rights

Manfred Nowak

UN expert on torture calls on Germany to prosecute Uzbek Interior Minister

19 December 2005
A United Nations expert on torture has called on the German authorities to prosecute Uzbekistan’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Zokirjon Almatov, who is currently in Germany for treatment, after several survivors of torture filed a case against him in the German courts.
Louise Arbour

Secretary-General voices full confidence in UN human rights chief after US criticism

9 December 2005
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has re-affirmed his “absolute full confidence” in United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour after United States’ UN Ambassador John Bolton termed as “inappropriate” statements in which she condemned holding prisoners in secret centres or handing them over to third countries.

Torture not an instrument to fight terror, but an instrument of terror – Annan

8 December 2005
Asserting that torture can never be an instrument to fight terror because it is an instrument of terror, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his annual Human Rights Day message decries the recent trend of countries claiming exceptions to the international prohibition against the practice.
Manfred Nowak

Torture, though on decline, remains widespread in China, UN expert reports

2 December 2005
Torture, though on the decline, particularly in urban areas, remains widespread in China, and Government officials have increasingly recognized the problem and undertaken a number of measures to tackle it, the independent United Nations human rights expert on the issue said today.