World News in Brief: ‘Gender apartheid’ in Afghanistan, DR Congo rights abuses, reforestation crucial to climate fight

World News in Brief: ‘Gender apartheid’ in Afghanistan, DR Congo rights abuses, reforestation crucial to climate fight

Key international actors, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Afghanistan, have used terms such as “gender apartheid” to describe the high levels of discrimination. “Gender apartheid is not merely a theoretical possibility or legal construct, but a real threat and lived reality for millions of women and girls around the…

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World News in Brief: Air travel boom erases COVID dip, ‘disturbing’ new anti-LGBT bill in Ghana, rights abuses in Crimea

World News in Brief: Air travel boom erases COVID dip, ‘disturbing’ new anti-LGBT bill in Ghana, rights abuses in Crimea

Civil aviation organization ICAO said that the numbers for the first quarter of 2024 indicate that airlines will sustain the return to profitability recorded in 2023. “The commitment of Member States to aligning their pandemic responses with the guidance developed by the ICAO Council has been crucial to the recovery of their air services,” said…

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World News in Brief: Rafah ‘slaughter’ fears, Ukraine energy system attacks, rights abuses against Syrian returnees

World News in Brief: Rafah ‘slaughter’ fears, Ukraine energy system attacks, rights abuses against Syrian returnees

“Today, I’m sounding the alarm once again: Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “The scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed,” he said, as well over a million…

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Ethiopia: Prioritize victims amidst legacy of rights abuses, UN office urges

Ethiopia: Prioritize victims amidst legacy of rights abuses, UN office urges

A joint report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission emphasized the need to implement all components of transitional justice equally. These include criminal accountability, truth-seeking, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence, involving effective remedies for victims, legal reforms, and reconciliation. One of the recommendations…

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Meth trafficking surges in and around Afghanistan

World News in Brief, Afghanistan rights abuses, Sudan crisis deepens, Australia votes no

The series of deadly earthquakes and possibility of massive involuntary returns, all add up to the need for urgent action to avoid further suffering and potential instability, said Richard Bennett.  “A grave picture has emerged, providing a glimpse of what may lie ahead for the human rights of many Afghans, particularly women and girls, and also…

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UN chief ‘firmly condemns’ Gabon coup, notes reports of election abuses

UN chief ‘firmly condemns’ Gabon coup, notes reports of election abuses

Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said that UN chief António Guterres was following the evolving situation in the capital Libreville “very closely”. While condemning military action as “a means to resolve the post electoral crisis”, the Secretary-General said he had noted the announcement by the Central African nation’s electoral body of a win for incumbent president Ali…

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Libya: human rights abuses must be addressed, says UN probe

Libya: human rights abuses must be addressed, says UN probe

The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya was established by the Human Rights Council in June 2020, to investigate alleged abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed in Libya since 2016. The panel’s latest official visit to Libya which ended on Sunday heard testimony from victims’ relatives of extrajudicial killings, torture,…

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