United Nations news in brief: 6 December 2016
Following are brief summaries of some of today’s news stories from around the UN system. Click on the links provided for more detailed coverage.
Kazakhstan: UN experts call for release of imprisoned human rights defenders
Calling on Kazakh authorities to release two human rights defenders who are in prison for having organized peaceful protests in April and May against proposed legal amendments, a group of UN independent human rights experts stressed that free and peaceful exercise of rights should never be criminalized.
Global manufacturing output remains sluggish – UN industrial report
Noting that the world manufacturing output rose by 2.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2016 compared to same period last year, a new UNIDO report cautioned that the uncertainty around political developments in the US and Europe with potential impact on global trade arrangements is likely to create risks to global industrial growth.
UN rights experts call on China to investigate disappearance of prominent lawyer
A group of UN independent human rights experts have urged the Chinese Government to investigate the whereabouts and fate of a prominent human rights lawyer, who represented clients in a number of high-profile cases, including Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetan protesters and victims of the 2008 milk scandal, and has disappeared since 21 November.