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.

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.

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.

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.