Nobel Peace Prize Winner and President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf defended the country's anti-homosexuality laws in an interview alongside former British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday, saying the citizens of her country "like ourselves just the way we are."

In Liberia, acts of "voluntary sodomy" are punishable by up to one year in prison, although newer legislation has been proposed that would increase those penalties.

Sirleaf also added in the interview with the Guardian's Tamasin Ford that she would not pass any harsher penalties against homosexuality, saying, "I won't sign any law that has to do with that area, whatsoever." more >>

Organizers of an upcoming conference that will feature 100 human rights groups say an important purpose for the gathering is to further the success of Invisible Children, Inc.'s Kony 2012 campaign of bringing people together for a common cause.

Regent University School of Law's Center for Global Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law will host its first "Media and the Law: Seeking Justice for the Least of These" conference at the school's campus in Virginia Beach, Va., on March 29-31.

"The wildly successful Kony 2012 social media campaign demonstrated that artists, human rights advocates and legal professionals can work together to confront issues surrounding human trafficking, the legal protection of children, and international religious freedom," organizers of the event said in a statement from the school's law center. more >>

The Islamist government of Sudan has been accused of taking up again the process of systematically killing the people of the Nuba Mountains, a region in the south of the country that is 30 percent Christian – and the U.S. government is being called on to intervene.

The Sudanese government has allegedly continued killing the inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains region lying in an area called Southern Kordofan, where it left off in the 1980s and 1990s, Brad Phillips, president and founder of Persecution Projects Foundation. Phillips, whose Christian nonprofit ministry has been working in Sudan since 1998, confirmed to The Christian Post Friday multiple reports of systematic attacks on people of specific backgrounds in that region since the summer of 2011.

But there is not enough public awareness about the violence, and the ministry has made it its goal to lobby President Barack Obama using a new venture, called Save the Nuba, to prevent their potential genocide. The petition to President Obama, available on the nonprofit's website, has been gathering signatures. more >>

This year on International Women's Day, women across the globe will gather to celebrate the successes, challenges, and joys of being a woman in the 21st century. Among those taking the time to celebrate the power of women this Thursday is Women of Vision (WOV), a volunteer ministry of women who are working to bring together the worlds of faith and international economic development to transform the lives of women and girls globally.

"Women of faith are finding their voices, saying we need to step out and speak out about these issues and use the gift that God has given us for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering," WOV National Director Cynthia Breilh told The Christian Post. "This is the time for women of faith to stand up, engage, and get active and say, 'Look we are not going to stand by and let our sisters around the world be oppressed and live in poverty.'

"It's within their hands to change their lives if we just help raise awareness and be a voice for them." more >>

WASHINGTON – Some 100,000 ethnic Chins from Burma have fled torture and religious persecution in their homeland to take refuge in Mizoram state in eastern India, where they make up an astounding 10 percent of the population – but on paper – they don't exist.

This problem – the Chins' legal non-existence in Mizoram – brought together a panel of humanitarian experts on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., to raise awareness about the plight of this highly overlooked ethnic group – 90 percent of which is Christian – at a media event for the release of the 134-page report, "Seeking Refuge: The Chin People in Mizoram State, India."

"Partially due to difficulty with access into Chin state in Burma and Mizoram in India, there has been much less focus on the Chin situation than it really warrants," said Joel Charny, vice president for humanitarian policy and practice at Interaction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based relief and development organizations. more >>

Arizona Sen. John McCain has called on the Obama Administration to lead a military strike against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose security forces are accused of killing thousands of people protesting his rule.

McCain argued on Monday during a speech at the Senate that President Barack Obama's diplomatic approach to the Assad regime is "starting to look more like hope than strategy" and pointed to a U.S.-led military engagement in Libya as a case for intervening in Syria.

"The president must state unequivocally that under no circumstances will Assad be allowed to finish what he has started, that there is no future in which Assad and his lieutenants will remain in control of Syria, and that the United States is prepared to use the full weight of our airpower to make it so," the Republican senator said. more >>