Law and Crime Prevention

A prison cell. (file)
UNICEF/Rajat Madhok

DPR Korea: Impunity prevails in prisons, amid potential ‘crimes against humanity’ – Bachelet

2 February 2021
Asia Pacific

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) is gravely concerned by “credible accounts of forced labour” in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) prison system, according to a new report published on Tuesday. 

A climate change demonstration in Erlangen, Germany.
Unsplash/Markus Spiske

Climate litigation spikes, giving courts an ‘essential role’ in addressing climate crisis

26 January 2021
Global

 A rise in climate litigation cases has made courtrooms increasingly important as a venue for addressing climate change around the world, according to a report released on Tuesday by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). 

A little boy stands on the remains of his family's demolished home in the West Bank. (File)
UNRWA/Lara Jonasdottir

Israel: ‘Halt and reverse’ new settlement construction – UN chief 

19 January 2021
Middle East

Israel’s decision to advance plans for some 800 new settlement units, most of which are located deep inside the occupied West Bank, has sparked the concern of UN Secretary-General António Guterres. 

UN peacekeepers patrol the Menaka region in northeast Mali.
MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko

Mali transition presents opportunity to break ‘vicious circle of political crises’ 

13 January 2021
Africa

 The current political transition period in Mali offers an opportunity to “break out of the vicious circle of political crises followed by coups d'état”, the UN envoy in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday.  

An internally displaced family in Bakassi Camp, Borno State, Nigeria.
OCHA/Eve Sabbagh

West Africa: Democracy ‘a constant process’ top UN official tells Security Council 

11 January 2021
Africa

While elections are one-time events, “democracy is a constant process of deliberation and consultation” where dialogue provides an “important arena for the building of national consensus”, the top UN official in West Africa told the Security Council on Monday. 

Julian Assange is being held in high security Belmarsh Prison in southeast London (not pictured).
Unsplash/Ashley Ross

UN independent expert asks outgoing US president: Pardon Wikileaks’ Assange

22 December 2020
Americas

In an open letter to Donald Trump on Tuesday, an independent UN human rights expert asked the departing United States President to pardon Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. 

Ten years after his first arrest, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains in prison.
Unsplash/Markus Spiske

Independent UN expert calls for Julian Assange’s release, cites prison’s COVID outbreak

8 December 2020
Europe

Amid a COVID-19 outbreak at London’s Belmarsh prison, an independent UN expert appealed to British authorities on Tuesday to release Julian Assange or to place him under guarded house arrest during extradition proceedings to the United States.  

An industrial hemp field in Pitomača, Croatia.
Unsplash/David Gabrić

UN commission reclassifies cannabis, yet still considered harmful

2 December 2020
Global

In reviewing a series of World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations on cannabis and its derivatives, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) zeroed-in on the decision to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs — where it was listed alongside specific deadly, addictive opioids, including heroin, recognized as having little to no therapeutic purposes.

A 12-year-old former child soldier was reunited with an uncle with support from a UNICEF-supported Transit and Orientation Center in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
© UNICEF/Vincent Tremeau

DR Congo: War crimes conviction ‘an important victory’ for justice – UN envoy 

24 November 2020
Africa

Two senior UN officials welcomed on Tuesday the war crimes conviction and life sentencing of an armed combatant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

A visual search for landmines takes place in Mehaires, Western Sahara.
UN Photo/Martine Perret

Landmine toll still high amid concerns over COVID-19 impact on clearance efforts

12 November 2020

Thousands of people continue to be killed and injured every year by landmines and explosive weapons in conflicts around the world, while the COVID-19 pandemic has forced mine-clearance efforts to be scaled back, a  UN-backed civil society report on the issue said on Thursday.