Human Rights

Eleanor Roosevelt holds an English version poster of the Universal Declaration Human Rights (November 1949).
UN Photo

Compelling moments from 2015, told by UN human rights experts

9 December 2015
Global

Every year, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly hears from dozens of experts on human rights-related issues. The experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back, in an unpaid capacity, on specific human rights themes. The work of the experts, 54 of whom presented their latest findings over the past two months, covers all human rights – civil, cultural, economic, political, and social.

Photo: UNAIDS/D. Gutu
UNAIDS/D. Gutu

UN experts call on Iran to release journalist Jason Rezaian as he awaits verdict

14 August 2015
Middle East

United Nations human rights experts today urged the Iranian Government to immediately release the Washington Post’s correspondent in Tehran, Jason Rezaian, who now awaits verdict after his fourth and possible final hearing earlier this week.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.
UNIFEED

Condemning new death sentence, UN rights chief highlights alarming use of capital punishment in Iran

5 August 2015
Asia Pacific

The top United Nations human rights official today expressed alarm at the imposition of the death penalty on Mohammad Ali Taheri, the founder of a spiritual movement, writer and practitioner of alternative medicine theories used in Iran and abroad.

Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed.
Jean-Marc Ferré

UN rights experts call on Iran to end death penalty

8 May 2015
Asia Pacific

Two United Nations human rights experts have condemned the sharp increase in executions across Iran in recent weeks, urging the Government in Tehran to heed the Organization's appeal for an immediate halt on the use of the death penalty.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein.
UNIFEED

Malaysia’s anti-terror and sedition laws ‘curtail’ human rights, warns UN rights chief

9 April 2015
Asia Pacific

A series of amendments to Malaysia’s 1948 Sedition Act risk seriously undermine freedom of expression and opinion throughout the country, the top United Nations human rights official warned today as he urged the Asian state to bring its legislation in line with international human rights standards.

Photo: UNAMI
UNAMI

Thailand must end ‘criminalization’ of dissenting voices – UN expert

1 April 2015
Asia Pacific

A United Nations human rights expert has urged the Government of Thailand to immediately and unequivocally distance itself from the “intimidating” statements made by its leader, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, in which he threatened the freedom and lives of the country’s journalists.

Details from the permanent memorial in acknowledgement of the tragedy and in consideration of the legacy of slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

Ark of Return: UN erects memorial to victims of transatlantic slave trade

25 March 2015
Global

The bravery of millions of victims of the transatlantic slave trade, who suffered unspeakable injustice and finally rose up to end the oppressive practice, was permanently enshrined today as the United Nations unveiled a memorial at its New York headquarters, on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Entitled the Ark of Return, and designed by American architect Rodney Leon, of Haitian descent, the memorial aims to underscore the tragic legacy of the slave trade, which for over four centuries abused and robbed 15 million Africans of their human rights and dignity, and to inspire the world in the battle against modern forms of slavery, such as forced labour and human trafficking.

Rodney Leon, architect and designer of 'Ark of Return' the Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

FEATURE: Architect of UN slavery memorial explains ‘The Ark of Return’

25 March 2015
Global

This year’s commemoration of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade will have particular significance at United Nations Headquarters in New York, where six years of work to establish a permanent memorial to honour the victims pays off with the unveiling today.

Details from 'Ark of the Return,' the permanent memorial in acknowledgement of the tragedy and in consideration of the legacy of slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

UN to unveil permanent memorial in New York honouring victims of transatlantic slave trade

24 March 2015

A permanent memorial to honour the victims of one of the most horrific tragedies of modern history will be revealed at United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, when the world marks the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran Ahmed Shaheed briefs the press.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Iran: UN experts urge ‘immediate halt’ over scheduled execution of juvenile

18 February 2015
Middle East

The Government of Iran must comply with its international human rights obligations and immediately halt its planned execution of a juvenile offender, two United Nations human rights experts urged today.