We're barely a week into the new year and already we can report that misogyny is alive and well in 2011. Here is a quick and undoubtedly incomplete roundup of the first week's action

Why does the United Nations' Human Rights Council turn a blind eye to systematic repression in countries such as Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe? Here's one reason: Its Advisory Committee, meeting this week in Geneva, is dominated by apologists for the world's worst dictators.

World eagerly awaits for S. Sudan to separate from 'Arab Islamic Racist Apartheid' in the north

As budgets tighten, the crisis threatens to wipe out hard-won progress in improving health and reducing poverty. When household incomes decline, girls are more likely to drop out of school.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced Thursday he was reversing the U.S.'s position and endorsing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

From the article, Islamist deaths squads are hunting down gay Iraqis and summarily executing them.

If further evidence is needed that the United Nations is a complete basket case in the arena of human rights, look no further than the world body's decision to stay away from this Friday's Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo.The United Nations' chief human rights official has decl …

"Growing up in Richmond, B.C., I, like more than a few Canadian children, dreamed of becoming secretary-general of the United Nations. The ideal of engaged global citizenship enraptured me, a political refugee from Idi Amin's Uganda.

and where were the UN troops sent there to prevent this. Where was the UN human right commission?

"A vote last week by the United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Committee has LGBT and human rights activists outraged over the decision to remove "sexual orientation" from a resolution that protects people from arbitrary executions.

For the last 10 years sexual orientation has been included in a list of discriminatory grounds for executions – gay rights activists say the vote to remove that listing is "dangerous and disturbing."

The United States faced a barrage of calls to investigate allegations of torture and shut down Guantanamo Bay detention centre on Friday in its first review by the UN's top human rights assembly.

GENEVA -- The United States is submitting its human rights record to the scrutiny of other nations - both allies and adversaries - for the first time, as the Obama administration opens itself up to a committee shunned by his predecessor.

"Yesterday half a dozen anti-genocide organizations joined together to send a letter to the UN Security Council, urging them to ensure the security and human rights of people in Sudan amid reports of the Sudanese Government targeting IDPs who had spoken to representatives from th …

"South Africa on Friday accused the UN Security Council of moving faster to end conflicts in regions outside of Africa, as African nations demanded more help for peacekeeping operations."

In January 2011, South Africa will be back in the United Nations Security Council. Is it likely to do any better than the last time round?

To be fair, the South African government's prior performance in the council was underrated. After all, it was incredibly energetic. It put African issues squarely on the UN agenda. It played a central role in the push for UN reform. And in most decisions, South Africa was with the diplomatic mainstream.

Yet all it has been remembered for is its defence of "rogue powers'" and its refusal to support resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran, Myanmar, Sudan, and Zimbabwe. Many in the human rights community and in the US and European diplomatic communities saw these decisions as a betrayal of the spirit of South Africa's own democratic transition and the international support that had facilitated it. Their criticisms defined the general perception of South Africa's performance.

The tragedy in all this is that a UN body, established for the protection of human rights, has become a human rights violator.

"After Israel says it 'reserves the right' to prevent Lebanese ships from accessing Hamas-ruled enclave, Ban's spokesman says world body's stated preference remains that aid to Strip should be delivered by established routes

After so many instances of the UN's impotence, corruption and waste, why does the body still retain any residue of prestige.

President Obama will use next week's annual gather ing of world leaders at the United Nations to highlight a looming catastrophe in Sudan -- but not to actually prevent it. At least, not the way he's going.

Rwanda says it is ready to withdraw its U.N. peacekeepers from Sudan if the U.N. publishes a report accusing Rwanda's army of possible genocide in the 1990s.

A United Nations panel says Arabs, Kurds and other minorities in Iran face discrimination because of their ethnicity.

"As promised yesterday, here are my photos of the Lebanese-Israeli border –- a renewed hot zone in the Arab-Isareli conflict.

The Defamation of Religion resolution is a free pass for Islamists to continue denigrating other religions and minorities through lawful Islamism.

The Obama administration and 14 members of the U.S. Congress are urging the U.N. Economic and Social Council to accredit the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission so it can work at the United Nations.

For decades, advocates for women believed that a campaign for "gender mainstreaming" at the United Nations -- that is, consciously factoring women into programs worldwide, promoting laws to support women at local and national levels and ensuring that women were well represented a …

" Iran's foreign ministry has rejected Western nations' criticism of its human rights record, calling it unrealistic and politically motivated.

"Muslim states said on Wednesday that what they call "islamophobia" is sweeping the West and its media and demanded that the United Nations take tougher action against it.

"This week the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) reported on a series of attacks on the civilian population in North Darfur by Chadian rebel groups.

"The world's response to Haiti is fully warranted - anything less would be reprehensible.

"But it passed with less support this year than last year, which is good news."

"Freedom of speech is under physical and legal threat not only from terrorists but also at the UN.