmates and police detainees remain widespread in Uzbekistan.

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UN Human Rights Specialist Calls on N. Korea to Give Full Story of Japanese Abductees

The United Nations' specialist on North Korean human rights is calling for Pyongyang to provide full details about the fate of Japanese abducted by North Korean agents. The appeal came as a Japanese official indicated that the number of abductees is far higher than the 17 officially recognized so far. VOA's Steve Herman reports from Tokyo.

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Rice Welcomes UN Iran Draft Resolution

Washington is welcoming a new European-sponsored draft resolution that would impose targeted UN sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

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UNHCR Says $1 Billion Needed for Refugees

The U.N. refugee agency is launching an appeal for more than $1 billion to support millions of people around the world uprooted by persecution and conflict. The UNHCR is holding its annual pledging conference for donor countries in Geneva, from where Lisa Schlein reports for VOA.

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UN-Led Relief Operations Continue in Flood Affected Horn Countries

Nearly a half million people in Somalia are currently in need of assistance due to heavy rains and flooding. But UN officials fear that number could rise sharply without a quick influx of aid.

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UN Says Israel Blocks Fact-Finding Mission to Gaza

United Nations officials say Israel has blocked a U.N. fact-finding mission to the Gaza Strip.

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Bosnian Serb PM Urges Karadzic, Mladic To Surrender

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik has appealed to Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic and other war crimes fugitives to surrender.

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Refugees And Residents Face Health And Security Crisis

The withdrawal from Abéché in eastern Chad of non essential United Nations staff, including those working for the World Health Organization (WHO), has left refugee and displaced populations and local communities facing a potential health crisis, WHO said today.

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Women's Plight Holds Back Overall Arab 'Renaissance'

Huge discrimination against women in the Arab world is holding back overall economic prosperity and social development in the region, a United Nations report said on Thursday.

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Human Rights Day 2006

Every year on December 10 the International Community observes Human Rights Day, commemorating the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly.

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UN Chief Calls For Greater Responsibility In Fighting AIDS

In a message to mark the today's UN-observed annual World AIDS day, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says success in defeating AIDS will depend on every national leader, politician, and individual taking responsibility to protect others against the AIDS threat.

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CIS: UN Food Insecurity Report Sees Uneven Progress

Despite intensified efforts by the international community over the past decade, hundreds of millions of people around the world continue to go hungry.

And the problem remains acute in parts of Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and other areas of the former Soviet Union.