Category: Human Rights

Better safeguards to protect civilians amidst deteriorating compliance  Marking 20 years since the UN Security Council added the protection of civilians to its agenda, Secretary-General António Guterres told the chamber on Thursday that while safeguards were stronger, “compliance has deteriorated”.    “We are rightly critical when assessing the state of the protection of civilians, for there is great cause of… Read More

The UN office cited information suggesting that Kurdish authorities are responsible for holding youngsters over 12 years old in al-Hassakeh governorate, in the far north-east of the country. “Reportedly, they are neither allowed to communicate with their families nor have the families been informed about their whereabouts or status”, OHCHR Spokesperson Marta Hurtado said. Children must be treated primarily as… Read More

Risk of ‘catastrophic humanitarian fallout’ grows in Syria’s Idlib The UN’s Political and Humanitarian Affairs chiefs on Friday called on the Security Council to unite in support of an immediate de-escalation of fighting around Syria’s Idlib province, and work towards an enduring political solution on behalf of the Syrian people. The UN’s head of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo… Read More

Remarking that the humanitarian initiative taken by Kazakhstan “safeguards the rights of vulnerable children and their mothers”, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, called on other States in the region to follow suit. Highlighting the pivotal role of Kazakhstan, the UN rights expert said in the statement that the country… Read More

On Tuesday, the Transitional Military Council and the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces, announced they had agreed a three-year transition period, but on Wednesday, the military reportedly announced that talks were being suspended for three days, demanding that protesters remove road blocks from a designated area of the capital Khartoum.   According to news reports, some demonstrators were shot as soldiers tried to clear the… Read More

Gaza blockade causes ‘near ten-fold increase’ in food dependency, says UN agency At a time when Muslims globally are observing the holy month of Ramadan, more than half the population in Gaza depends on the international community for food aid, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on… Read More

Colombia: ‘Terrible trend’ of rights defenders killed, harassed; UN calls for ‘significant effort’ to tackle impunity Alarmed by the “strikingly high number” of human rights defenders being killed, harassed and threatened in Colombia, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in the country on Friday, called on authorities to “make a significant effort” to “tackle the endemic impunity” surrounding these cases.… Read More

OHCHR described the dozens of deaths since the beginning of the year as a “terrible trend” that seems to be worsening. Spokesperson Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva that the rights office in Colombia is “closely following up on the allegations” reported by civil society, State institutions and the national human rights institution, that in the first four months of… Read More

The Secretary-General’s comments come amid reports of aerial attacks on population centres and civilian buildings within a demilitarized zone that has been guaranteed since last September by Russia and Turkey, in southern rural Idlib and northern rural Hama. In a statement, Mr. Guterres was said to be “alarmed” at news that hundreds of civilians had been killed and injured in… Read More

OHCHR Spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, told reporters in Geneva that under existing laws in Hungary, migrants and asylum seekers who are undocumented, are immediately detained in transit zones during the asylum procedure, or until they can be sent back to their country of origin. “We are concerned by the absence in these transit zones of meaningful individualised procedures”, she said, “which… Read More