World

Kabul/New York, March 4, 2020—People in Afghanistan still struggle to access essential medical care due to violence and widespread poverty, despite decades of international aid and investment in the country, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a report released today. The report, Reality Check: Afghanistan’s neglected health care […]

GENEVA (5 March 2020) – A UN human rights expert on housing has warned States that their failure to address the global housing crisis has resulted in mass human rights violations. “For six years I have sounded the alarm that the world is on an unsustainable path with increasing levels of homelessness worldwide especially in […]

GENEVA (5 March 2020) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Joseph Cannataci, has called for gender equality to be embedded in privacy practices around the world. Over the years, the work of his mandate has revealed deeply disturbing breaches of privacy relating to individuals’ gender. These infringements frequently lead to […]

GENEVA (3 March 2020) – States must accelerate their efforts and lead a coordinated global response to eradicate the sale and sexual exploitation of children, both online and offline, said a UN expert in her last report to the Human Rights Council. “Children continue to be sold and trafficked within their own countries and across […]

March 3, 2020 – Humanity is weaved into “the rich tapestry of life that makes up our world’s biological diversity”, said Secretary-General António Guterres. “All human civilizations have been, and continue to be, built on the use of wild and cultivated species of flora and fauna, from the food we eat, to the air we breathe”. And yet, […]

Angelina Bambina / Shutterstock Daniel Jolley, Northumbria University, Newcastle and Pia Lamberty, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz March 2, 2020 – The novel coronavirus continues to spread around the world, with new cases being reported all the time. Spreading just as fast, it seems, are conspiracy theories that claim powerful actors are plotting something sinister […]

February 25, 2020 – JOINT STATEMENT by QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; and David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) East Africa is a region beset by climate- and […]

London, Feb. 25, 2020 — From Bolivia to Malawi, India, Sudan, and beyond, 2019 was a difficult year, online and off. Access Now’s latest report looks at a trend affecting people’s rights regardless of whether they are active internet users: internet shutdowns. The #KeepItOn coalition has documented an increase in internet shutdowns in 2019, including both more sustained and […]

Geneva, February 25, 2020 – Non-tariff measures (NTMs) could cause major fractures in post-exit trade relations between the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU), knocking up to US$32 billion, or 14 per cent, off of UK exports to the EU, according to a new UNCTAD study. NTMs are policy measures other than ordinary […]

PARIS, Feb 24, 2020 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opened a meeting on Monday to consider the outline of the Synthesis Report for the Sixth Assessment Report, which will provide policymakers in 2022 with the most up-to-date scientific information related to climate change.                                                                                                                            The Synthesis Report will integrate the findings of all the […]

CAIRO, Feb 23, 2020 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A retired doctor and the parents of a 12-year-old girl who died after female genital mutilation (FGM) surgery are to stand trial in Egypt, with child rights campaigners calling for jail terms to deter others from the illegal practice. Egypt’s Prosecutor General Hamada El-Sawy this weekend ordered […]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2020 – As U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, meet Amnesty International India and Amnesty International USA issued the below joint statement: “Anti-Muslim sentiment permeates the policies of both U.S. and Indian leaders. For decades, the U.S.-India relationship was anchored by claims of shared values of human […]

Geneva, Feb. 20, 2020- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is launching today (20/02) a new suite of publications to support the identification of vulnerabilities associated with migration and improve the protection and assistance available to migrants. These tools are the first of their kind and will assist policymakers and practitioners by laying out clear operational direction on providing protection and assistance to migrants vulnerable to, or who have […]

Istanbul, February 20, 2020 – An Istanbul court’s order on February 19, 2020 to detain a prominent civic leader, Osman Kavala, demonstrates the extent to which Turkey’s government is abusing its justice system to target perceived critics, Human Rights Watch said today. The order for Kavala’s pretrial detention came the day after another court acquitted him […]

February 19, 2020 – Policies regulating fishing in international waters do not sufficiently protect officials who monitor illegal fishing, the prohibited dumping of equipment, or human trafficking or other human rights abuses, finds a new analysis by a team of environmental researchers. “These fisheries observers risk their lives to watch over industrial fishing activities, and […]

Washington, D.C. Feb. 18, 2020 – A fishing and farming community in Gujarat, India will challenge a ruling from a federal judge in the District of Columbia that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – part of the World Bank Group – is immune from being sued for damages inflicted by a coal-fired power plant that […]

Munich, Germany, February 13, 2020 —  This year climate change is more central than ever at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), the leading international forum for senior military, security and foreign policy leaders. with the release of the inaugural “World Climate and Security Report 2020” by the Expert Group of the International Military Council on […]

February 10, 2020 – In presenting the latest UN report on ISIL, Vladimir Voronkov, head of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, urged the international community to remain united in fighting the group’s reach, which extends to Africa, Europe and Asia.  “ISIL has continued to seek resurgence and global relevance online and offline, aspiring to re-establish its capacity […]