| GLOBAL: Children’s rights not yet a reality |
 DAKAR, 20 November 2009 (IRIN Global) - Children’s rights advocates are taking 20 November, the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), to highlight legal advances, but say when it comes to education, healthcare and protection in conflicts and natural disasters, children are often the first to be deprived of their rights.
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SOMALIA: Residents and sandbank stymie pirates' plan |  NAIROBI, 19 November 2009 (IRIN Africa) - Residents of a coastal town in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland saved the crew of a fishing boat when they foiled an attempt by pirates, who had captured the boat, to sail away.
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LIBERIA: “The new war is rape” |  MONROVIA, 19 November 2009 (IRIN Africa) - In Liberia rape survivors are increasingly speaking up and seeking help as awareness of rights increases, but social taboos persist and seeking justice does not always mean that justice is served.
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INDONESIA: Tough laws needed to curb people-smuggling |  JAKARTA, 18 November 2009 (IRIN Asia) - Indonesia has become a key transit point for illegal migrants in the region, but efforts to curb people-smuggling are being hampered by a dearth of stringent laws to punish offenders, officials say.
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SOUTH AFRICA: Funds needed for displaced Zimbabweans |  JOHANNESBURG, 18 November 2009 (IRIN Africa) - The number of Zimbabweans displaced after some of their shacks in an informal settlement outside De Doorns, a farming town about 140km from Cape Town, South Africa, were attacked and demolished by local South African residents, has risen to about 3,000, said the South African Red Cross Society.
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SOUTH AFRICA-ZIMBABWE: More than 2,000 Zimbabweans flee, fearing attacks |  JOHANNESBURG, 17 November 2009 (IRIN Africa) - Fearing a resurgence of xenophobic attacks, around 2,500 Zimbabwean migrants have taken refuge in government buildings in De Doorns, a farming town about 140km from Cape Town, South Africa, after some of their shacks in an informal settlement were attacked and demolished, said a police official.
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VIETNAM: Ethnic minorities lose out on maternal healthcare |  HANOI, 16 November 2009 (IRIN Asia) - The birth rate in rapidly developing Vietnam has dropped in recent years while maternal health and antenatal standards have risen – albeit only for the dominant ethnic groups. Ethnic minorities mostly still give birth at home, without a healthcare worker or midwife, specialists say.
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KENYA: Women weighed down by culture |  GARISSA, 16 November 2009 (IRIN Africa) - Armed with a university certificate, Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji returned to her pastoralist community in Garissa, northeastern Kenya, expecting to serve as a veterinary health assistant. But she was refused the job.
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IRAQ: Minority communities in Nineveh appeal for protection |  BAGHDAD, 15 November 2009 (IRIN Middle East) - Iraq’s minority communities in the northern province of Nineveh have appealed to local and national authorities for protection amid warnings of an increase in attacks against them in the run-up to January’s national elections.
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NEPAL: Government must act on extrajudicial killings |  KATHMANDU, 13 November 2009 (IRIN Asia) - The government’s continued failure to investigate and prosecute extrajudicial killings during Nepal’s civil war (1996-2006) is ruining lives and devastating victims’ families, while creating a culture of impunity, the UN and rights activists say.
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