World News

In February 2021 the military overthrew the elected Government in Myanmar arresting hundreds of officials, political leaders and activists, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover triggered an intensification of armed conflicts with separatists and opposition forces across the country, including indiscriminate air strikes which have killed numerous civilians. There have been mass killings of detainees, including dismemberment and desecration of...

19 March 2024Human Rights The accelerated adoption of a national security bill in Hong Kong represents “a regressive step” for human rights there, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday. “It is alarming that such consequential legislation was rushed through the legislature through an accelerated process, in spite of serious concerns raised about the incompatibility of many of its provisions with international human rights law,” Volker Türk said in a statement...

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran – a group of Council-appointed independent experts – said that Ms. Amini’s death in September 2022 was “unlawful and caused by physical violence” for which the State is responsible. Chairperson Sara Hossain told the forum’s 47 Member States that after Ms. Amini’s death, young women and schoolchildren “were at the forefront” of nationwide protests: “The entire State apparatus was mobilized with...

28 February 2024Law and Crime Prevention A revival of Taliban-ordered public executions by gunfire taking place in sports stadiums in several cities in Afghanistan “must cease immediately”, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Wednesday. “We are appalled by the public executions of three people at sports stadiums in Afghanistan in the past week, said OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence in a statement. “Public executions are a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or...

Describing the move as a further sign of the junta’s “weakness and desperation”, Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews called for stronger international action to protect vulnerable populations across the country. “While wounded and increasingly desperate, the Myanmar military junta remains extremely dangerous,” he said. “Troop losses and recruitment challenges have become existential threats for the junta, which faces vigorous attacks on frontlines all across the country.” Filling the ranks...

Police enforcement has increased harassment in public spaces and further limited women’s ability to leave their homes, according to testimony from 745 Afghan women participating in the latest survey by UN Women, International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The insights follow recent reports of the arbitrary and severe enforcement of the hijab decree, particularly in Kabul, the agencies said – which began publishing quarterly...

Global perspective Human stories Badshahi Mosque in Lahore in the Punjab province of Pakistan close to the border with India. 6 February 2024Human Rights UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Türk has urged authorities in Pakistan to ensure that parliamentary elections this week are free and fair, his office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday. OHCHR denounced all acts of violence against political parties and candidates in the lead-up to Thursday’s vote. Spokesperson Liz...

The incidents, which have surged since early January, are purportedly linked to violations of the Taliban’s stringent dress code for women. The Human Rights Council-appointed experts called on de facto authorities to comply with Afghanistan’s human rights obligations, including under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Taliban crackdown initially began in western Kabul, predominantly inhabited by the minority ethnic Hazara community – which...

24 January 2024Human Rights UN independent human rights experts on Wednesday urged the Government of Bangladesh to undertake key reforms to reverse “repressive trends” and restore dialogue. The Human Rights Council-appointed experts’ call follows on from the election victory of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier this month, who secured a controversial fourth term with the main opposition party deciding to boycott the poll. Ms. Hasina and her Awami League party won 223 of the 300...

22 January 2024Human Rights Hundreds of Afghan women were forced to quit their jobs or have been arrested and denied access to essential services in the last quarter of 2023, a UN report revealed on Monday, as Taliban officials continue undermining their basic human rights. Among those whose working lives have been upended, de facto authorities “banned” approximately 400 women workers at a pine nut processing from the workplace and dismissed another 200 at a power plant, the UN...