Europe

The new WHO report sets out for the first time the scale of childhood cancer inequalities in the European Region and examines the patterns that emerge at national and regional levels surrounding the disease. “Childhood cancer inequalities in the WHO European Region” was launched on International Childhood Cancer Day marked each 15 February, and it covers the experiences of both patients, and caregivers, as well as the short and long-term outcomes for patients. Major progress in survival...

Two children – Illia, 15, and Afina, 9 – have shared how although they do not bear any physical scars from the war, now in its eighth year, mortar shells and shrapnel have left them with invisible wounds that are nonetheless painful. “My life has changed a lot,” said Illia. “If it hadn’t been for the war, I wouldn’t have had vision problems, and I would have continued to play hockey and enter university in Donetsk.” A split-second change Sadly, the teenager is not alone. UNICEF said...

Urgent action is required to assist and protect some 400 Vietnamese migrant workers who were allegedly trafficked to Serbia, experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Friday. Eight companies, including Vietnamese labour recruitment agencies and Chinese construction firms registered in Serbia, have reportedly been implicated in serious human rights abuses, they said, citing information received. The experts have written to the businesses and are also in contact with...

Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in neighbouring Serbia, must condemn and refrain from any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday. Spokesperson Liz Throssell said OHCHR was deeply concerned by recent incidents in both countries which saw individuals glorify atrocity crimes and convicted war criminals, target certain communities with hate speech, and, in some cases, directly incite violence. The fear is that such acts...

At least 31 people lost their lives in three separate shipwrecks over the course of four days last week in the Aegean Sea, and an unknown number are still missing, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. According to the UN agency, between 21 and 24 December more than 160 people were rescued by Greece’s Hellenic Coast Guard – with support from the navy and air force, as well as merchant and private vessels. Commending those efforts, Maria-Clara Martin, UNHCR’s representative in...

France should consider the economic and development benefits of partnership with people of African descent, the head of a Working Group appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said in a statement on Monday. Dominique Day, chairperson of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, was speaking in the wake of its visit to Paris from 13 to 16 December. Focus on development Country visits by UN rights experts take place at the invitation of the host government and focus on...

In a message on Thursday, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge urged Europeans to “be smart, be kind, be safe this holiday season.” The COVID-19 threat remains high across the continent, which was already the epicentre of the pandemic even before the emergence of the new Omicron variant. Use the tools “My message to the people of Europe and central Asia is to exercise caution this holiday season. Use the many tools we have at our disposal. These stabilizers help us to manage the virus and...

The UN Human Rights Council heard on Wednesday that fundamental freedoms in Ukraine have been squeezed in Government-controlled areas, as well as across the contact line in eastern territories, held by mainly pro-Russian separatists. Addressing the Council in Geneva amid steadily increasing international tensions over Ukraine, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, said that similar violations continued to be documented in the Crimea, which she described as having...

Following armed conflict from1991 to 1994 in Croatia and the rest of former Yugoslavia, that triggered increased radicalization and hate speech, an independent UN human rights expert urged the authorities on Thursday to redouble efforts towards full justice for victims and survivors. “It is important that the Government gives an unequivocal sign to society and the international community, of its commitment towards a comprehensive and holistic transitional justice process aimed at...

While women in Belarus overall are being denied rights and freedoms, female political activists are subjected to enforced disappearances, torture, ill-treatment and exile, an independent UN human rights expert told the General Assembly on Tuesday. “The Government’s efforts to promote some rights of women at a policy level are rarely translated into concrete advancement of women’s rights in law and in practice”, said Anaïs Marin, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus...