Americas

“Costa Rican society does not teach us that there are indigenous people in this country,” she said. “It is a form of discrimination, making the existence of indigenous peoples invisible.” Faustina Torres belongs to the Bribri indigenous community in Costa Rica. Amid an alarming trend of spiraling hate speech and discrimination online platforms, Costa Rica, with UN support, has been designing Latin America’s first ever strategy to fight back, Poised to unveil the powerful tool by the...

The Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry reiterated his call for an international force in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Friday 22 September. “In the name of the women and girls raped every day, the thousands of families driven from their homes, the children and young people of Haiti, who have been denied the right to education and instruction, in the name of all a people who are victims of the barbarity of gangs, I urge the international community to act quickly.” Here’s what...

27 September 2023Human Rights The United States must end “the prolonged pre-trial detention” of Alex Nain Saab Morán, a Venezuelan Special Envoy who was arrested in 2020 and extradited to the US on money laundering charges, UN independent human rights experts said on Wednesday. They called for his immediate release and for the US “to comply with its obligations under international law…and drop all charges against him.” Allegations Mr. Saab was appointed as a Special Envoy by the...

26 September 2023UN Affairs The health of our planet, its people, institutions, and the global economy are at serious risk, and such deep challenges cannot be tackled in isolation, Robert Rae, Ambassador of Canada to the United Nations, told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate on Tuesday. Noting that we are at the halfway point in the global effort to ensure achievement of the of the Sustainable Development Goals, Mr. Rae said: “The consensus this past week was clear: we...

Marta Valiñas, Chair of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, presented its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which covers the period from January 2020 to August this year. The report, which was published last week, focused on two areas: the various “repression mechanisms” used by the State, and the need to monitor a new security force whose members include officers who allegedly were involved in crimes against humanity. ‘Repressive tactics’...

22 September 2023UN Affairs “Are we going to be too late for the SDGs?” Mia Mottley asked world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Friday, challenging them to “summon the determination to make the fundamental governance changes” that will turn the vision of sustainable development for all into a 21st century reality. Describing the Sustainable Development Goals as “the promise of development and the conferral of dignity on our people,” the Prime Minister of Barbados questioned...

Armed groups control areas of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and some towns, blocking roads, driving citizens from their homes, and forcing the closure of schools, hospitals and businesses. Lives in danger The “non-exhaustive” list of violations and crimes they have committed includes massacres, kidnappings, pillaging, sexual violence, human trafficking and child recruitment, he said. Insecurity has reached a critical point in recent weeks, sparking a new humanitarian crisis, with more than...

Yet, for the second year in a row, the annual debate at the UN General Assembly is “darkened by the shadow of war, an illegal conquest brought without provocation by Russia” against Ukraine, he said, expressing strong support for Kyiv. “Russia alone bears the responsibility for this war…and has the power to end it immediately,” he emphasized, asking whether the independence of any nation is secure “if we allow Ukraine to be carved up”. “We have to stand up to this aggression today and...

So far this year, more than 330,000 people have crossed the Darien Gap on their journey towards North America – the highest annual figure recorded to date, OHCHR said. One in five was a child. Risk of sexual violence During the crossing, migrants and refugees are exposed to multiple human rights violations and abuses, including sexual violence – “a particular risk for children, women, LGBTI people and people with disabilities”, said OHCHR spokesperson Marta Hurtado. She added that there...

“We are outraged that those searching for forcibly disappeared family members and loved ones continue to be targeted and face violence in Mexico,” they said in a statement, issued in the wake of two recent incidents. Brutal killing Human rights defender Teresa Magueyal was shot dead while riding her bicycle in Celaya, Guanajuato state, on 2 May. Her son, José Luis Apaseo Magueyal, 34, disappeared three years ago. Ms. Magueyal was part of a group formed by families of people who have...