Europe

Over two years since the invasion began, “harrowing stories of human suffering” unfold in the country every day, High Commissioner Türk told the UN Human Rights Council via a video statement, expressing concern that “the world has grown numb to this crisis”. More than 10,500 civilians have been killed, more than 20,000 injured over the past two years of “immense suffering, bloodshed, loss and grief”, the UN rights chief reminded, noting that actual figures are likely to be “significantly...

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, condemned his continued arbitrary detention. “Russian authorities have yet to provide any credible evidence to substantiate the egregious...

Based on over 2,300 testimonies from victims and witnesses, the report details measures taken by Russia to impose Russian language, citizenship, laws, court system and education curricula in the occupied areas, while at the same time suppressing expressions of Ukrainian culture and identity, and dismantling its governance and administrative systems. “The actions of the Russian Federation have ruptured the social fabric of communities and left individuals isolated, with profound and...

13 March 2024Peace and Security A Russian missile strike on a multi-storey apartment block in central Ukraine that left three dead and around 40 injured on Tuesday has been strongly condemned by the UN’s top aid official in Kyiv, Denise Brown. “I am appalled to know that families were just getting together to have dinner and spend a quiet evening at home, only to see their homes damaged and their loved ones injured,” said Ms. Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, in a tweet...

“They were flying by helicopter from the direction of the cargo airport in Hostomel [north of Bucha]. Then they marched with tanks along Vokzalna Street, crossed the railway and moved in the direction of Kyiv,” says Mykhaylina Skoryk-Shkarivska, founder of the Institute for Sustainable Development of Communities in Bucha and deputy of the Irpin City Council[DD1] , recalling the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion. The occupation by Russian troops lasted almost a month and, when...

22 February 2024Humanitarian Aid Researchers have been deployed to the Middle East and requests issued to meet with Israel officials, said the head of an independent team reviewing the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, briefing reporters at UN Headquarters on Thursday. Appointed by the Secretary-General in early February following Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel in October, the group also aims to meet...

“Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year with no end in sight, continues to cause serious and widespread human rights violations, destroying lives and livelihoods,” he said in a statement launching a new report. This month marks not only two years since Moscow’s all out assault, but also 10 years since Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Millions displaced, thousands dead In its latest...

Concluding a 10-day visit to the country, Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem noted that a woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK, and one in four women there will experience some form of domestic violence in her lifetime. “Entrenched patriarchy at almost every level of society, combined with a rise in misogyny that permeates the physical and online world, is denying thousands of women and girls across the UK the right to live in safety, free from fear and violence,” she said in a...

“You cannot legislate facts out of existence,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, calling on the UK Government to reconsider the bill in light of recent reports raising a range of concerns. “It is deeply concerning to carve out one group of people, or people in one particular situation, from the equal protection of the law – this is antithetical to even-handed justice, available and accessible to all, without discrimination.” The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and...

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, and it really sends shockwaves to everybody in Russia and to everybody around the world who is concerned...