Human Rights

4/3/2025: Research by Equality Now for International Women's Day reveals that while some commendable gains have been achieved in strengthening legal protections for women and girls over the past five years, progress is under threat from a growing backlash against women’s rights. Prospects for Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality are a concern.

Source: Inter Press Service

3/3/2025: For 2025 USAID had allocated around $268 million to supporting “independent media and free flow of information.” The fate of that money is now uncertain. This funding often addresses key global and local issues, including the climate crisis, women’s rights, maternal and child health, or conflict — topics that media coverage tends to overlook quickly.

Source: Devex

24/2/2025: US President Donald Trump has severed ties with the UN Human Rights Council, in stark contrast with former president Joe Biden’s efforts to re-engage the US in multilateral diplomacy. Last year, the US was the Human Rights Office’s largest donor, accounting for 13 per cent of voluntary donations.

Source: Geneva Solutions

17/2/2025: The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has released a new report alleging that North Korea’s persistent use of forced labor, detention, and torture to maintain totalitarian rule amounts to crimes against humanity. It recommends that the UN Security Council should refer North Korea’s situation to the International Criminal Court.

Source: Human Rights Watch

6/2/2025: Female Genital Mutilation is a practice deemed a gross violation of human rights, but which tragically persists across multiple countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In a joint statement, the heads of UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Health Organization reaffirm their commitment to work together to tackle FGM and abolish it once and for all.

Source: Inter Press Service

4/2/2025: Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have officially left the Economic Community of West African States. Since 2005, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice has had jurisdiction to hear human rights cases brought by citizens of member states. This important path for accountability and justice is now closed.

Source: Human Rights Watch

23/1/2025: The International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants for two senior Taliban officials, accused of crimes against humanity. Since reclaiming power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have systematically stripped women of their rights, including barring them from employment, public spaces and education beyond the age of 12.

Source: UN News

22/1/2025: Several of President Trump’s cabinet nominees said they were committed to human rights when testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But Human Rights Watch has pointed to multiple executive orders that threaten to undermine respect for international human rights.

Source: Human Rights Watch

16/1/2025: A total of 361 journalists were behind bars towards the end of 2024, the second-highest number on record, according to a new report released by the Committee to Protect Journalists. China, Israel, and Myanmar were the leading jailers of reporters, followed by Belarus and Russia.

Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

13/12/2024: The administration of US President Joe Biden has announced the transfer of antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine, reversing a longstanding US prohibition. These transfers break years of incremental steps by the US government to align its policy and practice with the 1997 treaty banning antipersonnel mines.

Source: Human Rights Watch