Category: Human Rights

Clément Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association, and Pedro Vaca Villareal, IACHR Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, have written several letters to the Government outlining why the cancellation of the legal standing of hundreds of associations “represents a clear pattern of repressing civic space”.  They said that since April 2018, Nicaragua has adopted a “censorship… Read More

“The past years have witnessed dramatic upheavals – and older people often found themselves at the epicenter of crises,” he said in a video message, adding that they are vulnerable to “a range of challenges”, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the worsening climate crisis, proliferating conflicts, and growing poverty.  “Yet in the face of these threats, older people have inspired us… Read More

Tackling this scourge was the theme of a recent UN event held during the opening session of the General Assembly, at which senior officials called for measures to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable for their crimes. “I followed him into the house. I didn’t know he was going to rape me.” At just 13 years old, Mariama (not her… Read More

While more people have been made aware of systemic racism and concrete steps have been taken in some countries, the Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights called on States to demonstrate greater political will to accelerate action. “There have been some initiatives in different countries to address racism, but for the most part they are piecemeal. They fall short of… Read More

For a third of the countries named in the report, individuals and groups either refrained from cooperation, or only agreed to report on an anonymous basis, for fear of reprisals. “Shocking though this number is, many cases of reprisals are not even reported,” Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (OHCHR) Ilze Brands Kehris told the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday.… Read More

Alongside the deaths, during the opposition rally protesting military rule on 28 September, women and girls were raped, after security forces blocked off exits to the stadium in Conakry, before opening fire. Some protesters were shot dead, or brutally attacked with knives, while others were trampled to death. #ICC Prosecutor #KarimAAKhanKC addresses survivor groups & others at courtroom in Conakry,… Read More

Arrests have happened in various parts of the country, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told journalists in Geneva, during a routine briefing. In the Dagestan capital Makhachkala, protests reportedly continued for a second day on Monday, with hundreds of people taking to the streets and clashing with police officers, resulting in dozens of arrests. “We stress that arresting people solely for… Read More

“Free, independent, strong and representative employers’ and workers’ organizations, together with trust, commitment and respect by the governments for the autonomy of the social partners are key conditions for effective social dialogue in football,” said Guy Ryder, head of the International Labour Organization (ILO), at the signing ceremony at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Standing united The agreement creates… Read More

Citing information received, 10 experts issued a joint statement saying that systemic racism in childcare institutions between the 1940s and 1990s, has “resulted in the higher institutionalization rate of children of African and Irish descent”. During their prolonged time there, children were exposed to heightened risk of corporal punishment, sexual, physical and verbal abuse, with lifelong consequences, including infringing their… Read More

The finding came in the first report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, which was set up in March this year, at the request of Human Rights Council Member States. Much of the Commission’s work focused on investigations in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy, where allegations of the most serious rights violations were made against… Read More