World

June 24, 2019 – Transparency International is one of more than 400 civil society organisations urging the G20 to protect whistleblowers from retaliation, in a joint call with trade unions from across G20 countries. The official G20 engagement groups for Civil Society (C20, or Civil 20) and Trade Unions (L20, or Labour 20) are asking […]

GENEVA / AMMAN June 24, 2019 –  A United Nations committee* notes with deep concern the continued degradation of the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a result of  Israeli policies and practices, and expresses  particular alarm at a spike in settlement expansion […]

June 24, 2019 – There is a need for “genuine regional dialogue” to address rising tensions in the Gulf, Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday, calling on Secretary-General António Guterres “to play a role” in bringing countries to the table. Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi, was speaking to reporters outside the Security Council […]

June 24, 2019 – 41st session of the Human Rights Council Opening statement by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Distinguished President of the Council, Your Excellencies, President Rumen Radev of Bulgaria and President Hilda Heine of the Marshall Islands, Distinguished Ministers, Excellencies, Director-General Møller, Colleagues and Friends, The eyes of the world […]

June 21, 2019 – A landmark international agreement banning violence and harassment in the workplace has been applauded by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, after it was adopted on Friday at the International Labour Organization’s Centenary Conference in Geneva. In his speech to delegates in the Swiss city, Mr. Guterres congratulated Member States for “building upon […]

GENEVA June 20, 2019 – Recent statements by senior Israeli political leaders and US diplomats in support of the annexation of parts or all of the occupied West Bank by Israel fly in the face of the absolute prohibition against the annexation of occupied territories, a UN human rights expert said today. “International law is […]

June 19, 2019 – Yesterday news outlets in several countries simultaneously released the results of investigations by a consortium of journalists into human rights and environmental abuses at Barrick Gold’s North Mara gold mine in Tanzania.[1] This exposé by, among others, Canada’s Toronto Star, UK’s Guardian, and Switzerland’s Tagesanzeiger confirm findings of six years of […]

GENEVA, June 19, 2019 – Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the victim of a premeditated extrajudicial execution, for which the State of Saudi Arabia is responsible, according to a report published today by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings. Following a six-month investigation, Agnes Callamard issued her findings into the killing […]

Bonn, June 17,  2019 – On the first day of the intercessional UN climate negotiations in Bonn (SB50) in Germany, Climate Action Network (CAN) members said negotiators must achieve robust results in loss and damage, finance and climate ambition to adequately respond to the climate emergency inflicting severe suffering on communities and economies worldwide. To […]

June 17, 2019 – By the year 2050, there will be some 9.7 billion people living on Earth, says a UN population report released on Monday. However, the overall growth rate will continue to fall, and more countries will have to adapt to the consequences of an ageing population. “The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights”, […]

June 16, 2019 – In a video message released in advance of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world loses 24 billion tons of fertile land every year, and that the degradation in land quality is responsible for a reduction in the national […]

GENEVA June 3, 2019 – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday strongly deplored the use of live ammunition in protest camps in Khartoum, which reportedly resulted in a number of people being killed and injured. Their leaders have also reportedly been detained. “The protestors in Sudan have over the past few […]

May 30, 2019 – Once champions of global conservation, the United States and Brazil are now leading a troubling global trend of large-scale rollbacks in environmental policy, putting hundreds of protected areas at risk, a new study suggests. According to the report – perhaps the most comprehensive review to date of the extent of the […]

New York, May 28, 2019 – The inclusion of the need to protect civilians with disabilities in wartime in the United Nations secretary-general’s new report should help spur action by UN agencies and member states, Human Rights Watch said today. For the first time in more than a decade, the secretary-general’s 2019 report on the […]

GENEVA, May 28, 2019 – People in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are trapped in a vicious cycle, in which the failure of the State to provide for life’s basic necessities forces them to turn to rudimentary markets where they face a host of human rights violations in an uncertain legal environment, according […]

MOGADISHU, Somalia, May 28, 2019 –  Somalia is facing a severe drought that threatens to be worse than the pre-famine conditions of 2016-17. With the failure of the 2019 Gu rains, meant to fall from April to June, Somalia faces its second consecutive below-average rainy season, while the country is still recovering from the impact […]