Category: Human Rights

Alice Cruz, who advocates for people diagnosed with the age-old disease, delivered her latest report to the UN General Assembly in New York.  She cited the physical impairments that leprosy causes, as well as discrimination based on harmful stereotypes surrounding the disease, as grounds for their full recognition in accordance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with… Read More

Mr. Türk has echoed calls from the UN Secretary-General to extend the truce and to work towards a negotiated settlement to bring the conflict to an end once and for all. The outbreak of war over seven years ago between a pro-Government, Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels – together with their backers – plunged Yemen into an unparalleled humanitarian crisis.… Read More

The High Commissioner said the Haitian Government also needed to provide a firm commitment to accountability, and the rule of law, after decades of “systematic corruption and rampant impunity”, which have led up to the country’s current paralysis. He warned Haiti has descended into the worst human rights and humanitarian situation in decades. Urgent solutions to this “protracted, multifaceted crisis”… Read More

CRC members urged the international community to support authorities in the Caribbean country in guaranteeing the rights of millions of boys and girls to live, grow, learn, and thrive.  Last month, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a sanctions regime for Haiti, targeting gang leaders and those who finance them, in a bid to ease months of violence and lawlessness… Read More

Amid protests sparked by the death in custody last month of Mahsa Amini following her arrest by so-called “morality police”, Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman, told journalists in New York that since then, many in the UN human rights sphere had made “very strong calls for independent, impartial investigations”, with no response from Iran, other than escalation. ‘Responsibility to take action’ “I… Read More

“For over 55 years, the Israeli military occupation has prevented the realisation of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, violating each component of that right and wilfully pursuing the ‘de-Palestinianisation’ of the occupied territory,” said Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, in her report to the UN General Assembly.… Read More

Myanmar’s military seized power in February 2021, overthrowing the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.  Since then, the country has been in the grip of a political, human rights and humanitarian crisis. The High Commissioner’s appeal comes after Malaysia deported more than 100 Myanmar nationals on 6 October. Among them were two people who had sought… Read More

Ian Fry, Australian National University Professor and Tuvalu’s former ambassador for Climate Change for over 21 years, was appointed in May by the UN Human Rights Council, as the first Special Rapporteur on climate, following the overwhelming vote to recognize the Right to a Healthy Environment, in 2021. “Human-induced climate change is the largest, most pervasive threat to the natural… Read More

The three-member Commission is pushing for the issue to be referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest court.  They stressed that under international humanitarian law, the occupation of territory in wartime is a temporary situation and does not deprive the occupied power of its statehood or sovereignty.  A core UN principle  “Recent statements by the Secretary-General… Read More

Set up by the Human Rights Council in March, it presented its initial findings in Geneva at the end of last month. “Given the gravity of the identified violations, there is an undeniable need for accountability”, the Commission told the General Assembly. Devastation and loss “The impact of these violations on the civilian population in Ukraine is immense. The loss… Read More