Category: Human Rights

President Donald Trump announced his administration’s ‘Vision for Peace, Prosperity and a Brighter Future’ at the White House on Tuesday, which would legalize Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel also would be allowed to annex around 30 per cent of the West Bank. In response, the UN underlined its longstanding commitment to realizing a two-State solution, with Israelis and… Read More

“The continuing loss of young lives and the daily bloodshed is intolerable”, said UN Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, lamenting that “at least 467 protesters have been killed and over 9,000 injured since 1 October”. She warned that that the use of force only costs “precious lives” and will not end the crisis.    A recent increase in the use of… Read More

Data from the Missing Migrants Project (MMP), collected at the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Data Analysis Centre in Berlin, indicate that it was the highest number of deaths documented in this region since IOM began keeping records six years ago. Since 2014, more than 3,800 deaths have been recorded across the continent.  “These numbers are a sad reminder that… Read More

The joint report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the UN human rights office found that basic fair trial standards were not respected in terrorism-related trials, thus placing defendants at a serious disadvantage.  “A fair and just criminal justice system is a central element to the democratic way of life, and key to building trust and legitimacy, and promoting and protecting human rights”, said UN High… Read More

While Judge Meron noted that the events of the Holocaust may seem far away for many, separated by “decades of progress”, he stressed that “for those of us who lived through them, as I did as a boy in occupied Poland, they are all too real”. “What followed was the ghettos, work camps and most of my family falling victim… Read More

“Our solidarity in the face of hatred is needed today more than ever, as we see a deeply worrying resurgence in antisemitic attacks around the world, and, almost unbelievable, also around us here in New York”, he said on Monday, Holocaust Remembrance Day.   Noting a rising trend in antisemitic hate crimes across the United States, he recalled that less… Read More

As we see a deeply worrying resurgence in antisemitic attacks around the world, “solidarity in the face of hatred is needed today more than ever”, the UN chief told an annual Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony at New York City’s historic Park East Synagogue.   He reflected upon the resurgence of neo-Nazis and white supremacists spreading venomous ideology and memes online that “poison young minds”.   While the world is revolted by the… Read More

“On this solemn commemoration, designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, States around the world are failing to sufficiently counter antisemitic violence, discrimination, and hostility within their societies or to ensure that their populations are appropriately educated about the Holocaust”, they said in a joint statement. The UN experts pointed to attacks in the cities of Toulouse, Pittsburg, Brussels, Poway and… Read More

The two Special Rapporteurs – who do not speak on behalf of the UN and operate in an independent investigative capacity – said in a statement that they had recently received information suggesting that a WhatsApp account belonging to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was used to deploy digital spyware on the phone of Jeff Bezos, who is also CEO of Amazon,… Read More

While the Nazis had attempted to hide evidence of mass murder, “millions of clothing items and tons of hair told their own appalling story”, the UN chief said, opening an exhibit at UN headquarters in New York marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The closure of the camps marked the end of the Holocaust itself, but it… Read More