Human rights through the eyes of Andy Vermaut

Improved measurement of corruption could boost efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a senior UN official said on Thursday in Vienna.   https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140282?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Highlighting the “succession of military coups” unfolding across Africa, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday emphasized the need for durable democratic governance and the rule of law. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140277?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Some of the world’s most iconic natural and cultural sites are also a haven for thousands of endangered species, the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Thursday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140267?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

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Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations with the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), vividly describes what it was like spending a week in Ukraine and Moldova, meeting some of those most affected by Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140252?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

A UN expert on torture has called on the UK Government to conduct an urgent review of sentences imposed on prisoners who are being held indefinitely under the discredited Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentencing scheme. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140237?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked Wednesday’s International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearance by condemning the “atrocious crime” and urging all Member States to hold those who perpetrate it accountable.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140217?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday called for urgent assistance for children caught up in wildfires in Greece, considered to be the worst Europe has seen since the turn of the century. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140212?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

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The United Nations on Tuesday announced that it has conducted 200 cross-border missions delivering aid into northwest Syria from Türkiye since the devastating earthquakes that struck the two countries in February.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140192?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Amid the deepening crisis driven by warring militaries in Sudan, the UN announced on Tuesday an additional allocation of $20 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to aid civilians caught up in the turmoil. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140197?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The European External Action Service (EEAS) is taking further steps towards building a stronger common European diplomatic culture and foreign policy. After completing a successful first year programme of the European Diplomatic Academy, the EEAS is starting the second phase of the pilot project, with a view to establishing a fully-fledged Academy. The second pilot phase […] https://www.pressclub.be/press-releases/european-diplomatic-academy-euda-eeas-launches-the-second-phase-of-the-pilot-project/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The political crisis in Niger has created uncertainty for scores of vulnerable displaced people, with restrictions on humanitarian operations limiting aid and protection, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140167?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Ukrainian children are showing signs of widespread learning loss as Russia’s invasion preceded by the COVID-19 pandemic have left them facing a fourth year of education setbacks, a senior UN children’s agency official said on Tuesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140157?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

A group of UN-appointed human rights experts expressed grave concern on Monday over Russia’s decision to dismiss all legal challenges to the country’s criminalisation of “public actions aimed at discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140147?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

While its peacekeeping operation in Mali, MINUSMA draws to a close by the end of this year, the UN remains committed to supporting the country’s stability and development, the head of the Mission said on Monday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140142?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued new guidance on Monday that calls for governments to take action to protect boys and girls in the face of the deepening climate crisis. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140122?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Truck drivers in southern Africa who have been recruited to traffic or smuggle people illegally are learning about the risks involved thanks to the UN drugs and crime agency, UNODC. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140102?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is closely following developments in Zimbabwe’s elections, his spokesperson said on Sunday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140117?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Truck drivers in southern Africa who have been recruited to traffic or smuggle people illegally are learning about the risks involved thanks to the UN drugs and crime agency, UNODC. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139807?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Doctors on the Indonesian island of Central Sulawesi are putting into practice training they have received from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to identify and act upon cases of domestic violence. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140092?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Viola Fletcher was just seven years old when she was forcibly displaced from her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, by an armed mob which destroyed the predominantly Black enclave of Greenwood, killing hundreds of residents. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140082?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The recent launch by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) of a satellite posed a major risk to international civil aviation and maritime traffic, a senior UN political affairs official said on Friday, underscoring the need for practical measures to reduce tensions in the Korean Peninsula and create space for dialogue. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140097?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Despite successful international counter-terrorism initiatives, the extremist group Da’esh and its affiliates continue to pose a serious threat in conflict zones and neighbouring countries, the UN Security Council heard on Friday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140077?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

A new global environmental fund marks a major step towards securing the wellbeing of biodiversity in developing countries and will help to ensure sustainable utilization of their natural resources, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140072?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The conflict in Sudan has uprooted more than two million children – an average of more than 700 newly displaced every hour, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Thursday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140047?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

An independent UN expert expressed grave concern on Thursday over the human rights situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), calling for political dialogue and a new “climate of trust”. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140042?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, condemn in the strongest terms North Korea’s launch using ballistic missile technology conducted on August 24, 2023. This launch is a clear, flagrant violation of multiple United Nations […] https://www.pressclub.be/press-releases/north-korea-g7-foreign-ministers-statement-on-the-launch-using-ballistic-missile-technology/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Japan has begun discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station into the Pacific Ocean, 12 years on from the major meltdown there, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed on Thursday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140037?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

UN human rights chief Volker Türk, on Thursday, reiterated the call for accountability and justice for the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya driven from their homes in Myanmar by security forces in 2017, in what has been described as “textbook” ethnic cleansing. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140032?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The only path out of the war in Syria is a political process, which would also help to address the many crises affecting the country, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Wednesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140017?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Commemorating the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on Wednesday, the head of the UN’s education, science and culture agency UNESCO, emphasized the urgent need to end exploitation. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140012?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Russian strikes on at least 10 regions in Ukraine have left a path of death and destruction over the past 24 hours, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country said on Wednesday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140007?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Wastewater, long seen as an environmental and health hazard, possesses untapped potential as an alternative energy and clean water source to offset fertilizer use, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Wednesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1140002?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Greece must adopt “safe and impartial” border policies and practices and hold its law enforcement officers accountable for abuses, a group of UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said in a statement on Wednesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139997?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

ChatGPT is not coming for your job and might even enhance it, experts from the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a new report published this week.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139972?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Recent deadly clashes between two largest armed groups in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, underscore the dire security situation there and are undermining preparations for elections slated for later this year, the top UN envoy for the country said on Tuesday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139967?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Online hate is often a driver of violent physical attacks against religious minorities, said the UN chief on Tuesday, calling on governments, community and religious leaders, to “speak out against hate and incitement to violence.” https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139937?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The biggest water conference of the year is now underway. You might be thinking, wasn’t that the UN Water Conference? Two separate events - but there is spillover. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139942?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

An independent UN human rights expert has called for India to release an activist imprisoned since 2017, expressing concern over his persistent detention and deteriorating health.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139932?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Paying respect to the thousands lost or harmed through terrorist attacks around the world each year, the UN is launching a project to help survivors’ testimonies be heard, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday’s International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139927?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

More than 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed so far this year in demonstrations, clashes, military operations, attacks and other incidents, which already surpasses last year’s death toll, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said in a briefing to the Security Council on Monday.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139922?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The term ‘fighter for peace’ takes on new meaning in the form of a five-time world boxing champion combating hate speech in cooperation with the United Nations. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139647?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

A global approach to tackle the ongoing water crisis is needed as vulnerable communities in the United States face historic deluge and drought - issues very much in the spotlight at the forthcoming UN-supported World Water Week. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139792?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The UN chief has condemned an assault on Friday by Turkish Cypriot security forces against ‘blue helmets’ serving with the peacekeeping force on the divided Mediterranean island. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139912?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

A senior political affairs officer at the United Nations has described how the sacrifice of colleagues who died in the attack on the UN offices at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003, has been acknowledged by the UN’s continued presence in the country. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139597?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

With smartphones, editing apps, and innovative approaches, some UN peacekeeping operations across the world are building a “digital army” aimed at combating mis- and disinformation on social media networks and beyond. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139682?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

The United Nations on Friday paid tribute to 22 staff members killed in the bombing of its headquarters in Iraq 20 years ago, one of the darkest days in the Organization’s history.   https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139892?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk called on Friday for Niger’s democratically elected officials to be released “at once”, following their detention by coup leaders last month.  In a statement released on Friday, Mr. Türk urged the generals to restore constitutional order immediately.  https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139882?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

A former member of staff of the World Food Programme (WFP) has been talking about the “immense psychological injuries” he has suffered following the deadly terrorist attack on the UN offices at the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139587?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Arms and ammunition transfers to Ukraine have increased rapidly in recent months, alongside concerning reports of deliveries of banned cluster munitions, the UN’s top disarmament official told the Security Council on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139852?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger

Sudan’s continuing military showdown has had “massive humanitarian consequences” including allegations that some fighters from the powerful and long-standing RSF militia have been using rape systematically to terrorise communities they control, said a group of independent human rights experts on Thursday. https://news.un.org/feed/view/en/story/2023/08/1139847?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=blogger