The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) urged governments Thursday to expand social protection, skills training, and digital and energy access so that artificial intelligence and energy transitions do not widen inequality, according to its World Social Report 2026. UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote in the foreword: “The transformations reshaping our world are [...]

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday reported that at least 31 people have been executed in Libya after unjust military trials since late August 2026. Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, decried the executions, saying: The Libyan Arab Armed Forces are putting people to death after secret trials built on confessions allegedly [...]

Sri Lankan Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra announced on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday that the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia quashed the death sentence of Anojan Sivarasa, a 24-year-old Tamil migrant worker arrested in July over a Facebook comment. On September 17, an appellate court increased his sentence from five years’ imprisonment and a fine [...]

UN experts on Wednesday welcomed a recent ruling by Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) relating to Macro-Case 08, recognizing the responsibility of an Ecopetrol director and several state agents for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious human rights violations. The ruling concerns abuses committed during the armed conflict in Barrancabermeja in the late [...]

Argentina on Tuesday submitted a request to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, seeking an order for provisional measures against the United Kingdom to halt British exploitation of hydrocarbon resources on the continental shelf to the north of the Falkland Islands. The move comes amid an ongoing dispute between the two states [...]

A UN expert on Monday called on states to emphasize and strengthen prevention as the most effective and sustainable means of combating the sale, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse of children. Ai Kihara-Hunt, Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, presented her first report to the General Assembly this week. [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) joined eighteen other human rights organizations on Monday in condemning the Turkish government for escalating internet censorship, stating that the measures were a violation of the right to freedom of expression. In September, İFÖD, Türkiye’s Freedom of Expression Association, reported that 1,270 accounts on X were geo-blocked in Türkiye. X complied with [...]

The Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA) and Football Supporters Europe (FSE) published a joint report Tuesday documenting the failure of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to implement its own human rights policies at the 2026 Men’s World Cup. Frank Conde Tangberg, policy advisor at Amnesty International, commented on the contrast between how the [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted in a press release on Monday that Burundi is set to win re-election to the UN Human Rights Council in a vote on October 13, with no competition. Addressing the effects of the lack of competition on the council’s initiatives to improve human rights conditions worldwide, Louis Charbonneau, UN Director [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday condemned Senegal’s harsh crackdown on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, warning that mass arrests, forced HIV testing and punitive laws are violating basic rights and fueling fear and stigma. The group urged the government to bring to a halt these abuses immediately, especially as Senegal prepares to [...]