Category: Human Rights

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 […]

“The Board of Peace has been set up pursuant to a plan that was submitted to the Security Council that has been voted upon and accepted,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and in Israel.  “As a Commission of Inquiry, we see our task […]

(Washington DC) – The Trump administration has issued sweeping new rules that use foreign aid as a cudgel to force recipients to abandon work on reproductive rights, transgender rights, and diversity initiatives, Human Rights Watch said today. The rules, set to take effect in 30 days, will undermine important work to uphold the rights of […]

EU reacts swiftly after the tragic fire in the bar during the New Year’s celebrations at the ski resort Crans-Montana, the Swiss canton Valais. In response to Switzerland´s request for emergency assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, efforts are underway to evacuate severely injured patients for specialised treatment. To that end, experts, known as […]

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Türk said that although the “killing on the streets of Iran may have subsided…the brutality continues”. He said that violent repression did not solve any of Iran’s problems but instead created conditions for further violations, instability and bloodshed. “We have indications that the security forces made mass […]

On January 25, South Sudan’s military called on civilians, aid workers, and United Nations personnel to evacuate from opposition-controlled areas in Jonglei state. Key army officials and allied forces have ramped up incendiary rhetoric amid ethnic based mobilization by all sides, elevating the risks of new atrocities.  The army’s evacuation directives came ahead of a new […]

The European Commission is announcing €153 million in emergency aid to Ukraine and refugee-hosting Moldova, as millions Ukrainians face freezing temperatures without power under sustained Russian bombardment of energy infrastructure. Responding to the urgent needs, the EU is allocating an initial €145 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine to provide protection assistance, shelter, food, cash […]

In a news release on Friday, High Commissioner Volker Türk said individuals suspected of being undocumented migrants are being surveilled, arrested and detained – sometimes violently – in locations ranging from hospitals and places of worship to courthouses, schools, markets and private homes. The UN rights chief said he was “astounded by the now-routine abuse […]

The war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has devastated civilian infrastructure, collapsed basic services and triggered one of the world’s largest displacement crises. A nutrition survey conducted this month in Um Baru locality in Sudan’s North Darfur state – one of the […]