A UN expert said Friday that states and other development actors should ensure individuals and communities can actively, freely, and meaningfully participate in economic development decisions by moving beyond symbolic consultations and sharing decision-making power, warning that development cannot be inclusive or sustainable without public participation. UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development Surya [...]

The US Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC)  on Friday ordered the deportation of an Afghan woman, after she reached an agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), waiving her right to appeal. Nazira Haji Zada, accused of assisting her son and son-in-law in planning a foiled 2024 terror plot, admitted that she was an “alien [...]

Amnesty International announced Saturday that Guatemala’s judiciary has closed criminal proceedings against four Indigenous leaders who had been charged over their role in protests during the country’s October 2023 national strike, hailing it as a victory for the right to freedom of assembly. Commending the decision by Guatemala’s Third Penal Court, Astrid Valencia, Amnesty International’s [...]

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 [...]

A federal appeals court in Boston on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s request to remove an injunction barring the US Postal Service (USPS) from implementing the rule restricting the issuance of mail-in ballots, affirming a decision from a lower district court. The injunction, issued at the end of August by US District Judge Indira Talwani [...]