Orcon has been ordered to pay out $25,000 to a man whose life was thrown into turmoil after they wrongly referred him to debt collectors.

Yesterday, as the Senate began public hearings into conditions in the Australian-funded detention centre, those words seemed not too far from the truth.

Egyptian Islamists have warned that the world should brace itself for a backlash after the country's first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi was given a death sentence.

Five years after he was arrested for helping his mother to die, a NZ-born doctor has won a landmark victory allowing assisted suicide in South Africa.

A coalition opposed to legalising euthanasia has welcomed the latest legal development in the case of terminally-ill Lecretia Seales.

A British grandmother on death row in Indonesia says executed Australian Andrew Chan was a hero to her.

Hopefully, Chan and Sukumaran's deaths will be a deterrent to other baby gangstas looking to make a quick buck. Then Chan and Sukumaran won't have died in vain, writes Kerre McIvor.

After years of objection from right-wing Israeli groups, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee last month approved initial plans for 2500 houses on 150ha of land in the Kidron Valley in Al Sawahra.

The deaths of vulnerable people who are in state care or custody could have less independent scrutiny if proposed law changes go ahead.

I looked back through the archives to see whether Minister for Women, Louise Upston, had ever, in fact, said or done anything actually worthwhile for the women of NZ, writes Dita De Boni.

The executions of Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran has drawn much international criticism, but what do those who live in Indonesia think?

Prime Minister John Key has met with the Saudi Arabian king and raised the issue of human rights.

The Nigerian army has rescued 200 girls and 93 women who had been captured by terror group Boko Haram.

Rock superstar Serj Tankian may call NZ home - but today he'll be in Armenia, commemorating the lives of his ancestors lost to genocide 100 years ago.

A judge has granted the legal right of habeas corpus to two chimpanzees being held at a biomedical research facility in the US - a decision that animal rights activists hailed as the first time chimps that had been afforded the status of legal "persons".

New Zealand’s human rights watchdog has added its voice to those calling for drastic action to tackle New Zealand’s housing problems.

It's a safe, diverse and democratic country with a high standard of health care, a low cost of living, and virtually no violent crime or stray dogs.

A year after Islamic extremists Boko Haram kidnapped 220 girls from a girls boarding school in Nigeria, most of the girls are still missing.

Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy was advised to ignore calls and don't answer the phone following concerns raised over foreign drivers.

A dual NZ-British citizen jailed in Burma for using an image of the Buddha to promote his bar has been "abandoned" by the British Foreign Office, according to human rights campaigners.

New Zealand's image as a global human rights leader is not backed up by performance at home, a new report says.

Popular pet food brands sold in New Zealand have been caught up in disturbing claims of slavery on the high seas.

On Race Relations Day, commissioner Dame Susan Devoy talks to Phil Taylor about the challenges of the job and the crossroads we have reached .

The HRC has received a complaint of alleged unlawful discrimination on the grounds of religion on the wearing of kirpan at Cricket World Cup venues.

The Swedish Government this week decided to scrap an arms deal with Saudi Arabia, effectively bringing to an end a decade-old defence agreement with the kingdom.