Category: Human Rights

Special Representative Virginia Gamba presented her latest report to the UN Human Rights Council, which shows COVID-19 response has made these children more vulnerable to grave violations.    Their rights to education and health, and access to justice, social services and humanitarian aid, have also been restricted.  “I am deeply concerned about the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on… Read More

The comments came after the 6 January conviction by an Israeli military court of the Palestinian human rights defender and founder of Youth Against Settlements, a Hebron-based group, which opposes settlement expansion through non-violent civil resistance.   In a statement from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, issued on Tuesday, the experts said that the country must immediately stop using its array of military security tools “to obstruct the legitimate and indispensable work of human rights… Read More

António Guterres made the impassioned appeal in a video message for the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, observed on Wednesday, which honours the six million Jews and millions of others murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War.   As this year’s anniversary is taking place under the shadow of the pandemic,… Read More

No clear-cut cases © UNICEF/Michele Sibiloni The COVID-19 pandemic has created conditions making it easier for vulnerable people to become victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking. A 2017 criminal case in Canada, to take one example from the report, involved an 18-year-old woman defendant was charged with the forced prostitution of two female minors, aged 14 and 16. She had… Read More

According to the office, criminal activities, such as kidnappings, gang fights and widespread insecurity have increased, with “almost total” impunity.  Added to the volatile mix is resurging political tensions over the timing and scope of elections and a constitutional referendum proposed by the Government, OHCHR spokesperson Marta Hurtado told journalists at a regular briefing in Geneva.  “Calls for mass protests… Read More

In a statement issued on Monday by his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief urged the Israeli Government to “halt and reverse such decisions”, calling them “a major obstacle to the achievement of the two-State solution, and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace”.  ‘No legal validity’  Mr. Guterres reiterated that Israel’s establishing of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since… Read More

According to reports, Mr. Navalny was arrested on Sunday upon return to Moscow from Germany, where he had been recovering after allegedly being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. ?? #Russia: We are deeply troubled by the arrest of Aleksei Navalny, and call for his immediate release and for his due process rights to be respected in line with the… Read More

“There is no place for child labour in society”, said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). “It robs children of their future and keeps families in poverty.” Breaking down the stats  While the number has dropped from 246 million in 2000 to 152 million in 2016, ILO noted uneven progress across regions.  It pointed to some 72 million children working… Read More

Officers did not distinguish between the mainly peaceful protestors and a minority who allegedly acted violently, according to the study.  ?? #Peru: Police used unnecessary and excessive force when dealing with protests in November 2020 – New report finds police officers did not distinguish between peaceful protesters, who were in the majority, and a minority who allegedly acted violently ?… Read More

Citing the rapidly deteriorating health of detainees who remain, along with the mental and physical harm inflicted on them in cruel and inhuman conditions, eight right experts warned that the aging inmates are at increasing risk.  “Guantánamo is a place of arbitrariness and abuse, a site where torture and ill-treatment was rampant and remains institutionalized, where the rule of law… Read More