Rights chief urges Russia to end crackdown as journalist detentions reach all-time high

PNP DeskMay 7, 2024September 20, 202404 mins

Volker Türk said he was concerned by the increasing number of journalists charged, convicted and jailed for their independent reporting, in what appears to be an intensification of a crackdown on dissenting voices. He described the continuous attacks on free speech and the criminalization of independent journalism in Russia as “very troubling”. “The intensification of the crackdown on journalists’ independent…

Russia vetoes Security Council draft resolution on a weapon-free outer space

PNP DeskApril 24, 2024September 20, 202402 mins

The Security Council rejected the draft resolution, introduced by Japan and the United States, by a vote of 13 in favour to one against, with one abstention (China), that would have had the 15-member organ call on “all States, in particular those with major space capabilities, to contribute actively to the objective of the peaceful…

Russia: Rights experts condemn continued imprisonment of Evan Gershkovich

PNP DeskMarch 28, 2024September 19, 202405 mins

The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested last March in Yekatarinburg on espionage charges and is being held at the infamous Lefortovo prison in Moscow. Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, and Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression,…

World News in Brief: Russia vetoes DPR Korea sanctions resolution, children under fire in Sudan, drought plagues Malawi

PNP DeskMarch 28, 2024September 19, 202407 mins

This in effect abolishes the monitoring of UN sanctions against the country, more commonly known as North Korea, blocking the extension of the panel for another year. Russia’s Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the sanctions regime adopted with the intention of preventing nuclear weapons proliferation, was losing its relevance and also “to a great extent, detached…

UPDATING LIVE: Russia and China veto US resolution stating imperative of ‘immediate and sustained ceasefire’ in Gaza

PNP DeskMarch 22, 2024September 19, 2024010 mins

09:26 AM Alternative resolution fails to support diplomatic talks: US Russia has put politics over progress in vetoing the resolution, throwing stones when it lives in a glass house, said the US Ambassador. She said Russia and China were doing nothing meaningful to advance peace. She said the new text fails to support sensitive diplomacy…

Senator Mushahid welcomes ‘Russian goodwill for Pakistan’

PNP DeskFebruary 18, 2024September 18, 202405 mins

Senator Mushahid Hussain, Chairman Senate Defense Committee, is visiting Russia on the invitation of the ruling ‘United Russia’ party, during which he met Former President Dmitri Medvedev (who’s number two to President Putin) and Foreign Minister Lavrov.

Russia: UN human rights office ‘appalled’ at death of Navalny in prison

PNP DeskFebruary 16, 2024September 18, 202407 mins

Mr. Navalny, 47, had lost consciousness and could not be revived, according to media reports. “If someone dies in the custody of the State, the presumption is that the State is responsible – a responsibility that can only be rebutted through an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body,” said OHCHR…

World News in Brief: Russia’s LGBT ban condemned, unprecedented Africa malnutrition crisis, health after childbirth

After Navalny death, independent expert on rights in Russia asks ‘who is next?’

PNP DeskFebruary 16, 2024September 18, 202404 mins

Speaking exclusively to UN News, she said her office had raised repeated concerns over the past months, among them, over Mr. Navalny’s deteriorating health. Arrested in 2021, the 47-year-old anti-corruption activist was serving multiple sentences on charges, including extremism. “It’s very shocking that this happened today less than a month before the Russian presidential election,…

World court rejects bulk of Ukraine’s terrorism charges against Russia

PNP DeskJanuary 31, 2024September 18, 202403 mins

The 117-page judgement contained rulings on seven matters in Ukraine’s case against Russia claiming that Moscow funded pro-Russian separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the Crimean peninsula. The court ruled that Russia had failed to investigate persons who allegedly breached parts of the Convention against Financing Terrorism. In terms of Russia’s actions in Crimea after…

Security Council holds emergency meeting on reported attacks on Belgorod, Russia

PNP DeskDecember 30, 2023September 18, 202409 mins

At least 18 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack on Belgorod, said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, briefing the Council on the latest developments. Russia had called for the emergency meeting following reported attacks on Belogorod. Located about 40 km north of…