OHCHR

GENEVA (14 March 2023) – States must pursue justice “at home” for crimes of torture, to achieve meaningful accountability, healing and reconciliation, the UN independent expert on torture said today. In a report to the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or […]

GENEVA (21 December 2022) — UN experts* today condemned in the strongest terms the latest decision of the Taliban that excludes women and girls from universities, a further violation of their human rights and the application of multiple irrational restrictions that may amount to gender persecution, a crime against humanity. Their statement is as follows: […]

NEW YORK (26 October 2022) — A UN expert today called for the prompt establishment of an independent investigative mechanism into all human rights violations leading up to and since the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital after being arrested by the morality police. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of […]

GENEVA (23 June 2022) – Tackling the devastating effects of extreme weather changes and disasters on communities in vulnerable situations across the world will be a top priority, the new UN expert on human rights and climate change told the Human Rights Council. “The huge human cost of the climate crisis is being ignored. We […]

GENEVA (17 June 2022) – Discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity deprive countless people around the world of their right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, a UN expert told the Human Rights Council today. Unless they are addressed and eradicated, he warned, the Sustainable Development Goals […]

GENEVA, June 14, 2022 – A UN human rights expert today urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) to ease intellectual property rules that protect the technology behind Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, calling transnational racial inequalities in access to immunizations a form of “vaccine apartheid.” In an open letter to the WTO’s Twelfth Ministerial Conference, the […]

KABUL (26 May 2022) – The newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said today the country faced serious human rights challenges, and urged the de facto authorities to take the path that brings stability and freedom to all Afghans, especially women. At the end of his 11-day […]

GENEVA (14 April 2022) –The continued military attacks against Ukraine are putting the lives of an estimated 2.7 million people with disabilities at risk. The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today deplored the Russian Federation’s aggression despite repeated calls for a ceasefire and cessation of hostilities. The Committee issued the following statement: […]

GENEVA (17 January 2022) – Taliban leaders in Afghanistan are institutionalizing large scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against women and girls, a group of UN human rights experts* said today. The experts reiterated their alarm expressed since August 2021 at a series of restrictive measures that have been introduced since the Taliban’s takeover […]

GENEVA (23 December 2021) – UN human rights experts* today called on the international community to take urgent steps to clear the way for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan in order to prevent an impending humanitarian catastrophe from unfolding there this winter.  The call came one day after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2615, which […]

GENEVA, December 14, 2021 — The UN Committee against Torture has called on Mexico to stop criminalizing legitimate human rights work, after deciding on the case of a human rights defender targeted for his campaigning, resulting in his being detained and tortured for five years for a crime he did not commit. In a decision […]

GENEVA, August 10, 2021 – Failure to stem the rising violence and commission of human rights violations and abuses is having disastrous consequences for the people of Afghanistan, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned on Tuesday as civilian casualties continued to mount and reports of violations that may amount to war crimes […]

GENEVA (28 July 2021) – Killings of people with albinism have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some people plunged into poverty turned to witchcraft in hopes of gaining quick wealth, Ikponwosa Ero, the outgoing UN independent expert on the rights of people with albinism, said today. “Despite progress on many fronts, I was deeply […]

GENEVA, July 16, 2021 – UN human rights experts* today called on India to halt evictions of some 100,000 people – including 20,000 children – that began this week in the midst of monsoon rains. Demolition of homes began on Wednesday, 14 July, in a village in Haryana State built on protected forest land, even […]

Belarus has witnessed an unprecedented human rights crisis over the past year, an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council said today, calling on authorities to end their policy of repression and to fully respect the legitimate aspirations of their people. In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, Anaïs Marin said she had been […]

GENEVA, June 28, 2021 – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday issued an urgent call for States to adopt a “transformative agenda” to uproot systemic racism, as she published a report casting a spotlight on the litany of violations of economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights suffered by people of […]

GENEVA (25 June 2021) – UN human rights experts* today called on Pakistan to stop evicting close to 100,000 people living along two of Karachi’s narrow watercourses, locally known as nullahs – Gujjar nullah and Orangi nullah. “These actions were undertaken by city authorities without adequate consultation with the affected residents, no relocation plan, and […]

GENEVA (21 June 2021) – UN human rights experts* today condemned the continued imprisonment of woman human rights defender and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, and called for her immediate release. “Nasrin Sotoudeh has been systematically criminalised for her work in defence of human rights, particularly the rights of women who oppose compulsory veiling laws,” Dubravka Simonovic, […]

GENEVA (18 May 2021) – UN human rights experts* called on the international community to demand an immediate end to the violence in Gaza and Israel, and to act decisively to address the underlying source of the conflict: the denial of collective and individual rights of the Palestinian people. “This most recent violence has a […]