Pride Month: UN’s transgender rights campaign goes global

Pride Month: UN’s transgender rights campaign goes global

“If we want a healthy world, then it needs to be a kind and welcoming one too,” said Benedict Phillips, the UNAIDS Director of Communications and Global Advocacy. That means ensuring all communities are included, especially marginalized groups, he said. However, in many countries, stigma, discrimination, and criminalization tend to make transgender people invisible, with extreme…

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BJP leader criticized Obama's statement regarding the rights of Indian Muslims

BJP leader criticized Obama’s statement regarding the rights of Indian Muslims

New Delhi: The Indian Finance Minister was irked by former US President Barack Obama’s statement regarding the atrocities on minority Muslims and abrogation of their rights under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in India. According to the foreign news agency “Reuters”, the Finance Minister of India mocked former US President Barack Obama’s comment that Prime…

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Health data, women’s and LGBT rights in spotlight at Human Rights Council

Health data, women’s and LGBT rights in spotlight at Human Rights Council

The Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, warned that technology enabled easy sharing of sensitive health data of adolescents, migrants and people whose sexual orientation or health status was subject to discrimination. “Accessibility of information through digital tools should not impair the right to have personal health data treated with confidentiality,” Ms. Mofokeng…

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Record executions, large-scale arrests and detentions: New Iran human rights report

Record executions, large-scale arrests and detentions: New Iran human rights report

“The overall human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran has markedly deteriorated against the backdrop of continuously worsening socio-economic conditions, aggravated by sanctions and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nada Al-Nashif, UN deputy human rights chief, presenting the report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The report focuses on developments…

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Afghanistan: Taliban ‘may be responsible for gender apartheid’ says rights expert

Afghanistan: Taliban ‘may be responsible for gender apartheid’ says rights expert

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed similar concerns on the opening day of the Council’s summer session, adding that the de facto authorities had “dismantled the most fundamental principles of human rights, particularly for women and girls”.  In a joint report presented to the Council by the Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan and…

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‘Vital’ human rights cooperation must be above fray of politics: Türk

‘Vital’ human rights cooperation must be above fray of politics: Türk

In his annual review presented to the Human Rights Council, which opened its 53rd regular session on Monday, Mr. Türk insisted that such cooperation was “vital” in a world plagued by conflict, climate disasters and development setbacks. Rights monitoring ‘in the interest of all Malians’ Human rights “must always be above the fray of politics”, Mr….

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