Category: Human Rights

As Michelle Bachelet explained, not only are people with disabilities at higher risk because of the crisis, they also are disproportionately affected by response measures such as lockdowns. I am disturbed by reports that the lives of people with disabilities may be given different weight than others during #COVID19. Medical decisions need to be based on individualized clinical assessments &… Read More

Despite that dramatic drop, 533 Afghan civilians – including more than 150 children – were killed due to fighting, highlighting the urgent need for all parties to the conflict to do more to protect civilians from harm. Those deaths, along with 760 civilian casualties, came amid raised hopes that the Afghan Government and the Taliban would begin substantive peace talks… Read More

In Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that emergency powers “should not be a weapon Governments can wield to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power”. Hunting for food In a statement, she added: “Shooting, detaining, or abusing someone for breaking a curfew because they are desperately searching for food is… Read More

Against the backdrop of restrictive measures against independent media imposed by several States, as well as the arrest and intimidation of journalists, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed alarm over clampdowns that are stifling the free flow information, vital in getting the COVID-19 under control. “Some States have used the outbreak of the new coronavirus as a… Read More

Noting his February Call to Action to put human dignity and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the core of the UN’s work, Secretary-General António Guterres pointed out that today the world is facing “the biggest international crisis in generations”, stressing that human rights “cannot be an afterthought”.  He emphasized that “people and their rights must be front and centre”, and that human rights “can and must guide COVID-19 response and… Read More

“Low-income and poor people face far higher risks from the coronavirus due to chronic neglect and discrimination, and a muddled, corporate-driven, federal response has failed them”, said Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, who made a fact-finding visit to the US in 2017. He painted a picture of record layoffs, a weak safety… Read More

The appeal by David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, comes after several governments have announced plans to lower environmental standards, or other related measures. “In light of the global environmental crisis that predates COVID-19, these actions are irrational, irresponsible, and jeopardize the rights of vulnerable people”, he said. “Such policy decisions are likely to result… Read More

“We simply cannot return to where we were just a few months ago”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in an informal briefing to the Human Rights Council, urging instead, a more “cooperative, global and human rights-based approach” to the crisis.  “We are physically distant today, but we must stand together”, she stressed. And while it is… Read More

The 82-page report is the first from an OPCW Investigation and Identification Team (ITT) that is tasked with identifying the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in Syria’s brutal civil war, now in its tenth year. “Military operations of such a strategic nature as these three attacks only occur pursuant to orders from the highest levels of the Syrian… Read More