Category: Human Rights

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, and its mandate has become a powerful vehicle for change, progress, dignity, and justice, yet “this is far from enough to meet today’s challenges”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in his keynote address at the +30 Symposium, Vienna World Conference: 30 Years On: Our Rights […]

European governments’ obsession with curbing migration is poisoning an ever-growing number of European Union external policies. The next policy at risk is the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP), which grants low- and middle-income countries preferential trade access to the EU market as a way to foster poverty reduction and sustainable development. The scheme has also […]

The Nigerian authorities have provided little information and no justice for a military airstrike on January 24, 2023, that killed 39 civilians and injured at least 6 others. The military’s unacceptable delay in owning up to the killing and injuring dozens of civilians only compounds the tragedy of this attack. The Nigerian military should provide […]

(Beirut) – The reconstruction of the Sinjar district in northern Iraq, which was heavily damaged in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), is being held up by a political dispute over its administration, Human Rights Watch said today. In April 2023, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the government to open a reconstruction campaign […]

He was speaking at UN Headquarters in New York, where he presented three new policy briefs on these themes to Member States.  Serious challenges   “They touch on some of the most serious challenges we face – challenges that may determine whether we are able to achieve the vision of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable […]

Organized under the theme, Realizing the dream: A UN declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent, the Permanent Forum heard from experts and leaders from around the world, including Ms. Nascimento, explaining the challenges they have faced, and the dreams they have for the future. […]

Of this number, 2.4 million “have needs so severe and complex that their survival and dignity is at risk,” Mohamed Ag Ayoya, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the CAR, told journalists in Geneva.  The conflict in neighbouring Sudan has further exacerbated needs, and a $465 million humanitarian plan for the country was amended to include support […]

The second round of the United Nations Environment Programme’s plastics treaty negotiations concluded last Friday in Paris. Countries agreed to a mandate for a “zero draft” of the treaty to be prepared by the negotiating committee’s chair prior to the next session in Nairobi this November. However, governments still remained divided on key terms and […]

(Nairobi) – Senegalese authorities should immediately ensure an independent and credible investigation into the violence during protests in the capital, Dakar, and across the country since May 31, 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. At least 16 deaths have been reported, including two members of the security forces, and injuries of scores of others. The government should […]

(Nairobi) – An upcoming constitutional referendum could further close civic space in the Central African Republic and risks reversing democratic gains made since 2015, Human Rights Watch said today. The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, announced via Facebook on May 30, 2023, that he was calling a referendum on a new constitution. While […]