human rights

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre

World’s human rights watchdog spotlights Afghanistan, Yemen and 12 others: Here’s the scoop

21 January 2019
Human Rights

The United Nation Human Rights Council (HRC) kicked off its Universal Periodic Review, or UPR, on Monday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to examine the human rights situation in 14 countries, including Afghanistan and Yemen.

World Economic Forum/Valeriano Di Domenico

Human rights are ‘key’ for economic policymaking says UN expert

21 January 2019
Human Rights

Calling on governments to take human rights obligations into account when designing economic reforms, an independent United Nations rights expert said on Monday that “human rights impact assessments are key to the process”.

UN Geneva/Violaine Martin

UN rights chief alarmed over ‘excessive force’, live fire against Sudanese protestors

17 January 2019
Interviews

Reports that Sudanese security agents have used live ammunition and tear gas against anti-Government protesters gathering at hospitals in the capital Khartoum are “deeply worrying”, the UN’s top human rights official, Michelle Bachelet, said on Thursday. Daniel Johnson from UN News spoke to Ravina Shamdasani from OHCHR .

Audio -
6'35"
UN/Elma Okic Edit

Iran: women hunger strikers entitled to medical care, UN rights experts urge

16 January 2019
Human Rights

A group of six independent United Nations rights experts called on Iran Wednesday to urgently provide Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Narges Mohammadi access to appropriate health care, and reiterated calls for their immediate release, as they continue a hunger strike in protest.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

News in Brief 16 January 2019

16 January 2019
News in Brief
  • UN chief calls for deeper efforts to stop widening inequality
  • Countries failing to protect the interests of all their people: UN Human Rights chief
  • 890 people killed western DRC violence: UN Human Rights chief calls for justice
Audio -
3'30"
© UNICEF/UN0149422/Sokhin

News in Brief 14 January 2019

14 January 2019
News in Brief
  • Challenges still abound, 30th years on from landmark child rights treaty
  • The disaster that rocked Haiti nine years ago
  • UN experts plead for life of mentally-ill former police officer
Audio -
3'48"
UNHCR/Hisham Arafat

News in Brief 11 January 2019

11 January 2019
News in Brief
  • Suffering of North Korea’s citizens is unchanged, warns UN rights expert
  • Thousands risk lives to flee fighting in last Syria’s last ISIL enclave
  • Cautious welcome for DRC Ebola decline in cases in epicentre
Audio -
3'40"
UNODC/Alessandro Scotti

News in Brief 7 January 2019

7 January 2019
News in Brief
  • Upsurge in human trafficking, says new report
  • UN Refugee Agency to assess Saudi woman in Bangkok
  • ‘Environmentally-displaced’ people becoming a bigger factor
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3'34"
UNIC/Dar es Salaam

Tanzanian human rights champion for women and girls wins top award

4 January 2019
UN and Africa

They have a saying where Rebeca Gyumi comes from in Tanzania, which sums up the collective spirit of community she grew up in: “I am, because you are”. The drive to champion human rights instilled in her as a girl, came to fruition last December, when she arrived at UN Headquarters in New York, as a recipient of the prestigious UN Human Rights Prize.

Audio -
15'9"
UN Photo

UN News 2018 Recap: In Case You Missed It

25 December 2018
UN Affairs

At UN News, 2018 kicked off with UNICEF’s “challenge” to all nations to make sure more newborns survive their first days of life by ensuring they are protected from treatable diseases as well as having access to proven, low-cost health solutions in their first months.