The arrest of First Vice President and main opposition leader Riek Machar, alongside mounting military clashes and reported attacks on civilian populations, signals a severe unravelling of the peace process and a direct threat to millions, rights investigators said. Speaking later on Thursday, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary-General António...
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home,” said Anna Fierst, quoting her great-grandmother Eleanor Roosevelt’s speech of 1958, in which she highlighted the number of ordinary citizens determined to be active in their local neighbourhoods, schools, and factories. “Unless these rights have meaning...
Speaking in the capital Bishkek, Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights acknowledged the country’s recent economic growth but cautioned that narrowing space for civil society and press freedom could undermine progress. “For societies to thrive, they need to be rooted in human rights, non-discrimination and the rule of...
The Council – the UN’s foremost human rights forum – also heard updates on allegations of ongoing abuses in Belarus, North Korea and Myanmar. According to the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, enforced disappearances of civilians committed by Russian authorities have been “widespread and systematic” and likely amount to crimes against humanity....
Council-appointed experts pointed to grave violations of fundamental rights in Iran, linked to popular protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022. Sara Hossein, chair of the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, said that during peaceful protests, “children were killed and severely injured after being fired at with ammunition containing metal...
In their latest and final report, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran alleged ongoing serious rights violations by the Iranian authorities stemming from massive protests after the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. Ms. Amini, from the Iranian Kurdish community, had been arrested by the country’s...
“Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination,” maintained Chris Sidoti from the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). ‘Increasingly used’ Speaking in Geneva, the human rights lawyer said that...
The killing of civilians in coastal areas in northwest Syria must cease immediately, the UN rights chief said on Sunday following a series of coordinated attacks reportedly launched by elements of the former government and other local armed men....
Yasmen Almashan, a founding member of the Caesar Families Association, lost five of her six brothers between 2012 and 2014 during the early years of the Syrian civil war. Today, Ms. Almashan advocates for the truth about what happened to Syria’s more than 130,000 missing persons. This quest would be...
Addressing the Human Rights Council on Friday, he detailed the devastating toll of the ongoing conflict and economic collapse on civilians – many of whom have been displaced by the fighting. Earlier in the day the Council discussed the deteriorating situation in South Sudan, having heard a report from rights...
Mr. Türk – making his closing remarks during the session reporting on the Occupied Palestinian Territory at the Human Rights Council – said he was deeply troubled by the “dangerous manipulation of language” and disinformation that surrounds discussions over the Palestine-Israel conflict. “We need to make sure that we resist...
“While a number of countries argue that it lies within their national sovereignty, from my perspective, it is incompatible with human dignity and the right to life,” the High Commissioner told Member States, during a discussion about the contribution of judiciaries to advancing human rights over the issue. The punishment had...