Wednesday, March 3We Break the News

UN Human RiGHTS

Feb272021 by Ronald KabuubiNo Comments
Joint Press Release by Political Party Leaders

Joint Press Release by Political Party Leaders

AFRICA, EAST AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, HUMAN INTEREST STORIES, INTERNATIONAL, KENYA, Nairobi, POLITICS, UK, UN Human RiGHTS, USA, WORLD
OVER THE last month, Kenyans have witnessed first-hand the majesty and vibrancy of our constitutional democracy. The Building Bridges Initiative Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill was transmitted by the IEBC to all our nation’s 47 County Assemblies; setting the stage for the First Amendment. President Uhuru Kenyatta during a joint Press release by various Political Party Leaders at State House, Nairobi. Present at the presser are party leaders; Gideon Moi (KANU), Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (WIPER), Raila Odinga (ODM), Charity Ngilu (NARC) and Mosses Wetangula (FORD Kenya).  THUS FAR, 42 County Assemblies have considered the Bill. Their affirming voice has thundered across the Republic, in resonance with the desire of all Kenyans to further strengthen our governance ...
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Feb242021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
UN Human Rights Council Hears From 23 Dignitaries as it Continues its High-level Segment

UN Human Rights Council Hears From 23 Dignitaries as it Continues its High-level Segment

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN, UN Human RiGHTS, World Bank
The Human Rights Council in its midday meeting continued its high-level segment, hearing addresses from 23 dignitaries, who spoke about their national efforts to promote and protect human rights, challenges facing the multilateral order, and human rights violations globally. Many dignitaries called for COVID-19 vaccines to be made affordable and accessible to all, especially to the citizens of the poorest nations, and expressed concern over the increasing dissemination of false information about the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Despite the rhetoric of solidarity proclaimed by leaders when this Council met one year ago, the pandemic had accelerated inequalities. Research had found that over 1 billion people could be living in extreme poverty by the year 2030, a quarter as a direct resul...
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Feb242021 by Ronald KabuubiNo Comments
Kenya will remain a strong voice for Africa on the UN Security Council, President Kenyatta says

Kenya will remain a strong voice for Africa on the UN Security Council, President Kenyatta says

AFRICA, EAST AFRICA, HUMAN INTEREST STORIES, INTERNATIONAL, KENYA, Kenyan Parliament, Parliament, Security, UN, UN Human RiGHTS, WORLD
NAIROBI, 23rd February 2021 –President Uhuru Kenyatta has reiterated Kenya's strong commitment to advancing Africa's agenda at UN Security Council especially on matters of climate change and security on the continent. President Uhuru Kenyatta during the Virtual UN Security Council open debate hosted by the United Kingdom on the nexus between climate and security. At the same time, the President rallied the Security Council to support more mitigation and adaptation measures in Africa saying effects of climate change are having adverse socioeconomic impacts on the continent. "As a start, we can recognize that persistent droughts, constant sea level rises, and increasingly frequent extreme weather patterns are reversing economic growth and development gains achieved over decades....
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Feb182021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
07 UPDF PERSONNEL CHARGED WITH CONDUCT PREJUDICIAL TO GOOD ORDER AND DISCIPLINE OF UPDF AFTER ASSALTING JOURNALISTS.

07 UPDF PERSONNEL CHARGED WITH CONDUCT PREJUDICIAL TO GOOD ORDER AND DISCIPLINE OF UPDF AFTER ASSALTING JOURNALISTS.

AFRICA, BREAKING NEWS, EAST AFRICA, INTERNATIONAL, UGANDA, UN Human RiGHTS, WORLD
The military police unit disciplinary committee (UDC) the lower court of the court martial, today 18th February, 2021 has convened and deliberated on its officer and militants who misbehaved and assaulted members of the fourth estate at Prince Charles lane in Kololo Kampala. The UDC presided over by the chairman Lt Col Gai Mpandwa sentenced the following service men to various punishments;1. Capt Jessy Odwenyi2. Cpl Nimusiima Justine3. Pte Wasswa Peter4. Pte Tsame Imran5. Pte Kisakye Victoria6. Pte Opiyo Isaac7. L/cpl Zirimenya KassimCapt Odwenyi were sentenced to 90 days of detention in Makindye military barracks, L/cpl Zirimenya Kassim was also charged with 60 days while Cpl Nimusiima Justine was sentenced to severe reprimand and caution while Pte Kisakye Victoria and Pte Opiyo I...
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Feb112021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
Zimbabwe: Riot police storms the home of Norton MP Temba Mliswa and arrest him as he spoke to reporters and taken to Borrowdale Police Station

Zimbabwe: Riot police storms the home of Norton MP Temba Mliswa and arrest him as he spoke to reporters and taken to Borrowdale Police Station

AFRICA, BREAKING NEWS, UN Human RiGHTS, ZIMBABWE
He was in the middle of a press conference. He had just accused state security minister Owen Mudha Ncube and local government minister July Moyo of using ex-girlfriend Susan Mutami to "defame" him Norton MP Temba Mliswa and his ex-girlfriend Susan Mutami
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Feb62021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
UNHCR and IOM call for improved safeguards for the displaced on the frontlines of climate emergency

