A man facing dozens of charges of indecent assaults allegedly committed more than 30 years ago has brought a High Court challenge aimed at preventing his trial from proceeding.

The High Court has dismissed a challenge by a woman and her five children against Galway County Council’s refusal to provide them with continued emergency accommodation after they turned down a four-bedroom house.

Northern Ireland's criminal law on abortion is a matter for the "democratic judgment" of the legislature, the UK highest court has heard.

Bangladeshi authorities have summoned Burma's envoy to protest against violations of their airspace amid an exodus of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in the country.

Lawyers for a teenage boy who is in solitary confinement at Oberstown youth detention centre claim he is being denied his constitutional and human rights.

New Russian road safety regulations bar transsexuals, transvestites and others with sexual “disorders” from driving.

It is a pity that the politicians and media seem to have virtually ignored recent developments in the North. 

The "One Young World" Summit, which will be addressed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, gets underway in Dublin later today.

Emily Logan is to be nominated as Chief Commissioner of the new Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

Ireland has not done enough to tackle violence against women or female genital mutilation across the EU, according to Amnesty International.

THE expert group’s report has been published.

The daughter of the late Evelyn Joel is to bring a High Court action aimed at preventing her retrial on a charge of gross negligence manslaughter of her mother.

Judges will have to listen to victims of crime in certain cases before deciding whether or not to grant bail to an accused.

Human rights judges have rejected an appeal by ex-Formula One boss Max Mosley against his failed bid to force a change in UK privacy laws.

Transgender persons are still being denied legal recognition of their true identity, writes Tanya Ní Mhuirthile

Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama begins his first visit to Ireland in 20 years today.

Zimbabwean police detained 46 people, including a former politician, for attending a lecture and discussion group on mass uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, an independent lawyers group said.

MR JUSTICE John MacMenamin said he was granting the HSE permission to publish the report having listened to the views of the children over whether the report should be published amid their serious concerns that it would attract more sensationalised media coverage.

TWO convicted murderers are challenging the mandatory life sentence claiming it excludes a discretionary role for judges in recommending a minimum jail sentence.

THE body representing the country’s Vocational Education Committees (VECs) had expressed dismay that the European Court of Human Rights may have prompted the removal of the crucifix from schools.

WOMEN have been urged to support the Lisbon referendum by Yes campaigners who said regardless of what is in the text of the treaty their “actions have consequences”.

A rights group said today that a Chinese teacher who posted pictures online of schools that collapsed when a massive earthquake hit Sichuan province in May has been sent to a labour camp for a year.

Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe accused the Zimbabwe opposition of lying over political violence to justify claims that next week’s presidential run-off vote will not be free and fair, the official media reported today.

Europe’s human rights watchdog is conducting a five-day investigation next week into the human rights situation in Ireland.

Somalia has agreed to allow the United Nations human rights commissioner to investigate allegations that recent fighting violated international law.

A federal judge says despite horrifying torture of US prisoners alleged to have been committed in overseas prisons during former Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s tenure, his position in the government shielded him from being sued.

A reform of the State’s defamation legislation to bring it into line with other countries was long overdue, the Minister for Justice told the Seanad today.

In only 12 of 34 cases has anyone been punished for the confirmed or suspected killings of US-held detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, a US human rights group reported today.

JUSTICE MINISTER Michael McDowell yesterday said he was examining an internal garda report into the death of a young man found hanging in a garda cell.

The latest proposal for a new Human Rights Council calls on the UN General Assembly to elect a 45-nation body taking into account a country’s human rights record – but rights groups warn that offending nations could still gain membership.

THE family of Frank McBrearty, the man wrongly accused of murdering cattle dealer Richie Barron nine years ago, told the Taoiseach yesterday that they were prepared to go “all the way” to secure justice for him and others implicated by rogue gardaí in the man’s death.

China is suppressing peaceful Muslim religious and cultural activities in its west under the guise of fighting terrorism, two US-based human rights groups said today.

Human rights groups filed a lawsuit against US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight men allegedly tortured by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

LOCAL authorities could be sued in the courts under little-known, but powerful, European rights, according to a leading legal expert.

The government of the Czech Republic was under pressure tonight to end “barbaric” treatment of handicapped children.

AFGHANISTAN'S government yesterday welcomed a decision by the United States to prosecute a CIA contractor over the brutal killing of a prisoner in a northeastern jail.

PROPOSED legislation giving gardaí extensive new powers could be in breach of European and international law, according to the State-appointed human rights watchdog.

The European Court of Human Rights is due to begin hearing a case relating to Irish libel laws later today.

IRELAND is the embarrassment of Europe due to its failure to affirm its strong commitment to a draft UN Treaty on the rights of the disabled, Labour’s Michael D. Higgins insisted yesterday.

It would be shameful if this country was responsible for blocking the UN Treaty on the Rights of the Disabled, which already has the support of the other 14 member states of the EU.