Category: Human Rights

The findings come in the latest report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, released on Thursday.  “I am appalled by the flagrant disregard for the laws of war and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by all parties involved in the conflict”, said Commission chair Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro.   “While the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has the primary responsibility for the protection of boys and girls in the country, all of the actors in this conflict must do more to protect children and preserve the country’s future generation.”   Dreams erased  The three-member Commission…

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“The single most targeted group was human rights defenders advocating on behalf of community-based and specific ethnic groups such as indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians”, Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva, adding that the number of women human rights defenders killed increased “by almost 50 per cent in 2019 compared to 2018”. According to OHCHR, 107 activists were killed last year.  And staff in the country are still in the process of verifying 13 additional cases reported during 2019 which, if confirmed, would raise the annual total to 120 killings. Attacks…

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An investigation carried out by the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) in the DRC, found that at least 701 people have been killed and 168 injured following attacks involving the Hema and Lendu communities in the country’s northeast province of Ituri, between December 2017 and September last year.  “In addition, at least 142 people have been subjected to acts of sexual violence” the report said, “most of them members of the Hema community.”  Since September 2018, Lendu armed groups have become increasingly organized in carrying out attacks against the Hema and members of other ethnic…

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The legislation, which was passed by a resounding majority in El Salvador’s National Assembly on Thursday, also protects, aids and offers durable solutions to people who may be either at risk or who have already been internally displaced, due to violence perpetrated criminal gangs.  And for the first time ever, the law also provides for the establishment of a comprehensive national system of State institutions to prevent and respond to forced displacement.  ‘Lasting positive impact’ Once the new law is signed by President Nayib Bukele, it can have “a lasting positive impact on the lives of the 71,500…

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Stop escalation, urges UN chief, as geopolitical tensions reach ‘highest level this century’ UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on world leaders to de-escalate geopolitical tensions on Monday, which he described as being “at their highest level this century” as the new decade dawns. The New Year has begun with our world in turmoil. We are living in dangerous times”, said the UN chief, noting that turbulence is only escalating.  Here’s more on this story. Australia bushfire crisis: UNICEF offers help and support Raging bushfires wreaking havoc across Australia have prompted the UN Children’s Fund,…

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Dana Cormier manages the Best Stop Supermarket in Scott, Louisiana. Her business specializes in Cajun cuisine including boudin (a type of sausage) and cracklins (deep fried pork rind). Her father established the supermarket 33 years ago, and she has been working there for 24 years. The Cajun people settled in southern Louisiana after being exiled from Canada in the mid-1700s.  “When I was growing up, the one thing I wanted to be was a police officer, so I joined up and worked in narcotics for two years. I then decided…

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