Xinjiang vote betrays core mission of UN Human Rights Council
6/10/2022: The UN Human Rights Council has decided not to debate the findings of its High Commissioner concerning crimes against humanity in China's Xinjiang region. The head of Amnesty International calls out this decision as a chronic dysfunction of the Council.
Source: Amnesty International
Uyghur rights report a litmus test for global governance
3/10/2022: The Chinese government is doing everything in its power to block a debate in the UN Human Rights Council on a recently released UN report alleging crimes against humanity in Xinjiang region. The Human Rights Council was conceived in 2006 as a representative body of states expected to uphold the highest standards.
Source: Inter Press Service
Myanmar human rights spiralling from bad to worse
21/9/2022: The independent human rights expert on Myanmar has appealed to UN Member States to change course in their collective response to the military coup. The death toll of innocent people is rising significantly and 130,000 Rohingya remain in de facto internment camps.
Source: UN News
Venezuela accused of crimes against humanity to crush dissent
20/9/2022: The UN says President Maduro of Venezuela is directing security agencies to arrest and torture political opponents. Abuses are also rife in the south, where gold mining profits have put a target on the backs of indigenous peoples.
Source: DW
China rallies support over Xinjiang report
14/9/2022: In a statement backed by 20 other countries, China has attacked a UN report on alleged abuses in Xinjiang. The current session of the Human Rights Council is mulling a possible historic motion against China.
Source: CNA
50 million people in modern slavery
12/9/2022: UN agencies report that 50 million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, an increase of 10 million since 2016. More than half of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries.
Source: UN News
UK government heads to court over refugee expulsion plan
8/9/2022: The UK government is appealing to the Royal Courts of Justice in London to rule that its controversial plan to expel potential refugees to Rwanda should be allowed to proceed. The UK advocacy director at Human Rights Watch is interviewed about the ramifications of the hearing.
Source: Human Rights Watch
UK Prime Minister Truss should end assault on rights
6/9/2022: Human Rights Watch calls on the UK's new Prime Minister to halt the systematic destruction of freedoms engineered by her predecessor. Boris Johnson’s government made Britain a less open, fair, and democratic society.
Source: Human Rights Watch
UN report finds serious human rights violations in Xinjiang
31/8/2022: Michelle Bachelet, the departing UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, has finally published her investigation into treatment of ethnic minorities by the Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It concludes that the extent of arbitrary detentions against Uyghur and others may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.
Source: UN News
By failing Afghan women, we are failing women everywhere
24/8/2022: In August 2021 Afghan women leaders were excluded from the peace process and subsequently abandoned to the misogyny of the Taliban. Other oppressive regimes of the world are aware that a year has passed with no meaningful action taken by the international community.
Source: Devex