Amnesty International on Friday accused Zambian authorities of using administrative powers to silence government critics after the passports of six opposition figures, academics and commentators were cancelled on “national security” grounds. The cancellations immediately rendered the documents invalid for travel and identification, while the government has not publicly detailed the specific security allegations against each [...]

Amnesty International announced Saturday that Guatemala’s judiciary has closed criminal proceedings against four Indigenous leaders who had been charged over their role in nationwide protests during Guatemala’s October 2023 national strike, hailing it as a victory for the right to freedom of assembly. The group, which has advocated for the men since their arrests, welcomed [...]

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) administrator Alexander De Croo on Thursday warned in an interview that frequent drone attacks on the Chernobyl site in Ukraine are “really gambling with the safety of millions of people,” calling for urgent international action to prevent a nuclear catastrophe. Upon visiting the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, and witnessing firsthand [...]

Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran issued a joint report Thursday charging that Iranian authorities are unlawfully executing protesters and political dissidents on a weekly basis. In what is characterized as a “relentless attack on the right to life,” Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed at least 59 men [...]

Amnesty International on Thursday condemned Russia’s recruitment of foreign nationals from socio-economically disadvantaged countries to fight in Ukraine as human trafficking, stating that they were primarily recruited via deceptive job offers, had their immigration status exploited, and were handed over to Russian military forces by third-party actors.  Commenting on the issue, Agnès Callamard, secretary general [...]

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan on Thursday issued a stark warning about escalating violence, entrenched impunity, and grave violations of human rights that pose a threat to the country’s fragile democratic transition. The Commission emphasized that impunity remains a defining feature of South Sudan’s conflict. Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández stated: [...]

The Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Simon Stiell, warned on Thursday that political divisions and treating climate change as a partisan issue risk worsening the current environmental situation as well as the economic toll of climate change on Europe. In a statement to the European Parliament, Stiell asserted that [...]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday urged world leaders to take concrete action and invest in peace, warning that violence, division and conflict are deepening worldwide and that needed dialogue to resolve conflicts is absent. Guterres spoke during the annual Japanese Peace Bell ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York, held ahead of the International [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned Wednesday that worsening repression, poverty and forced returns were deepening Afghanistan’s crisis, criticizing the international community for abandoning the Afghan people at a time when humanitarian funding for the country has sharply declined. Calling on governments to put the lives of citizens first and pressure the [...]

Nepal on Wednesday appealed for emergency assistance from a UN fund designed to help developing countries cope with the effects of climate change. The appeal comes in the aftermath of floods caused by an August 26 glacier collapse on the border with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. UN Resident Coordinator for Nepal Lila Pieters Yahia stated: [...]