Tunisia Allows Individuals and NGOs Direct Access to African Court

Tunisia formally agreed last week to allow individuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to directly access the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) with complaints of human rights violations against Tunisia. Tunisia joins seven other countries that also currently grant the Court the same jurisdiction. [AfCHPR Press Release] The government of Tunisia hosted a delegation of the AfCHPR in

Read more

Refugee Crisis Reaches New Peak amid Ongoing Conflicts, Islamophobic Policies

In 2016, more than 65 million people were estimated to be refugees or internally displaced persons  – the highest number in history. [World Economic Forum] Many of the migrants who are fleeing their countries are unable to permanently resettle for a number of reasons, including the global underfunding of refugee support programs and national policies motivated by Islamophobia or isolationism.

Read more

António Guterres Assumes UN Secretary General Office, Calls for Peace

The new United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, recently appealed to Member States to join him in committing to ensuring and sustaining peace and has further called for a holistic approach to the UN’s work through close coordination between the UN’s three pillars: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights policies. Guterres, who assumed office on January 1, 2017,

Read more

ACHPR Considers Draft Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has prepared a draft of its forthcoming Guidelines on Freedom of Association as Pertaining to Civil Society and Guidelines on Peaceful Assembly (Draft Guidelines) to be presented at its 59th Ordinary Session, which began this week in Banjul, the Gambia. [ACHPR: Explanatory Note; ACHPR Press Release] The Study Group on Freedom

Read more

UN Experts, ACHPR Call for Investigation into Violence in Ethiopia

In response to the continued suppression of protests in Ethiopia, international and regional human rights bodies as well as political figures have voiced their concerns and called for investigations into the government’s use of force. These observers question police tactics against anti-government peaceful protesters, who have been demonstrating during the last year against the expansion of the capital’s borders and

Read more

News Clips – August 26, 2016

Civil Society A member of the United Democratic Party, an opposition political party in Gambia, died while in detention last Saturday, prompting the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn the death and conditions of detention. [UN News Centre] The Ethiopian government announced this week that it will not prosecute the Olympic athlete who publically

Read more

Human Rights Bodies Address Homophobia, Gun Violence after Orlando Attack

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Security Council, and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have urged States to address homophobia, gun violence, and terrorism in the wake of the recent nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. [OHCHR Press Release; UN Press Release; IACHR Press Release] Early Sunday morning on June 12, 2016 Omar

Read more

OHCHR: Restricted Movement, Torture, Disappearances Ongoing in Ukraine Conflict

A recent report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shows that human rights conditions in eastern Ukraine remain precarious two years after the outbreak of conflict there, in view of recent violence in the Donetsk region, increasing militarization near the front line, and continuing rights abuses by both sides in the battle between

Read more