Eleanor Roosevelt played a key role as a member of the US delegation to the United Nations in the two-year-long process that led to the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She famously said that the “real change which must give to people throughout the world their...
The event, organized by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) and the New York City Mayor’s Office, was a call to action to youth. “Positive change is possible when we unite in action. By being here, you’re responding to the call for action,” Ilze Brands Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human...
The region has been under the control of opposition Houthi forces since the internationally recognized Government were driven out of the city in 2015. WFP said that despite negotiating with the authorities for nearly a year to provide a more limited aid programme that would reach around 6.5 million in...
OHCHR is urging the authorities to halt deportations, which are set to begin on 1 November, Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva. Currently, more than two million undocumented Afghans are living in Pakistan, at least 600,000 of whom arrived after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. ‘Grave...
Some 22 countries and one non-governmental organization (NGO) took the floor, turning the meeting into a mini urgent debate on the crisis sparked by Hamas attacks against Israel and the capture of more than 100 Israelis who are being held hostage by militants inside the Gaza Strip. The surprise incursion...
According to findings from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 130 million students worldwide experience bullying, which has been exacerbated by the spread of digital technologies. UNICEF estimates that one in every three students from 13 to 15 is a victim. Suicide risk The Council heard heartfelt testimony from 15-year-old Santa...
The fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM-5), organized by UN environment programme UNEP and hosted by Germany, kicks off in Bonn on Monday. “ICCM-5 is expected to be a watershed moment for international cooperation on chemicals and wastes”, said a statement released by the group of...
The human rights situation within Russia has significantly deteriorated since the invasion of Ukraine last year, according to a UN-appointed expert on Thursday. ...
As governments increasingly use unilateral sanctions measures to pursue foreign policy objectives, it has become common for businesses, including banks and financial institutions to over-comply with them, said the UN Human Rights Council-appointed Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, Alena Douhan. Ms. Douhan said some individually imposed sanctions are having...
“Human rights in Afghanistan are in a state of collapse,” he told the Human Rights Council, before sounding the alarm over ongoing reports of extrajudicial killings, torture and ill-treatment and arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as serious violations against former Government officials, as documented in a new human rights office...
“The frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity has only increased in recent months,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the investigation team, formally known as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). ‘Brazen bombings’ Addressing the forum in Geneva, he described even “more brazen aerial bombings and indiscriminate...
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) adopted a decision under its “early warning and urgent action” procedures, stating that developed countries’ “persistent refusal” to waive COVID-19 vaccine IP rights – such as patents and trademarks – violated non-discrimination guarantees under international human rights law. CERD is...