Category: Human Rights

The UN advocates for the universal abolition of the death penalty. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by 175 countries, protects the right to life and stipulates that, for countries that have not abolished capital punishment, it be imposed only for the ‘most serious crimes’ in exceptional cases.  OHCHR said the sharp increase in capital […]

Another Trump administration rollback on abortion access goes into effect on February 1, this time for US veterans, including 2.1 million women. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has reversed a Biden administration reform that allowed veterans to access abortion care as part of their health benefits package. The rule, published at the end of December 2025, means […]

Volker Türk said he was outraged by renewed overnight attacks that knocked out power and heating in major cities – including Kyiv and Odesa – as temperatures plunged well below zero and civilians bear the brunt of what he described as unlawful assaults on civilian infrastructure. He said the Russian strikes “can only be described […]

January 2026 was meant to be when the government of the Brazilian state of Pará would roll out a new system, initially announced in 2023, to ensure the traceability of all cattle across its vast herd. A system to track cattle from birth is a critical reform to ensure cattle are no longer raised on […]

Responding to the dramatic development, head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini described it as an “unprecedented attack” against the UN, whose premises are protected under international law. The move represents “a new level of open and deliberate defiance of international law, including of the privileges and immunities of the United Nations, […]

(Washington, DC) – Federal immigration enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis, Minnesota this weekend, marking the second killing by immigration enforcement agents in the city this month. Federal officials reportedly blocked state officials from accessing the scene, raising concerns that the federal government is not acting in good faith to ensure an […]

Speaking at the session Who Brokers Trust Now? at the World Economic Forum, Annalena Baerbock warned that multilateral institutions – long seen as the brokers of global trust – are under unprecedented strain as conflicts multiply and respect for international law erodes. “Who brokers trust?” she asked. “In ordinary times, there would be a simple […]

(Milan, January 27, 2026) – The trial, due to start this week, of 6 Italian officers for a 2023 shipwreck in which at least 94 people died is an important opportunity for justice for deaths of migrants and asylum seekers at sea, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial, following a postponement, is scheduled for […]

In a statement issued this week, UNESCO said governments are increasingly cutting internet access during protests, elections and times of crisis, despite the central role online connectivity plays in democratic participation and the exercise of basic rights. The agency noted that 2024 was the worst year on record for internet shutdowns since 2016, citing data […]

On January 29, the three-week hearings on the merits of Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar before the International Court of Justice came to a close. The case, filed in 2019, alleges that Myanmar’s atrocities against ethnic Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 violate the Genocide Convention of 1948. During the hearings, Gambia argued that the extreme brutality, pervasive sexual […]