Category: Human Rights

The UN chief was addressing countries that are party to the 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which he stressed can only be fully implemented by tackling the obstacles, injustices and discrimination that this population experiences.  “Realizing the rights of persons with disabilities is crucial to fulfilling the core promise of the 2030 Agenda: to leave no… Read More

There was a direct link between the pandemic, socio-economic vulnerability and the risk of exploitation, they said. Exploitation could mean forced labour, including the worst forms of child labour, or being sold, trafficked and sexually exploited.  Governments and businesses should recognise how the loss of jobs, income or land could put vulnerable groups at greater risk, such as people already… Read More

I’ve been legally blind since elementary school, and lost all functional vision by my early thirties. My mother didn’t want me to go to a school for the blind, and was determined to keep me in the public school system: I used the low-vision technologies available at the time, as well as learning how to walk with a cane and… Read More

In issuing its findings, the Committee on Enforced Disappearances – a group of 10 independent experts that monitors States’ adherence to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance – also noted that revictimization prevails in these cases. The Committee called on Iraq to incorporate the offence of enforced disappearance into its domestic criminal legislation and to ensure… Read More

The human rights activists, from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), were arrested “within days” of a meeting with 13 foreign ambassadors and diplomats on 3 November, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR). They face terrorism and public security charges.  “It is absolutely abhorrent to retaliate against human rights defenders from one of Egypt’s last functioning human… Read More

João Alberto Silveira Freitas was beaten to death by two private security guards outside a Carrefour supermarket in the southern city of Porto Alegre last Thursday, the eve of Black Consciousness Day in Brazil.  Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson with OHCHR in Geneva, described the attack as a “deplorable act” which should be condemned by everyone.  Structural racism and discrimination  Ms.… Read More

Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, marked on 25 November, Ms. Šimonović said the rise in femicides and violence was “taking the lives of women and girls everywhere” around the world, as the coronavirus continues to rage out of control.   ‘Femicide watches’   The UN Human Rights expert called on “all States and relevant stakeholders worldwide to take urgent steps to prevent… Read More

Mobility data derived from phones, emails and social media, for example, can assist in both monitoring the spread of the virus and in implementing activities the UN is mandated to carry out, according to their joint statement issued on Thursday.  However, they warned that vast amounts of sensitive data, both personal and non-personal, can be collected through digital contact tracing… Read More

UN agencies have warned that civilians – and especially women and children – have endured dreadful human rights violations that include numerous attacks, kidnapping and reported beheadings by armed groups, who have also clashed with government forces. There are additional humanitarian concerns about Cabo Delgado as it is among the worst affected areas from COVID-19. “It is paramount that State… Read More

Reacting to emerging details of mass killings involving scores of victims in the town of Mai-Kadra, Michelle Bachelet said that “if the Tigray national (and) regional forces and Ethiopian Government forces continue down the path they are on, there is a risk this situation will spiral totally out of control”.  This risked “heavy casualties and destruction, as well as mass displacement within Ethiopia itself and across borders”, her spokesperson, Rupert Colville, told… Read More