Category: Human Rights

A Philippine court has dismissed the last pending criminal case against former senator Leila de Lima, ending a seven-year legal battle brought by then-President Rodrigo Duterte against one of the country’s preeminent human rights defenders. The case, for alleged drug dealing, was among three charges filed against de Lima that led to her detention in police custody for […]

Children are disproportionately affected by armed conflict. They face violence, injury and death, recruitment or use by armed forces and armed groups, displacement and uprooting, interrupted education, lack of health care, long-lasting physical and mental trauma and much more.  On 24 June 2024, the EU significantly updated its Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) framework by […]

In a statement issued by his Spokesperson on Monday, António Guterres conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families, the people and Government of Russia, wishing the injured a speedy recovery. Gunmen using automatic weapons reportedly opened fire inside a Christian Orthodox church and synagogue in the city of Derbent on Sunday evening, killing an Orthodox […]

AMBASSADOR DYER:  Good morning, everyone.  My name is Cindy Dyer, and I have the privilege of serving as the ambassador-at-large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  Thank you all for joining us today to mark the release of the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report or TIP Report.  This is a particularly […]

Although Kazakhstan’s new mass media law has some amendments that should improve the status quo, its ambiguity and the restrictive nature of other provisions threaten to create obstacles to the work of local and foreign journalists. The law, which President Kassym-Jomart Tokaev signed on June 19, supersedes the laws on media and on television and radio broadcasting. The […]

The Southeast Asian country has been identified as one of many trouble spots for online child abuse on the internet, a phenomenon which has grown because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cheng Veniles works with law enforcement, prosecution and court officers as part of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) initiatives on online child […]

Mr. Piper said that the current global figure of 76 million represented those who have “lost their homes, livelihoods, their communities and in some cases, their legal identities, because of wars, disasters like earthquakes and floods, and other weather-related disasters.” Internally displaced people (IDPs), unlike refugees, have not crossed international borders. While some return home […]

Under Secretary John Bass was in Kyiv, Ukraine met with senior Ukrainian government officials to underscore the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in the face of Putin’s brutal aggression.  While in Ukraine, Under Secretary Bass met with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Head of the Office of the President Andriy […]

Attacks on education and military use of schools during armed conflict rose by an alarming 20 percent in 2022 and 2023 compared with the previous two years, according to a new report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA). Schools and universities were bombed, burned, and used for military purposes, turning them into military […]

“Violence, particularly in the capital Port-au-Prince, has reached alarming levels, with armed groups controlling large areas and complicating humanitarian access,” the experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the rights of internally displaced persons, said. The clashes between gangs and the Haitian National Police have created a “pervasive environment of fear, restricting freedom of movement and […]