Tag: human rights

“The severe socio-economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to increase the scourge of modern-day slavery, already impacting over 40 million people before the global pandemic”, said Tomoya Obokata, who assumed the role of the Special Rapporteur on the Contemporary Forms of Slavery at the beginning of this month. As lockdowns have prompted a spike in unemployment throughout most… Read More

António Guterres made the appeal in a video message for World Press Freedom Day, observed this coming Sunday, in which he underscored the crucial role media has in helping people make informed decisions. Accurate information, a life and death issue He added that under the current circumstances, those decisions can make the difference between life and death. “As the pandemic… Read More

The joint statement by UN special rapporteurs, independent experts and working groups, calls on the US administration to withdraw measures aimed at establishing trade barriers, and ban tariffs, quotas, non-tariff measures, noting that they are obstructing humanitarian responses to help Cuba combat COVID-19. They said the US has ignored repeated calls to waive sanctions that undermine the capacity of Cuba… Read More

“The importance of relief is even more urgent in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could deal a double blow to victims of the cholera outbreak and their families”, the experts said. “We recognise the immense challenges all actors face in responding to the coronavirus, but this new threat cannot mask past failures and ongoing violations.” ?? A group of independent UN rights experts… Read More

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