Law and Crime Prevention

File photo of Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, addressing the UN Security Council.
UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Iran nuclear deal still best way to ensure peace, DiCarlo tells Security Council

30 June 2020

The UN regrets that the future of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is in doubt, but notwithstanding current challenges, that landmark deal is still the best way to ensure that Iran’s nuclear programme proceeds along a peaceful path, the UN’s top political official said on Tuesday.

Many schools in Afghanistan have suffered the effects of long-term conflict.
©UNICEF/Marko Kokic

US sanctions against international court staff a ‘direct attack’ on judicial independence

25 June 2020
Americas

The decision by the United States to authorize sanctions targeting staff at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is “a direct attack to the institution’s judicial independence”, UN human rights experts said on Thursday.

A drone flies over Mount Tamalpais in the United States.
Unsplash/Ian Usher

Digital tools being used to track people as never before, warns UN rights chief

25 June 2020

The internet and new digital tools are being manipulated as never before to infringe on people’s right to free assembly, the UN’s top rights official said on Thursday, in a call for a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology during peaceful demonstrations.

Poppy field.
UNODC

COVID-19’s far reaching impact on global drug abuse

25 June 2020
Global

More than 35 million people around the world now suffer from drug addiction, according to the latest annual report on the scourge, from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released on Thursday, which also analyzes the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic on global drug markets.

A five-year-old girl plays in her family's apartment in Kazakhstan, where UNICEF is working to eliminate domestic violence through home visits.
© UNICEF/Anush Babajanyan

Countries fail to protect a billion children from violence each year, UN warns

18 June 2020

Each year, half of the world’s children – around one billion youngsters – are affected by physical, sexual or psychological violence because countries fail to follow established strategies to protect them, according to a new UN report issued Thursday.

A Pride parade takes place in Marseille, France in 2018.
Unsplash/ Tristan Billet

US Supreme Court ruling ‘extremely positive’ for LGBT community, says UN Rights Expert

17 June 2020
Americas

A UN expert on Wednesday hailed an historic judgement issued by the United States Supreme Court on 15 June that firing a person on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is unlawful.

Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, and Special Adviser and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team to promote accountability for crimes committed by Da’esh/ISIL in Iraq, Karim Khan speak to Baba Sheikh, Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Leader.
George Fakhry/UNITAD

Iraq: UN probe into ISIL atrocities making ‘real progress’, Security Council hears

15 June 2020
Middle East

The special UN Investigative Team probing ISIL atrocities in Iraq is making “real progress,” its chief said on Monday, as it begins to pinpoint the perpetrators of some of the worst crimes committed by the terrorist group during its years-long occupation of large swathes of the country.

Permanent headquarters of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. (file)
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

International Criminal Court oversight chief ‘deeply regrets’ US decision to target officials investigating Afghanistan war crimes

13 June 2020
Global

Responding to the decision of the United States Government to sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials and their family members, O-Gon Kwon, President of the Assembly of States Parties, the body that oversees the ICC, denounced the measures which, he said, undermine the “endeavour to fight impunity and to ensure accountability for mass atrocities”.

Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), briefs Security Council members during the open video conference in connection with the International Criminal Court and Sudan.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

Sudan: Indicted war crimes suspects must be brought to justice – ICC prosecutor

10 June 2020

Buoyed by the surrender of a key Darfur war crimes suspect, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is urging the Security Council to press Sudan to do more to bring other indicted persons – including ex-president Omar Al-Bashir – to justice.

A warrant for the arrest of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, was issued by the ICC in 2007.
UN News/Daniel Dickinson

Arrest of Sudanese war crimes suspect ‘extremely significant’: UN rights chief

9 June 2020

The arrest of Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, commonly known as Ali Kushayb, an alleged former Janjaweed militia leader in the restive Darfur region of Sudan, has been hailed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as an “extremely significant development”.