Human Rights

© UNICEF/Patrick Brown

Child labour figure rises to 160 million, as COVID puts many more at risk 

10 June 2021
Global

For the first time in two decades, the number of children being put to work has risen – to 160 million worldwide, representing an increase of 8.4 million over four years – while millions of other are at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new UN report launched on Thursday. 

UNOCHA/Naomi Frerotte

Protection call for Burkina Faso civilians after terror attack leaves 132 dead

7 June 2021
Africa

Communities in rural Burkina Faso urgently need greater protection from violent extremists, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted on Monday, in response to a deadly assault at the weekend that claimed the lives of at least 132 innocent people.

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Latin America rights groups face growing threats, attacks: Bachelet

6 May 2021
Americas

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Thursday issued an alert over the rising number of threats, attacks and attempts to undermine national human rights institutions, in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Unsplash/Zeg Young

Free press ‘a cornerstone’ of democratic societies, UN says

3 May 2021
Global

The United Nations Secretary-General on Monday urged governments to “do everything in their power” to support free, independent and diverse media, which the UN’s top human rights official highlighted as “a cornerstone of democratic societies”. 

El Origen Foundation

UN chief to Indigenous Forum: ‘Prioritize inclusion and sustainable development’

19 April 2021
Global

Although they represent the greater part of the world’s cultural diversity and speak the major share of its languages, indigenous people are three times more likely to live in extreme poverty, the UN chief told the opening session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues on Monday. 

© UNICEF/Ron Haviv

Prevention is ‘only cure’ to end sexual violence in conflict, Security Council hears

14 April 2021
Global

“Prevention is the best and only cure” to stem the multiple, devastating and enduring consequences faced by survivors of sexual violence in conflict, especially as a brutal tactic of war, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday.  

UN Photo/Violaine Martin

Counter hate-driven movements, Guterres urges, reflecting on genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

7 April 2021
Global

As the world marks the grim anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which Hutu and others who opposed the massacre were also killed, the United Nations Secretary-General called for concerted efforts to defeat hate-driven movements to prevent history from repeating itself. 

UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

‘Racist lie’ must end, UN chief warns on Remembrance Day for enslaved people 

25 March 2021
Global

Although the transatlantic slave trade ended more than two centuries ago, “the ideas of white supremacy that underpinned it remain alive”, the UN chief said on Thursday, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. 

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

UN’s top human rights forum passes resolutions on Belarus, Myanmar

24 March 2021

The UN’s top rights forum passed resolutions condemning abuses of fundamental freedoms in Belarus and Myanmar on Wednesday, in response to ongoing concerns over the human rights situation in both countries.

UN Photo

‘Pernicious evil’ of racism pervasive in ‘all regions and all societies’ – UN chief

20 March 2021
Global

Much of today’s racism is “deeply entrenched in centuries of colonialism and enslavement”, the UN chief said on Friday ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.