The NFP will be undergoing a major system upgrade over this weekend (March 13th – 14th).

During this process it will be necessary to shut the site down for an undetermined amount of time. The site will more than likely be shut down on Sunday, March 14th. But it may be off during other moments.

Along with the system upgrade a few new design changes will take place for you to check out when you return!

We hope this won’t interfere with your reading enjoyment at the NFP for too long!

The earthquake in Haiti has created a humanitarian disaster of immense complexity that brought a massive humanitarian response. However, integrating human rights concerns into the relief operations is essential to protecting the well-being of Haitian victims, especially women, children, and other vulnerable groups.

The vast majority of settlements sheltering earthquake victims have zero security, Human Rights Watch learned while visiting 15 camps in Port au Prince and Jacmel. Even though these settlements hold between 5,000 and 35,000 people each, no one has formal responsibility for what happens inside or around them, and security officers are conspicuously absent.

“It is difficult to understand the SAPS’s reasoning behind their decision to appeal the labour court findings in the case of Captain Barnard. It was found that withholding promotion from her was a case of unreasonable racial discrimination.

“The continued inept performance of the SAPD in running an effective crime fighting unit can be largely ascribed to the lack of management expertise which is the direct result of unqualified and inexperienced persons being placed in responsible positions and then not being able to cope,” says Rev Theunis Botha, leader of the Christian Democratic Party (CDP) and Acting chair of the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA).

Abuses in China, Russia, Brazil Show Games Need Human Rights Standards - The Olympic Movement urgently needs to focus on human rights reform, Human Rights Watch said today as the 2010 Winter Olympics opened in Vancouver.

One ugly legacy of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is the continued imprisonment in China of those who protested forced evictions or called for human rights improvements there.

The next Winter Games are scheduled to take place in the Russian town of Sochi, where preparations for the Olympics have already generated concerns about the potential for rights violations linked to these preparations, Human Rights Watch said.

Hundreds of thousands of children are employed as farmworkers in the United States, often working 10 or more hours a day. 

They are often exposed to dangerous pesticides, experience high rates of injury, and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of other working youth.

Their long hours contribute to alarming drop-out rates.

The NFP is proud to announce the arrival of our latest Cartoonist Jennett Meriden Russell and her humourous collection of outstanding cartoons! Her first cartoon ran in the Long Island Traveler/Mattituck Watchman when she was 13!

Born in Connecticut in 1960, the Coram, New York resident was a former disc jockey, news reporter, and radio commercial producer for various Long Island radio stations.

A freelance journalist and photographer with The Press of Manorville and the Moriches, Miss Russell won six New York State Press Association Better Newspaper awards last year including three first place standings!