Interviews

Disarmament affairs are more of a marathon than a sprint, and each year towards the end of October, the UN General Assembly’s First Committee meets to discuss the issue of ridding the world of weapons. 

This year, in an interview with UN News, in-house disarmament guru Michael Spies (UNODA) spelled out the dangerous effect in play of rising “international tensions between the United States and Russia”. 

An authoritative UN rights body has issued potentially far-reaching legal opinions on one of the world’s most important human rights documents: the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Some 18 years after the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, the head of a team of UN-appointed experts sees little room for optimism, when it comes to ending racist incidents against people of African descent.

The team is called the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, and its current Chair is professor Michal Balcerzak.

Clean air is key to everyone achieving their potential, not just athletes, reigning marathon world record-holder Paula Radcliffe said on Wednesday.

The international community must not tolerate any more atrocities in Myanmar, and the Government should be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer for serious rights violations, the UN expert tasked with monitoring human rights in the country, Yanghee Lee, has told UN News.

The international community must put human rights ahead of policy changes, when it comes to negotiations with North Korea, which is officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

That’s the advice of the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights for the nation, Tomas Quintana, who says despite denuclearization and peace developments underway, local authorities have not shown “any willingness” to comply with international human rights law and obligations.

Too many states are using legitimate public concerns about terrorism, as an excuse to target individuals or communities they don’t like.

That’s the blunt view of Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, who was at UN Headquarters this week to deliver a report to the UN General Assembly.