On July 17, 2017, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released its mid-year report on the situation of civilians in Afghanistan, revealing that the level of civilian casualties remains high. [UNAMA Press Release] UNAMA confirmed a total of 5,243 civilian casualties (1,662 deaths and 3,581 injured) from January 1 to June 30, 2017, which represents a decrease of
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On July 5, 2017, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) selected Soledad García Muñoz to be the first Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (ESCER). [IACHR Press Release: Muñoz (in Spanish)] The mandate of the newly established Rapporteurship is to promote, protect, and defend economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights in the Americas by addressing issues
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The United Nations Human Rights Council created or extended 11 special procedure mandates during its 35th regular session through the adoption of resolutions, including one that created the Special Rapporteur on the elimination of discrimination against persons affected by leprosy and their family members. During the session, held from June 6 to June 23, 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Human Rights
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Civil Society On Tuesday, Amnesty International joined a boycott protesting the mandatory reporting rules for foreign-funded groups recently put into force in Hungary. [Washington Post] On Monday, Mexican reporter Salvador Adame was found dead in Mexico; seven journalists have been murdered in the country this year. [Guardian] Over the weekend, police forces in Istanbul, Turkey detained 44 people attending LGBT
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The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Catalina Devandas Aguilar, has become the first UN Human Rights Council independent expert to conduct a country visit to North Korea. [OHCHR Press Release: Announcement] The visit, which took place from May 3–8 at the invitation of the North Korean government, served as an opportunity for the Special
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While celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) at the recently concluded sixteenth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), participants also discussed the particular issues that continue to affect indigenous populations around the globe, including land dispossession and violence. During the recent session, regional and universal
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The European Commission, a body of the European Union, adopted a proposal to endorse the European Pillar of Social Rights that sets out 20 key principles and rights aimed at improving working and living conditions of persons within the EU, focusing specifically on labor markets and welfare systems. The principles and rights in the Pillar draw on already existing law
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International Criminal Law The Colombian Senate voted to approve the establishment of a court with jurisdiction over war crimes, fulfilling one part of the recent peace deal with the FARC. [VOA] A court in Poland issued an arrest warrant for a man living in the United States for war crimes committed during World War II. [Washington Post] Civil Society After
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Ahead of International Women’s Day, the African Union in conjunction with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and UN Women launched the inaugural report of a planned series concerning the human rights of women in Africa; the report indicates that while women’s participation in politics has increased, women’s rights and equality are severely lacking
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In recently published country reports on Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, and Luxembourg, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) found several areas in which migrants, Roma communities, LGBTI persons, and other minorities are susceptible to discrimination and unequal treatment. [COE Press Release: ECRI] In each report, the ECRI – an independent human rights body of the Council of Europe
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