The practice of breaking a woman’s pelvis during childbirth and preventing it from healing could well be considered a crime, the chair of the UN Human Rights committee has said.

The UN human rights committee has asked the Government why it refuses to accept any responsibility for the years of abuse and neglect suffered by Irish women and children and why it is so reticent to investigate them fully.

The recent UN Human Rights report on the Catholic Church belongs in the category of ‘you couldn’t make it up’.

The Vatican has hit back at a UN human rights committee that issued a scathing report on sex abuse by priests accusing it of straying beyond its mandate and discrediting the UN as a whole by adopting the “prejudiced” positions of anti-Catholic advocacy groups.

The Vatican “systematically” adopted policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, a UN human rights committee said today.

The UN’s top human rights official has urged the international community to take “immediate measures” to protect civilians in Syria as the death toll from the anti-government unrest rose above 3,000.

THE top UN human rights body last night declared there should be no discrimination or violence against people based on their sexual orientation, in a vote that Islamic states firmly rejected.

Troops opened fire on protesters in cities across Syria, and pro- and anti-government crowds clashed in the capital’s historic old city today.

An Irish university professor has been selected as a member of a United Nations human rights body after receiving massive support.

THE Government is expected to face fierce criticism from the United Nations next month over its suspected complicity with US rendition of prisoners through Shannon.

The UN Human Rights Council today condemned Burma's violent crackdown on protests and urged an immediate investigation of the situation in the country.

The UN Human Rights Council today passed two resolutions criticising Israel, but kept its record intact of singling out no other country for human rights abuses.

Four UN experts will visit Israel and Lebanon to investigate alleged human rights violations committed during the Israel-Hezbollah war, the United Nations said today.

After 25 years of fighting that left more than a million dead, Afghanistan’s government is considering setting up a special war crimes court and a truth-seeking commission to document atrocities, an official said.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has called on US to end its 40-year economic embargo against Cuba.

The Government has announced that it will donate £1.25m to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.