Accountability essential to counter human rights abuse in DPR Korea

In an oral update to the Human Rights Council – UN’s paramount human rights body – Deputy High Commissioner Nada Al-Nashif said that DPRK (more commonly known as North Korea) was showing no signs of compliance. “As there are no indications that the State will address impunity, it is imperative that accountability is pursued outside […]

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Ugandan Appeals Court Shutters LGBT Rights Group

Last week, in another blow to freedoms of association and expression in Uganda, a Ugandan court rejected a petition brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a leading group advocating for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, to compel the government to register the NGO. The petition was rejected on the grounds […]

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UN report details ‘climate of fear’ in Russian occupied areas of Ukraine

Based on over 2,300 testimonies from victims and witnesses, the report details measures taken by Russia to impose Russian language, citizenship, laws, court system and education curricula in the occupied areas, while at the same time suppressing expressions of Ukrainian culture and identity, and dismantling its governance and administrative systems. “The actions of the Russian […]

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Drone Attack Collapses Odesa Residential Building

On March 2, Andriy Sidak raced to his sister’s apartment building fearing the worst. Earlier, a Russian drone had struck the building in the north part of Odesa. What he found was rubble and dust, the mangled remains of what had been a nine-story residential building. Witnesses say the drone hit the building at the […]

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Armed groups continue terror campaign across Burkina Faso

High Commissioner Volker Türk said, from the capital Ouagadougou, that his local office had been “engaging intensely with the authorities, civil society actors, human rights defenders, UN partners and others on many of the multifaceted human rights challenges” the country faces following a coup in January 2022 that saw Captain Ibrahim Traoré assume power. Solidarity […]

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New Bill Would Protect Child Farmworkers in the US

A bill introduced today in the US Senate would strengthen protections for children working on farms. The new legislative push comes amid rising child labor violations and backsliding on child labor protections by some US states. Senator Ben Ray Luján’s bill, the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment in Agriculture, or CARE Act of 2024, would […]

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UN leaders galvanize action for reparations for people of African descent

Experts and UN leaders exchanged views about the best ways forward, centred on this year’s theme, A Decade of Recognition, Justice, and Development: Implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent.  While the decade ends in 2024, much work remains to be done, General Assembly President Dennis Francis told the world body. To galvanize […]

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Prospects and Obstacles of Strategic Human Rights Litigation Globally: A Spotlight on Egypt – Harvard Law School

Prospects and Obstacles of Strategic Human Rights Litigation Globally: A Spotlight on Egypt At a recent discussion hosted by the Program on law and Society in the Muslim World and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, Nader Andrawos, Egyptian legal historian and Residential Fellow at the HLS Institute for Global Law and Policy, […]

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UN Rights Council: Renew Iran Mandates

(Geneva) – The United Nations Human Rights Council should renew the mission of the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Iran and the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, 43 Iranian and International organizations including Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to member countries. The letter was issued after the Fact-Finding Mission presented […]

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‘Currently unsafe to return’ to Belarus, Human Rights Council hears

Focusing on developments in 2023, the report builds on previous findings in the aftermath of large public protests which erupted in 2020 following a disputed presidential poll.  Despite a lack of cooperation from Belarusian authorities, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said evidence gathered shows that the scale and pattern of violations has continued. “The […]

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