Category: Human Rights

Stress, overtime, disease, contribute to 2.8 million workers’ deaths per year, reports UN labour agency Stress, excessively-long working hours and disease, contribute to the deaths of nearly 2.8 million workers every year, while an additional 374 million people get injured or fall ill because of their jobs, the UN labour agency, ILO, said on Thursday. In a new report underlining… Read More

Based on interviews with more than 600 detainees and published jointly by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), their latest report on the treatment of prisoners in 77 facilities in 28 out of 34 provinces indicates that an average of nearly one in three, provided “credible and reliable” accounts of suffering.  In… Read More

Echoing concerns from the UN’s human rights office, OHCHR, and others about the deteriorating situation in the Central American country, UNHCR said that families with young children are now taking extreme measures to cross the border. “The kinds of reasons that people have been giving for fleeing are the fear of losing their lives, being attacked or kidnapped by paramilitary… Read More

Sudan military committed to ‘ensuring stability’ and ‘peaceful transition’ says senior diplomat, as UN rights chief appeals for protesters’ rights to be upheld Sudan’s military has an “overarching duty” to refrain from using violence against protesters and ensure that their human rights are protected amid concerns of a further escalation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on… Read More

“Most of the survivors we have today were broken in their bodies and their souls”, Esther Mujawayo-Keiner told those gathered in the General Assembly Hall, to reflect on what UN chief António Guterres referred to as “one of the darkest chapters in recent human history”, which overwhelmingly targeted Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu and others who opposed the genocide. Esther… Read More

Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial executions, Agnes Callamard, tweeted that in “expelling Assange from the Embassy” and allowing his arrest, it had taken Mr. Assange “one step closer to extradition”. She added that the UK had now arbitrarily-detained the controversial anti-secrecy journalist and campaigner, “possibly endangering his life”. Mr. Assange took refuge inside the embassy in 2012, to avoid extradition to… Read More

The offensive directed towards the capital, and troops loyal to the internationally-recognized Government led by Faiez Serraj, began on Monday. UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric briefed reporters earlier in the day that clashes were “reportedly intensifying, with increased use of artillery and airstrikes”.  After briefing the Security Council, I reiterated my strong appeal for the fighting in Libya to stop immediately. There is no… Read More

Recalling enforced disappearances, clandestine graves, tortured detainees and other human rights violations, Michelle Bachelet said in a statement she delivered in the capital, Mexico City, that she was heartened the new Government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had committed as a “State responsibility” to “search for the disappeared and establish truth and justice for the families and victims”. “My… Read More

The ILO was born out of the rubble of the First World War, as the victors met to draw up the Treaty of Versailles, where they affirmed the need for social justice in the service of a “universal and lasting peace”. The UN chief painted a picture of a time of upheaval, when newly-emboldened labour unions in many parts of… Read More

Ghassan Salamé, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), made the announcement after condemning Monday’s attack by the self-styled Libyan National Army’s (LNA) aircraft against Meitiga airport, Tripoli’s only functioning terminal that is available for civilian use. The conference was hoping to reach agreement among the various political factions after months… Read More