Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply troubled” by reports of excessive force, arbitrary arrests and possible torture in the suppression of protests over the disputed Iranian presidential elections, in a report to the General Assembly on the country’s human rights situation that was released today.

The first United Nations human rights office in the European Union opened today in Brussels, marking what the world body’s top rights official hopes will be a new era of cooperation with countries in the region.

The United Nations has recently wrapped up a workshop aiming to help civil society organizations in Iraq monitor and report on human rights, as the country prepares to have its rights record scrutinized for the first time by the world body’s Human Rights Council.

A group of United Nations independent experts on mercenaries today voiced concern over the limited scrutiny of private security contractors by the United States Government, calling on greater transparency to prevent impunity for human rights violations.