Category: Rights
Senegal Gripped by Pre-Election Violence
Growing tensions and violent protests have gripped Senegal ahead of the presidential election. Sunday will be a critical day for Senegalese democracy, as voters head to the polls for a very contentious vote.
Stunning Picture of Oil Pipeline Fire in Syria
Posted moments ago to the Facebook page of the US embassy in Damascus.
UNESCO Gets Some Love from the White House Budget
The FY 2013 Budget has plenty for UN observers to be happy about including an increase to peacekeepers and new hope for a restoration of UNESCO funding.
7 Twitter Users Who Brought us the #Feb14 Bahrain Uprising
It’s been exactly one year since #Feb14 became the online rallying cry of citizens in Bahrain. What’s happened since then and a thank you to the Twitter users who helped us track the uprising and the violent suppression that followed.
5 Videos from the Siege of Homs
The city has been pounded by rocket and mortar fire since February 3. Most estimates put the number of people killed at 500, but no one really knows the true figure. 5 YouTube videos take us inside the destruction.
Did Twitter Cost a Judge his Job at a UN War Crimes Tribunal?
The future of the Khmer Rouge War Tribunal in Cambodia is currently in danger, as is the outcome of ongoing and important Case 002, where the highest-ranking Khmer rouge cadres still alive are being tried—and much of the controversy is swirling around a newly-appointed investigating judge’s fondness for Twitter.
3 Keys To Understanding The Unrest In Senegal
Since January 31, massive protests have been rocking Senegal. What’s happening in Senegal, a “beacon of democracy” in an unstable region? Three keys to understanding the situation.
Map of the Day: South Sudan’s Humanitarian Crises
I just concluded a Google Hangout with WFP spokesperson Judith Schuler who’s currently in Asosa, Ethiopia monitoring the influx of refugees from across the border in South Sudan
#Jan25 One Year Later: The 12 Twitter Users Who Shaped Our Experience of the Egyptian Uprising
We revisit the Twitter users that helped us make sense of the historic #Jan25 moment.
Land Grabs in Cambodia
Human rights in Cambodia have gone from bad to worse in January, prompting Human Rights Watch to issue a damning report on the Southeast Asian nation’s rights slide.
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Syria Envoy; Sustainable Energy for All; The Sahel; Kenya; and more
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday he was working urgently to find a special envoy for Syria who would initially have a humanitarian role but would also seek a political solution for the violence-torn country.Ban, who was asked by the U.N. General Assembly last week to appoint the envoy, told Reuters in an interview that he hoped to select an Arab who would represent both the United Nations and the Arab League.
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SG Travels; Libya; Iran; MDGs in the Asia-Pacific; and more
The Secretary-General will begin a three-nation trip next week that will take him to the United Kingdom, where he will attend an international conference on the situation in Somalia, before proceeding to Zambia and Angola, where he will meet with senior officials. He will also attend the launch of a polio vaccination campaign and meet with young people at a project on water and sanitation.
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Syria; Women and Youth empowerment; Access to contraception; and more
The General Assembly today strongly condemned the continued “widespread and systematic” human rights violations by the Syrian authorities and demanded that the Government cease all violence and protect its people. The text, which was adopted by a vote of 137 in favor to 12 against with 17 abstentions, also called on Syria “to immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against civilians.”
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Syria draft in GA; Somalia; Bahrain; and more
The U.N. General Assembly has scheduled a Thursday vote on an Arab-sponsored resolution strongly condemning human rights violations by the Syrian regime and backing an Arab League plan aimed at ending the 11-month conflict.Similar to the failed Security Council resolution, the assembly draft “fully supports” the Arab League plan floated last month and demands an immediate halt to military operations in Syrian cities and withdrawal of government security forces.
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SG at KPMG Summit; Sudan/South Sudan; Advancement of Women; Madagascar; and more
G Ban Ki-moon today at the KPMG Summit: Business Perspective for Sustainable Growth encouraged more businesses to embrace the principle of sustainability in their strategies, noting that with the most of the world’s ecosystems in decline, widening social inequality and climate change, global prosperity, productivity and stability was at stake. He urged business leaders gathered at the conference to five steps to advance sustainability:
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Syria; Sudan/South Sudan; the Sahel; Haiti; and more
The UN human rights chief today appealed to Member States to act now to protect the Syrian people as the Government’s violent crackdown on peaceful protests continues unabated and the number of dead and injured continues to rise. “The longer the international community fails to take action, the more the civilian population will suffer from countless atrocities committed against them,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the General Assembly.
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Syria; Libya; Haiti; WFP/Horn of Africa
The United Nations and the League of Arab States are considering sending a joint observer mission to Syria, including a joint special envoy, to try to end the crisis engulfing the Middle East country, with SG Ban Ki-Moon warning yesterday that recent attacks against civilians in the city of Homs were “a grim harbinger of worse to come.”Mr. Ban spoke yesterday with Nabil al-Araby, Secretary-General of the Arab League, about how to end the killings and start political negotiations between the Government of President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition.
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Syria; Sudan; Mali; DPKO’s new sexual abuse policy; and more
The UN’s human rights chief today urged the international community to protect civilians in Syria, stating that the Security Council’s failure to agree on collective action seems to have fuelled the Government’s readiness to massacre its own people. According to local sources, as well as independent media reports from inside the city of Homs, the Syrian army has sharply increased the use of tanks, helicopters, mortars, rockets and artillery fire to attack civilian areas, stated a news release issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
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UNCTAD Report; Syria; Libya; UN Refugee Agency; DR Congo
The world needs “a global new deal” to break the mold of economic thought that led to the international financial crisis, the head of the UN agency tasked with promoting trade and development says today. In a newly released report entitled Development-led globalization: Towards sustainable and inclusive development paths, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) urges the international community to take decisive steps towards reforming global finance into a system allowing for more stable and inclusive economic progress.
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Syria; Somalia; World Youth Report; Myanmar; and more
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the escalating violence in Syria today, calling on President Bashar al-Assad’s Government to immediately cease all hostilities against the country’s civilian population.
He also voiced deep regret after Security Council members were unable to agree on Saturday on a resolution backing an Arab League plan to resolve the crisis in Syria, where thousands of people have been killed over the past year since authorities’ crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising.
