World

September 16, 2020 – Grave rights violations against anti-government protesters in Venezuela, “amounted to crimes against humanity”, UN-appointed rights investigators said in their first report on abuses inside the Latin American nation. In their findings published on Wednesday, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela cited evidence of unlawful executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture in the country […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 14, 2020 – In a new report commissioned by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), Georgetown global health experts say the success of any effort to redress pandemic preparedness failures demonstrated by COVID-19 requires a re-centering of governance that would include greater accountability, transparency, equity, participation and the rule of law. The report, Governance […]

LONDON, UK, September 14, 2020 – September 09, 2020, marks the launch of the inaugural Ecological Threat Register (ETR), that measures the ecological threats countries are currently facing and provides projections to 2050. The report uniquely combines measures of resilience with the most comprehensive ecological data available, to shed light on the countries least likely […]

GENEVA, September 11, 2020 – Switzerland’s draft anti-terrorism legislation violates international human rights standards by expanding the definition of terrorism, and would set a dangerous precedent for the suppression of political dissent worldwide, UN human rights experts* warned today. They expressed regret at the refusal of the Swiss authorities to change contentious sections of the […]

September 10, 2020 – Today Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, and Dr Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, co-hosted the inaugural meeting of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Facilitation Council. The meeting was co-chaired by H.E. Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa and H.E. Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of […]

September 8, 2020 – UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged Russia to carry out or cooperate with a rapid and transparent criminal investigation into the poisoning of opposition activist Alexei Navalny. Citing German specialists who said they had “unequivocal proof” that Mr. Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, the UN High […]

QUITO, Ecuador, Sept. 4, 2020— Environmental groups filed a legal brief today urging the Constitutional Court of Ecuador to halt all mining concessions in the Los Cedros protected forest, a global “Key Biodiversity Area.” The brief cites concerns from famed primatologist Jane Goodall and more than 1,200 other prominent scientists. In this unprecedented case, the court could use […]

Beirut, September 6, 2020 – Saudi Arabia has denied some prominent detainees contact with their family members and lawyers for months, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter requesting access to the country and private prison visits with detainees. The situation raises serious concerns for the detainees’ safety and well-being. Saudi authorities have banned […]

September 7, 2020 – Members of the Public Health Committee quizzed the Commission on efforts to develop, authorise and make safe COVID-19 vaccines available to European citizens. The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety today debated the EU vaccines strategy, including the state of play on the Vaccines Advance Purchase Agreements, with Sandra […]

Sept. 1, 2020 – Iran’s police, intelligence and security forces, and prison officials have committed, with the complicity of judges and prosecutors, a catalogue of shocking human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment, against those detained in connection with the nationwide protests of November 2019, said Amnesty International in a […]

GENEVA (1 September 2020) – A United Nations human rights expert has expressed deep concerns about the recent rise in armed violence in Gaza, and has welcomed the announcement on Monday that Israel and Hamas have reached a truce to halt the current hostilities. However, Michael Lynk, special rapporteur for the situation of human rights […]

New York, August 31, 2020—A lack of accountability in the cases of journalists who disappear is chilling for press freedom and devastating for the journalists’ families, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today in launching the #MissingNotForgotten campaign. Marking the International Day of the Disappeared yesterday, CPJ launched the campaign to pressure authorities to investigate the […]

August 25, 2020 – Tourism is much more than visiting cultural landmarks or swimming in tropical beaches; it is “one of the world’s most important economic sectors”, the UN chief said on Tuesday. Launching his latest policy brief, on tourism, Secretary-General António Guterres, pointed out that the industry “employs one-in-every-ten people on Earth and provides livelihoods to […]

GENEVA, August 18, 2020 – Warning of an impending tsunami of evictions, the UN’s expert on housing rights today called on governments around the world to halt all evictions until the COVID-19 pandemic ends. “I am alarmed at the global increase in forced evictions,” said Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN special rapporteur on the right to […]

NEW YORK, August 18, 2020 – Violence prevention and response services have been severely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving children at increased risk of violence, exploitation and abuse, according to a global survey by UNICEF.  Of 136 countries that responded to UNICEF’s Socio-economic Impact Survey of COVID-19 Response, 104 countries reported a disruption in services related […]

August 13, 2020 – As schools worldwide struggle with reopening,the latest data from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) reveal that 43 per cent of schools around the world lacked access to basic handwashing with soap and water in 2019 – a key condition for schools to be able to operate safely in the midst […]

August 13, 2020 – The catastrophic blast which led to the deaths of more than 200 in Beirut on 4 August, has prompted more than three dozen independent rights experts on Thursday, to issue a call for justice and accountability on behalf of the Lebanese people. “The scale and impact of the lethal explosion are […]

GENEVA (13 August 2020) – UN human rights experts* today strongly criticised Belarus for police violence against peaceful protesters and journalists and large scale detention following a controversial presidential election, and called on the international community to put pressure on Belarus to stop attacking its own citizens. “We are outraged by the police violence towards […]

BOSTON, MA, August 12, 2020 – The globe had another year where all-time records were either challenged or broken, as 2019 ranked among the world’s hottest. What’s more, greenhouse gases reached their highest levels on record, according to the 30th annual State of the Climate report.  This international annual review of the world’s climate, led by […]

August 8, 2020 – After nearly 2 years of mounting pressure, things came to a boiling point yesterday, August 7, in Warsaw. A spontaneous protest related to the “preventative detention” of an LGBTI activist, Margot Szutowicz, resulted in over 50 arrests and extensive police brutality last night. More protests, and more arrests, are expected today […]