The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, last week urged Kenyan leaders to “calm a volatile political climate” while ensuring the right to peaceful assembly; his statement followed reports of the use of live ammunition against protesters in the wake of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s August 8th re-election. Reports indicate 24 people died due to the
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The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) announced earlier this month that the African Union Assembly adopted the 2040 Agenda for Children, which lays out goals related to the rights of children set to be achieved across the continent by 2040. [ACERWC Press Release] The agenda was developed in consideration of conclusions drawn during
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The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, condemned last week the recent violence and arrests that occurred in response to demonstrations around Venezuela’s election for a National Constituent Assembly – a powerful entity intended to replace the current legislature and rewrite the Venezuelan constitution. The election was reportedly tampered with by the Venezuelan government, prompting
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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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On June 20, 2016, a chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that legislation in Russia banning the promotion of homosexuality, especially to minors, violated three gay activists’ rights to the freedom of expression and the prohibition of discrimination, enshrined in articles 10 and 14, respectively, of the European Convention on Human Rights. See ECtHR, Bayev and
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Civil Society On Thursday, several civil society organizations urged for the prompt and independent investigation into the “barrage of assaults and threats” against human rights lawyers in Pakistan. [ICJ] On Saturday, thousands of protesters in Madrid, Spain marched to demand that the government fulfill its pledge to take in 17,000 refugees. [Al Jazeera] Violence & Humanitarian Crises On Thursday, the
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Last week following the World Day against Child Labor, India ratified two International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions that seek to eliminate child labor, and Thailand ratified one ILO Convention that prohibits labor discrimination. [ILO Press Release: India; ILO Press Release: Thailand; UN News Centre] The first convention India ratified, the ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), requires that States
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On May 10, 2017, Luis Ernesto Vargas Silva was elected by the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) to be one of seven Commissioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), replacing former Commissioner Enrique Gil Botero, who resigned on March 9. [IACHR Press Release: Election; IACHR Press Release: Resignation] Vargas Silva will fulfill the remainder
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Civil Society On Friday, an estimated 11 activists were detained in Moscow while reading aloud Russia’s constitution. [Guardian] On Wednesday, the government in Venezuela announced it will deploy 2,000 soldiers in response to the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators that have been protesting the government since April. [Guardian] Freedom of Expression & Access to Information On Thursday, independent experts from
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Due to “serious concerns” about Turkey’s compliance with its human rights obligations and the erosion of democratic institutions and functions, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided in a resolution issued last week to reinstate Turkey into its monitoring procedure, a process by which PACE ensures Council of Europe Member States are in compliance with their human
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