Human Rights Council Addresses Discrimination, Conflict, and Children

From March 2 to 27, the United Nations Human Rights Council is holding its 28th regular session in Geneva, Switzerland. The agenda includes high-level panel discussions, interactive dialogues with special procedures, debates on racial discrimination and on the rights of persons with disabilities, and the consideration of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) outcomes. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner

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CEDAW Committee Reviews 8 States’ Women’s Rights Records

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) is holding its 60th session from February 16th to March 6th in Geneva, Switzerland. The Committee is reviewing State reports from Azerbaijan, Denmark, Ecuador, Eritrea, Gabon, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, and Tuvalu regarding their implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

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African Court Addresses Freedom of Expression in Burkina Faso, in Landmark Judgment

For the first time in its eight-year tenure, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court) has directly considered the right to freedom of expression, and the validity of legislation that criminalizes defamation. The case, Lohé Issa Konaté v. Burkina Faso, involved a journalist’s conviction, imprisonment, and substantial fine in connection with his reporting. [AfCHPR Press Release] In

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Country-Specific Special Procedures

The special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent experts responsible for reporting and providing recommendations on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective. Learn more about the 45 thematic special procedures here. The 13 country mandates are described below. Each special procedure’s responsibilities are defined in the Human Rights Council resolution(s) that create or extend its mandate,

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UN Human Rights Council Holds 18th Session of the Universal Periodic Review

From January 27 to February 7, the Human Rights Council is holding its 18th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group, to examine the human rights practices of 14 States through an interactive dialogue. [OHCHR]  In order of scheduled review, the 14 States are: New Zealand, Afghanistan, Chile, Cambodia, Uruguay, Yemen, Vanuatu, Macedonia, Comoros, Slovakia, Eritrea, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam.

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Asylum & the Rights of Refugees

  OVERVIEW States have been granting protection to individuals and groups fleeing persecution for centuries; however, the modern refugee regime is largely the product of the second half of the twentieth century. Like international human rights law, modern refugee law has its origins in the aftermath of World War II as well as the refugee crises of the interwar years

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Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Court of Justice

The COMESA Court of Justice is the judicial organ of a regional economic community, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and is charged with settling disputes arising under the COMESA Treaty between COMESA’s Member States, Secretary General, individuals, and corporations. The COMESA Court of Justice does not have general competence to hear individual complaints of alleged human

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News Clips – June 13, 2010

Physicians for Human Rights has published a report documenting illegal experimentation and torture by CIA medical personnel in the “war on terror”.  The report is available here.  Following the paper’s publication, PHR and other organizations filed a formal complaint before the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Human Research Protection against the CIA. [PHR] Human Rights Watch

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