UN High Commissioner’s credibility at stake in China visit
19/5/2022: Michelle Bachelet's itinerary later this month includes the first visit to China by a UN human rights commissioner since 2005. Bachelet has previously asserted that she would require “unfettered” access to Xinjiang, the Uyghur region, but the terms of her visit have not been disclosed.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Human rights must be at heart of solution to Sri Lanka crisis
17/5/2022: The UN is working to ensure that any solution to the severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka must recognize the broader political and systematic root causes that have perpetrated discrimination, and undermined human rights.
Source: UN News
Call to freedom for millions of children trapped in child labour
13/5/2022: There are 160 million child labourers worldwide, an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years , according to the UN's most recent global estimates. How to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal to eliminate child labour by 2025 will be the subject of the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour now in progress in Durban, South Africa.
Source: Inter Press Service
Elon Musk, Twitter, and human rights
10/5/2022: A director of Human Rights Watch assesses the implications of the potential acquisition of Twitter by an individual owner calling himself a “free speech absolutist.” There is a fine line between protecting free speech and addressing online content and behaviour that threatens people’s rights.
Source: Human Rights Watch
How the Taliban are ‘eliminating women’ in Afghanistan
9/5/2022: The Taliban have further curbed women's rights with their latest veil compulsion decree. Stricter rules are announced almost every day. With the West currently dealing with the Ukraine war, Afghan civil society has been left on its own to confront the Taliban's harsh decrees.
Source: DW
A free press in Africa is essential for democratic rule
7/5/2022: In Africa, the press freedom picture has become complicated, with a vast swathe of grey territory in which seemingly progressive democracies are getting away with media repression. The outcome is a chilling effect which prevents media from effectively playing their watchdog role.
Source: The East African
Russian censorship denounced on World Press Freedom Day
3/5/2022: The World Press Freedom Index reveals the dangers that journalists endure in reporting world events, in the face of increasing authoritarianism. Russia stands out over the Kremlin's wartime censorship of the Ukraine conflict.
Source: DW
World press freedom faces a perfect storm
29/4/2022: The Senior Vice President of Inter Press Service reflects on the decline in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, recently released by Reporters Without Borders.
Source: Inter Press Service
Kenneth Roth to step down at Human Rights Watch
26/4/2022: Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth has announced plans to step down at the end of August 2022. Roth has led the organization since 1993, transforming it from a small group of regional “watch committees” to a major international human rights organization with global influence.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Turkish rights activist Osman Kavala handed life sentence
25/4/2022: Turkish philanthropist Osman Kavala has been found guilty of attempting to overthrow the government by an Istanbul court. International rights groups have condemned the process as a crackdown on critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Source: DW