UN officials spoke at a Security Council meeting on Wednesday, calling for the international community to increase support for Syrian social and political progress amid war in the Middle East. Deputy special envoy for Syria, Claudio Cordone; UN humanitarian affairs official, Joyce Msuya; and good-will ambassador and Syrian Olympic athlete, Yusra Mardini, warned how current violence [...]
Amnesty International on Monday urged tech company Meta to address concerns over harmful online content on Facebook, citing risk of sectarian tensions, discrimination and violence against minority communities in Bangladesh. The rights group described a troubling rise in “misleading and inflammatory content spread in relation to political parties and minority communities.” Alia Al Ghussain, Amnesty [...]
A Belgian court on Tuesday ordered 93-year-old former diplomat Etienne Davignon to stand trial for his role in the 1961 assassination of the first elected prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Patrice Lumumba. Davignon, who was a junior diplomatic intern at the time of the assassination, is the first person to be [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday reported on threats to basic rights posed by China’s new cybercrime bill, and urged the concerned governments to press China to scrap the draft law. China’s Ministry of Public Security published the proposed Draft Law on Cybercrime Prevention and Control in January, and while it addresses legitimate concerns—criminal online activities, [...]
Amnesty International on Tuesday criticized the move by Georgian authorities to summon human rights activist Ucha Nanuashvili for questioning, following his contribution to a report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In a press release, the rights group described the summoning as “a witch-hunt” designed to deter and suppress those who [...]
A report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday warned that over one year, from November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025, Israel’s government accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and “annexation” of large parts of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This has led to the forced displacement of over [...]
Amnesty International said Tuesday that Algerian authorities should immediately reverse the closure of the Algiers office of SOS Disappeared, a human rights group that has long advocated for truth, justice and reparations for families of people forcibly disappeared during Algeria’s 1990s internal armed conflict. The closure was ordered by the Algiers governorate on March 12, [...]
The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday that the escalating hostilities in the Middle East could lead to record levels of food insecurity, and the largest disruption in the global economy and humanitarian efforts since the COVID-19 pandemic. WFP deputy executive director and chief operating officer Carl Skau said: “If this conflict continues, it [...]
The agency UN Women vowed on Tuesday to continue its provision of aid for women and girls in Afghanistan even in the face of stringent restrictions and the ongoing conflict in the region. UN Women Afghanistan special representative Susan Ferguson confirmed: “Despite the restrictions on women and girls and the current conflicts…no matter what, UN [...]
A US federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to effectively shut down Voice of America (VOA) and its parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Writing for the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Senior Judge Royce Lamberth [...]
