Category: Human Rights

In an appeal for greater urgency to resolve the grinding war which erupted 12 years ago this month, which has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, Mr. Pedersen insisted that he would not accept continued inaction on the UN-led push for the Syrian Government and Opposition to agree on a new Syrian Constitution. Engagement needed “We need a revived,… Read More

The current human rights landscape is compounded by conflict, discrimination, poverty, shrinking civic spaces, and the emergence of new human rights challenges such as the rise of artificial intelligence and surveillance, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk noted. “Fresh thinking, political leadership, renewed commitments, and dramatically scaled-up financing, with the centrality of human rights at their core, are… Read More

In an appeal for “genuine dialogue” to resolve the crisis, the experts expressed deep concern about the reported repression, arbitrary killings, arrests, detention and enforced disappearances of demonstrators in Peru. The situation stems from Congress’s removal of then president, Pedro Castillo on 7 December, after he was accused of trying to dissolve it. Mr. Castillo remains in pre-trial detention on charges of… Read More

With myriad objects casting a new light on some of the darkest pages of history, Slavery: Ten True Stories of Dutch Colonial Slavery has been brought to the UN by Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. “It’s baffling to me that there are a lot of countries still apologizing for slavery,” Daniela Paredes,18, from Cancun, Mexico, told UN News following a class visit. “Governments… Read More

“I urge decision-makers and people on all sides to give effect to the recommendations of our reports and to step back from the precipice to which increasing extremism and violence have led,” said Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), after presenting the Council with his latest annual report on the situation. “For this violence to end,… Read More

The UN chief was speaking to journalists following a visit to the Jeddah Rehabilitation Centre in northern Iraq, where he met returnees from the notorious Al-Hol camp, whose residents are mainly women and children under 12.  “Iraq is demonstrating with enormous commitment that responsible repatriations are possible, by finding dignified solutions anchored in the principles of both accountability and reintegration.… Read More

Unveiling their first report to be delivered to the Human Rights Council on Friday, the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua urged the international community to impose sanctions on those responsible. The experts concluded that President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo “put into practice these crimes” which continue today. ‘Widespread and systematic’ “Based on this investigation, we can conclude that widespread… Read More

Adding her voice to the High Commissioner’s call for action, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed warned in a video message that the right to development has “yet to be realized by billions of people” who were “hurting (while) the planet is burning. The world cannot wait.” Marking the 35th anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Right to Development at the… Read More

The biennial panel’s theme is human rights violations relating to the use of the death penalty, in particular with respect to limiting the practice to only the most serious crimes. Promise of the Charter Volker Türk said this is ultimately about the United Nations Charter’s promise of the highest standards of protection of all human beings, in the spirit of… Read More

Speaking only days since a large majority of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine, the UN chief stressed that Russia’s decision to go to war against its neighbour on 24 February 2022 had unleashed “widespread death, destruction and displacement”. Also present at the opening of the 52nd session of… Read More