Category: Human Rights

Having been abandoned five years ago when its engine room flooded with seawater, the 44-year-old Safer super tanker currently holds some 1.1 million barrels of oil.  The vessel was abandoned off the coast of Yemen’s key port of Hudaydah, which has been under the control of Houthi militants, one side in the long-running civil conflict between the group formally known… Read More

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) said on Wednesday that women and girls continue to be the most common victims of trafficking across the world. “The global pandemic has revealed the urgent need to address the use of digital technology in and against trafficking”, said committee member Dalia Leinarte, who led drafting of the panel’s recommendations.… Read More

“This pandemic, with its global scale and enormous human cost, with no clear end in sight, requires a concerted, human-rights based and courageous response from all States”, four UN experts together with members of a human rights working group said in a statement on universal access to vaccines.  Spiking ahead  Last month, the World Bank estimated that the pandemic would… Read More

In a statement underscoring the need for Ms. Al-Hathloul’s urgent release, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) stressed the importance of all women human rights defenders, saying that they “bring voices from the ground and invaluable insights”.  A case in point  Ms. Al-Hathloul had, for several years, been promoting women’s rights in her country, including campaigns calling for women to be allowed to drive and an end to male guardianship.    In February 2018, during… Read More

The warning from UNESCO, the UN organization for education, science and culture, based on 2019 data, coincides with the first International Day against Violence and Bullying at School – Including Cyberbullying, on 5 November. “Recent attacks on schools in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Pakistan, and the assassination of teacher Samuel Paty in France, sadly underscore the critical issue of protecting… Read More

While excessive use of force during peaceful protests is always unacceptable, the 20 October shootings at Lekki toll plaza in Lagos were “especially disturbing because demonstrators were precisely calling for accountability for previous police brutality”, the experts said.  The fact that CCTV cameras and lights were apparently switched off shortly before soldiers opened fire indicates “a disturbing level of premeditation”,… Read More

According to the Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity, a report by the Director-General of UNESCO, only 13 per cent of cases globally involving crimes against journalists were reported “as resolved”, in comparison to 12 per cent in 2019, and 11 per cent in 2018.  The biennial report also said that in 2018-19, a total of 156 killings… Read More

Michael Lynk, UN Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, pointed out that while “Israeli settlements continue to devour the land that is meant for the independent Palestinian State, the international community observes, it sometimes objects, but it does not act”. Against the backdrop that earlier this month, a defense ministry planning… Read More

Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions, called for greater support on Tuesday, to countries and communities where these sites are located to ensure they are treated with respect, and in accordance with human rights standards.  Mass graves carry exceptional significance that transcends boundaries and generations. Their preservation, memorialization is a duty to today generations and tomorrow. We must… Read More