Category: Human Rights

On Wednesday, The United Nations held a Climate Ambition Summit in New York City alongside the annual meeting of the General Assembly. The summit broke ground for several reasons, particularly its push for governments to “stamp out fossil fuels.” UN Secretary General António Guterres has become increasingly steadfast in his commitment to taking on the […]

On Thursday, the human rights group Dui Hua Foundation confirmed that Chinese authorities have handed down a life sentence on the internationally renowned Uyghur ethnographer Rahile Dawut. This outrageous sentence follows Dawut’s six years of arbitrary detention, punctuated only by a secret trial in December 2018 in which the court found her guilty on baseless […]

The fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM-5), organized by UN environment programme UNEP and hosted by Germany, kicks off in Bonn on Monday. “ICCM-5 is expected to be a watershed moment for international cooperation on chemicals and wastes”, said a statement released by the group of more than 30 experts.   […]

Support for an international investigation into the August 2020 blast that tore through Beirut, devastating half the city, killing hundreds, and injuring thousands, is building at the United Nations Human Rights Council. In his opening remarks at the Council last week, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk denounced the lack of accountability […]

The World Health Organization’s representative to the DRC, Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, warned that in six eastern provinces, health facilities have been set alight, health workers killed and others face constant physical and psychological threats, while supplies have been looted. Heavy rain, flooding and landslides have also compromised aid access. Dr Sambo said that the […]

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, has confirmed that retired teacher Muhammed al Ghamdi was indeed sentenced to death for his social media posts. In an interview with Fox News on September 20, MBS admitted about the death sentence: “Shamefully, it’s true,” and blamed the sentence on “bad laws.” “Do we have bad […]

  On Wednesday morning, Bermet (not her real name), a 36-year-old Kyrgyz woman, was found drenched in blood at her home in the Bishkek suburbs, with her nose and ears cut off and multiple knife wounds on her face and arms. Her attacker, Bermet’s former husband and father to their two children, assaulted the officers as he fled, but they apprehended him. Their youngest child, a 10-year-old boy, was at home during the assault. […]

The UN’s Special Rapporteur for Russia, Mariana Katzarova, sounded the alarm on what she says is a pattern of suppression of civil and political rights there.  Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ms. Katzarova voiced grave concerns over mass arbitrary arrests and the “persistent use of torture and ill-treatment.” Clear evidence Citing almost 200 […]

Ongoing peace talks provide a glimpse of hope that a political resolution to the conflict is on the horizon.  However, on International Day of Peace, celebrated annually on 21 September, humanitarian needs remain staggering and the funding to respond insufficient, as recently highlighted by almost 100 aid agencies. Six months on from the last UN pledging conference […]

On Thursday, a high-level meeting of government officials will take place during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss global progress towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. Governments serious about meeting this target, one of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, should begin by putting their money where their […]