An independent United Nations commission has said the Syrian government is likely to have used chlorine gas to attack civilians.

Italy’s plea for help from fellow member states of the European Union to deal with the arrival of refugees to its southern shores must not go unheeded.

The UN Security Council’s president has said the council is divided over whether to refer reports of war crimes in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

The UN’s top human rights official has urged nations to save Syria’s embattled and dying children and to rally behind a 14-year-old girl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting female education.

The UN's top human rights official said today that there should be no amnesty for serious crimes committed in Syria, even if the threat of prosecution might motivate members of the regime to cling to power at all costs.

The failure of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution on Syria has encouraged Damascus to step up its assault on the opposition and launch an “indiscriminate attack” on Homs, the UN human rights chief said.

Hours of clashes across Syria killed at least four people today and wounded dozens more - including an 11-year-old girl who was struck by stray bullets that flew across the border into Lebanon, officials said.

SYRIA has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to take up arms against President Bashar Assad’s regime, the UN’s top human rights official has warned.

Police and protesters demanding that Egypt’s ruling military council step down are observing a truce after five days of deadly street battles in which at least 40 people died.

International criticism of Egypt’s military rulers mounted today as police clashed for a fifth day with protesters demanding the generals relinquish power immediately.

EGYPT’S deputy prime minister has resigned over clashes that killed 25 people, mainly Coptic Christians, amid mounting anger at the ruling military and calls for the premier to quit.

Libyan government forces may be committing war crimes by using heavy weapons against civilians in the besieged port city of Misrata, the UN’s top human rights official said today.

The UN’s top human rights official has called on the world to back the popular revolts shaking the Middle East.

A Libyan army unit loyal to Muammar Gaddafi has blasted a minaret of a mosque with anti-aircraft missiles and automatic weapons injuring scores of anti-government protesters who refused to leave the area, a witness said.

Almost 150 people were killed and another 510 were injured in the uprising that toppled Tunisia’s president last month, the head of a United Nations mission investigating the unrest said today.

Germany has evacuated 89 westerners, including 31 Americans and 40 Europeans, from the violence-torn city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

TENS of thousands of hard-line government supporters turned out for state-sponsored rallies yesterday, some of them calling for the execution of opposition leaders as Iran’s police chief threatened to show “no mercy” in crushing any new protests by the pro-reform movement.

FORMER President Mary Robinson has appealed to the Irish government not to cut vital funds for overseas development as such a move could lead to an increase of violence against women.

THIS week we saw, depending on how the dice falls for you, how different life in Ireland can be.

EUROPEAN Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso begins putting together his new commission this week – but he will have to leave at least one country out.

AUSTRALIA and the Netherlands yesterday joined a growing Western boycott of a United Nations conference on racism over fears it will be used as a platform for unfair criticism of Israel.

A NUMBER of the world’s best-known pioneers for peace and justice have demanded that the UN carry out a full-scale investigation into allegations of war crimes during the latest Gaza war.

Sri Lanka’s president today urged the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety following reports of heavy casualties among non-combatants stuck in the shrinking territory.

The Government was today accused of promoting contradicting policies over the issue of undocumented migrants.

EXILED former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is poised to return to Pakistan to contest critical January elections, his party said last night, posing a significant challenge to the authority of President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party and about 50 other democracy activists – many of them bandaged and bruised – were taken to hospitals following a court appearance today, two days after they were arrested and reportedly beaten for trying to attend an opposition meeting.

The top UN human rights official today urged Iraq to ensure former President Saddam Hussein a fair appeals process, and to refrain from executing him even if the death penalty is upheld.

Irish rock legends U2 tonight added another award to their collection as they were named Amnesty International Ambassadors of Conscience for 2005.

It was “wrong” for the Government to renege on its United Nations commitments on overseas development aid, former president Mary Robinson today claimed.

chief Margaret Hassan’s murder by her kidnappers in Iraq has underscored the difficulty for even seasoned relief workers to provide aid to Iraqis.

Aid chief Margaret Hassan’s execution by her kidnappers in Iraq has underscored the difficulty for even seasoned relief workers to provide aid to Iraqis.

SEPARATISTS in southern Thailand urged all Muslims to rise up and warned that the killing of 108 militants by security forces this week would be paid for “with blood and tears.”

A BRAZILIAN Air Force plane carrying the body of slain UN envoy to Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello headed to Geneva on Sunday, one day after a vigil and funeral ceremony in his hometown.

MARY Robinson is critical of the Irish state’s failure to enshrine the European Convention of Human Rights in domestic legislation (Irish Examiner, Dec 20). Maybe the judiciary should get proper training. Too much for them to apply human rights. We know: family law, treatment of juvenile offenders, mentally handicapped people ...

Former Irish President Mary Robinson will relinquish her position as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights today after five years in the job.

OUTGOING UN human rights commissioner Mary Robinson has accused governments of hiding behind the war on terrorism to trample on civil liberties and crush troublesome opponents.

IN her role as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, former Irish President Mary Robinson has never shirked taking on major world powers in her relentless pursuit of justice.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has expressed deep concern about the condition of Afghanistan's civilian population after a week of US and British air strikes.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is being urged to make the abolition of slavery her priority.

The campaign to free the world’s 28 million slaves will deliver a demand to the Government to pressurise other countries to free people who are trapped in forced labour.