The independent rights investigators’ final report comes as their mandate ended on Friday, coinciding with the end of the UN Human Rights Council’s 54th session, leaving victims in limbo. Established by the Council in December 2021, their brief from the Council was to conduct through and impartial investigations into alleged human rights violations in Ethiopia,…
“We share the concerns expressed on Tuesday by the Presidency of the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties that these actions are unacceptable, and we call for them to be promptly withdrawn,” said Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, speaking in Geneva. Last month, Russia issued arrest warrants against the President, deputy and one of the judges at the…
Earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic activity and other natural disasters regularly cause destruction and the loss of life in parts of the Caribbean. On the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction marked annually on 13 October, UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Didier Trebucq and Nahuel Arenas, regional chief of the UN Office for…
According to various estimates, up to 75 per cent of extreme weather events are currently connected to climate change, fuelled by carbon emissions. The countries experiencing the greatest losses from disasters are those who contribute the least to the problem. UN figures reveal that from 1970 through 2019, some 91 percent of all of deaths…
Some 22 countries and one non-governmental organization (NGO) took the floor, turning the meeting into a mini urgent debate on the crisis sparked by Hamas attacks against Israel and the capture of more than 100 Israelis who are being held hostage by militants inside the Gaza Strip. The surprise incursion prompted intense aerial bombardment by…
The region was struck by two massive earthquakes on Saturday, followed a series of aftershocks, including a major one on Wednesday that flattened several homes spared by the original quake. Women and children make up over 90 per cent of the victims, according to UN agencies. Disasters compounded Making matters worse, on Thursday, a dust…
The development follows an announcement by UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, just before midnight Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, that UN representatives in Gaza had been “informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military” that everyone living north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within 24 hours. ‘Death sentence’ for many Some 1.1…
Persons with disabilities face a “shocking lack of support” with no progress in the last decade, despite a huge increase in climate disasters worldwide, the new UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) report states, and that lack of progress could be a violation of international law. Persons with disabilities make up 16 per cent…
Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the AU, told ambassadors in New York that the alignment between the two organizations is particularly relevant for current challenges. “The African conflict landscape is evolving, becoming more complex and often intractable,” he said. He referred to the report on cooperation between the UN and AU on…
The UN Human Rights Council also “strongly urged” Russian authorities to comply with all the State’s obligations under international human rights law. It also called for upholding fundamental freedoms, including those of thought, opinion and expression, and peaceful assembly, “in particular by removing restrictions on diversity in ideas, criticism and dissent as well as associated…
