To mark World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, the UN agency has released a report highlighting progress and challenges in delivering care for these 20 conditions, which mainly affect the world’s poorest people. NTDs are caused by a variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins, and can be deadly. Other examples are Buruli…
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,…
Costa Rica is known for its strong democracy, pro-human rights stance, and deep respect of the rule of law, so it was a shock when the 2018 general elections ushered in an unprecedented polarization of Costa Rican society. Allegra Baiocchi, the UN resident coordinator in Costa Rica, witnessed the unprecedented polarization of society, and the…
“The Holocaust did not happen as a ‘lesson’ for humanity, but it did happen. And because it happened, it may happen again,” Mr. Guterres told the annual ceremony held at the historic Park East Synagogue in New York to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. “We must never let down our guard. We must…
“Following my meeting with President [Nicolás] Maduro, he publicly expressed his readiness to work towards improving the justice system. This is a key area for reform, and I offer the support and expertise of my Office to pursue this,” Volker Türk told reporters in Caracas at the end of his three-day visit. In addition to Mr. Maduro,…
Hate speech is having a demonstrable effect on society: one of the many similarities between the January attacks on Brazil’s government buildings, and the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, is that each occurred after certain groups repeatedly directed dangerous rhetoric and false claims against others. Concerns over the growing phenomenon have…
“By nearly every feasible measurement, and in every area of human rights – economic, social and cultural, as much as civil and political – Myanmar has profoundly regressed,” he said. “Despite clear legal obligations for the military to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, there has been consistent disregard for the related rules of…
António Vitorino, and Ms. Thunberg said they had “found much common ground” during a recent discussion about the impact of global climate change on human mobility. The Greta Thunberg Foundation has donated 275,000 Euros (around $269,000) to support IOM‘s emergency response to the historic floods in Pakistan and the crippling drought in Somalia. ‘Chain of…
“We have serious concerns about impunity and the failure to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system, deaths in police custody, ‘joint enterprise’ convictions, and the dehumanising nature”, of the so-called ‘stop and search’ policing strategy, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said in a statement at the end of an official…
In his speech, delivered at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Guterres recalled that, within months, the Nazis had dismantled fundamental constitutional rights and paved the way for totalitarian rule: members of parliament were arrested, freedom of the press was abolished, and the first concentration camp was built, in Dachau. The antisemitism of the Nazis…
