Law and Crime Prevention

A billboard in Namibia, which calls on everyone to neither offer nor accept bribes.
World Bank/Philip Schuler

We cannot allow corruption to infest COVID-19 recovery, UN chief says

9 December 2020
Global

Corruption has thrived under the coronavirus pandemic and anyone involved in graft must be prevented from exploiting the rollout of new vaccines, the UN Secretary-General has said.

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.  

Wreckage of suicide car bomb in Mogadishu. (file)
UN Photo/Stuart Price

New global hub to study factors driving radicalization and violent extremism

7 December 2020
Global

A new UN office in Doha will advance research into the factors that drive violent extremism and terrorism, the Organization’s counter-terrorism chief Vladimir Voronkov said on Monday during the soft launch held online. 

A sign reads 'stop hurting us' as protesters take to the streets in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, over the disputed presidential election.
Kseniya Halubovich

Belarus: End ongoing human rights violations, UN rights chief urges

4 December 2020
Europe

The human rights situation in Belarus continues to deteriorate, particularly with respect to peaceful assembly, the UN rights chief said on Friday, urging the government to put an end to ongoing violations and “take steps towards a genuine, respectful and inclusive national dialogue”. 

Only in exceptional circumstances and with incontrovertible evidence of intentional murder does international law permit the death penalty. (file)
© UNICEF/Josh Estey

UN experts call for clemency for Lisa Montgomery, as US reschedules planned execution 

3 December 2020
Americas

UN independent human rights experts expressed serious concern on Thursday, after the United States Government rescheduled the execution of Lisa Montgomery for 12 January, just days before new President Joe Biden, an opponent of the death penalty, is due to be sworn in. 

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.