Franco german human rights award

A prominent British-born privacy law expert and human rights advocate has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of homeless Australian boys in his care.  Simon Davies, 63, was the CEO of the Homeless Children's Association in Darlinghurst, in Sydney's inner east, from 1981 to 1983.     The journalist and author had become a high-profile figure for his humanitarian work as well as his efforts to overturn Australia's controversial national ID card proposal in the late 1980s.  Police have since launched an international manhunt for Davies after an eight-year investigation found he had allegedly run a sordid sex trafficking ring within the shelter over a six-year period.  Simon Davies, 63, is accused of sexually abusing dozens of homeless children while running the Homeless Children's Association in Darlinghurst, in Sydney's inner east, in the 1980s The probe had been kept under wraps until police applied for an arrest warrant at Parramatta Local Court … [Read more...] about Global manhunt for Australian human rights advocate accused of running a sick child sex ring from his Kings Cross ‘refuge’ centre for homeless boys

Police facial recognition cameras should be banned because they pose 'one of the greatest threats to freedom', a human rights group has claimed. Lawyer Martha Spurrier, and director of organisation Liberty, warned that the technology takes private information and hands it to the state without its owner's consent. It comes as a pedestrian was fined £90 for disorderly behaviour after he tried to cover his face when walking past a facial recognition camera in London. Police facial recognition cameras (file photo) should be banned as they pose 'one of the greatest threats to freedom', a human rights group has claimed  'I don't think these cameras should ever be used,' Spurrier told The Guardian. 'It is one of - if not the - greatest threats to individual freedom, partly because of the intimacy of information it takes and hands to the state without your consent, and without even your knowledge, and partly because you don't know what is done with that information. 'It goes far … [Read more...] about Facial recognition cameras should be BANNED because they pose ‘one of the greatest threats to freedom’, says human rights group Liberty

With the general election just a few days away, many more of our readers have sent questions about a range of issues affecting Northern Ireland.Here, BBC News NI answers a selection:What party is making the most promises for the benefit of teenagers? - Finn It is hard to say for sure, because all parties would argue their policies on the big issues - such as Brexit and the economy - will be good for teenagers as well as everyone else.But there are also some teenager-specific polices in the parties' manifestos. Alliance and the Ulster Unionist Party, for example, both say they would lower the voting age from 18 to 16.This policy is also supported by Sinn Féin, the SDLP, People Before Profit and the Greens, although none of these parties have included it in their manifestos.While it's not a policy as such, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) makes much in its manifesto of the fact that anyone under the age of 21 has never had a chance to vote for a functioning assembly, since it … [Read more...] about Human rights to health – your questions answered

Five women have lodged a case in the European Court of Human Rights to remove gender bias among nobility. And their case could prove to have very interesting results for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's future children. The women are challenging centuries-old laws which stop firstborn daughters from receiving hereditary peerages. This means, that if successful, a female born to Harry and Meghan could inherit the Duchess of Sussex title. Previously, it has always been the case that only a firstborn son would inherit the dukedom, regardless of whether or not he had older sisters. Meaning that if a noble couple had only daughters, their title would die out. This rule also applies to the Duke of York , who has only had daughters - thus his eldest, Princess Beatrice , is not currently permitted to inherit his title. In 2013, the Establishment amended royal laws of succession to the throne before the birth of Prince George , to allow equal rights to a baby girl. This has seen Princess … [Read more...] about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s future daughter may get the right to inherit Duchess of Sussex title

A German church organization representing both the Catholic and Protestant churches has condemned the country's arms exports, as criticism mounts of Angela Merkel's decision to allow old Saudi weapons orders to be fulfilled, despite a recent promise to put exports to Saudi Arabia temporarily on hold. "Contrary to all its statements, we cannot see that the government has recognized the seriousness of arms export policy questions," the Berlin-based Joint Conference Church and Development (GKKE) said in a statement on Monday, which was issued along with the organization's 2018 arms export report. "The tightening of arms export guidelines promised for 2018 are nowhere in sight." Karl Jüsten, Catholic prelate and co-chairman of the GKKE board, condemned the exports to belligerents in the Yemen war, especially Saudi Arabia. From January to September of this year, Germany approved arms exports worth €416.4 million ($472.6 million) to Saudi Arabia. These sales meant … [Read more...] about German arms export policy condemned by church organization