UNHCR and IOM call for improved safeguards for the displaced on the frontlines of climate emergency

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), are calling on states to strengthen the protection and assistance of people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change, ahead of a virtual conference co-hosted today, 4 February, with PDD, the state-led Platform on Disaster Displacement, currently chaired by the Government of Fiji, with the Government of France as vice-chair.   The virtual event is held to commemorate the five years since states established three key frameworks to find solutions for people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change– the Nansen Initiative Protection Agenda, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate C...
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Feb52021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
Comment by UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Russia

Comment by UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani on Russia

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, UNDP, WFP
We urge the authorities in Russia to immediately release all those detained for exercising their right to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression yesterday and over the past few weeks of protests across the country. There are reports that the number of people arrested yesterday was as high as 1,400. The Government must ensure that demonstrations are handled in line with its obligations under international human rights law. We are deeply dismayed by the sentencing of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny by a court in Moscow yesterday to imprisonment* for allegedly violating the conditions of a 2014 suspended sentence in an embezzlement case that the European Court of Human Rights had in 2017 already unanimously found to be arbitrary, unfair and manifestly unreasonable. ENDS
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Feb52021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
Iran: UN experts alarmed over execution of Baloch minority prisoners

Iran: UN experts alarmed over execution of Baloch minority prisoners

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, UNDP, WFP, WORLD
GENEVA (4 February 2021) – UN human rights experts today condemned the weekend hanging of Javid Dehghan, an Iranian from the Baloch minority. They fear a disturbing recent increase in executions of Baloch minority prisoners in Iran will continue. “We are shocked that Mr. Dehghan’s execution on 30 January was carried out despite our urgent appeal last week to the Iranian Government to halt it, as well as calls by the UN Human Rights Office and civil society,” the experts said. “We informed the Iranian Government of grave concerns that Mr. Dehghan’s death sentence followed serious violations of his fair trial rights, including claims he was tortured, held in prolonged solitary confinement, subjected to enforced disappearance and forced to confess, concerns that do not appear to have b...
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Feb52021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
US should end use of private, ‘for-profit’ migrant detention centres, say UN experts

US should end use of private, ‘for-profit’ migrant detention centres, say UN experts

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, UNDP, USA, WFP
GENEVA (4 February 2021) – A group of UN experts* welcomed the US decision to stop using privately run federal prisons and urged the Biden Administration to also end outsourcing of all detention centres, including those holding migrants and asylum seekers.“Ending the reliance on privately run prisons for federal prisoners is an encouraging step, but further action is needed,” said Jelena Aparac, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the use of mercenaries. “Given the magnitude of mass incarceration in the US, this decision will benefit only the very small percentage of federal prisoners who are held in private prisons and specifically excludes vulnerable people held in migrant and asylum centres who are at particular risk of serious human rights violations.” The US Department of ...
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Feb52021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
UN report reveals continuing high rate of detainee torture allegations in Afghanistan

UN report reveals continuing high rate of detainee torture allegations in Afghanistan

Afaghanstan, AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, UNDP, WFP, WORLD
GENEVA (3 February 2021) – Almost a third of people detained for security or terrorism-related offences in Afghanistan have been subjected to torture or other forms of ill-treatment, according to a UN report published on Wednesday. The report - jointly published by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights - covers the period from 1 January 2019 to 31 March 2020.* It is based on 656 interviews with men, women and children suspected, accused or convicted of security or terrorism-related offences held in 63 detention facilities across Afghanistan. While the percentage of detainees claiming to have been tortured has decreased slightly compared to the previous monitoring period (2017-2018), the figure remains alarming, with 30.3...
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Feb52021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
Sri Lanka: Experts dismayed by regressive steps, call for renewed UN scrutiny and efforts to ensure accountability

Sri Lanka: Experts dismayed by regressive steps, call for renewed UN scrutiny and efforts to ensure accountability

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, UPDF, WFP, WORLD
GENEVA (5 February 2021) – UN human rights experts* have urged the Sri Lankan authorities to stop rolling back hard fought progress made in recent years on rebuilding democratic institutions, and to press for accountability for past crimes and deliver justice for victims and promote reconciliation between communities.The independent experts published today an assessment of the government’s follow up to some 400 recommendations made following 10 official visits from 2015 to 2019. They called on the Human Rights Council to continue its efforts to increase independent human rights monitoring in the country and to ensure accountability for past crimes. “We are dismayed at the emerging trends setting back the promotion of reconciliation, accountability and human rights, reducing civic space...
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Feb42021 by TUMUTEGYEREIZE WILBERNo Comments
Press Releases | International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Press Releases | International Rescue Committee (IRC)

AFRICA, EUROPEAN UNION, INTERNATIONAL, UN Human RiGHTS, UN Women, WFP, WORLD
Beirut 6 months on: IRC statement Beirut, Lebanon, February 4, 2021 — Six months ago, an estimated 300,000 people were displaced from their homes by the explosions at Beirut Port on August 4 - one third of them children. Over 6,500 people were injured. The IRC is continuing to provide support to help the most vulnerable get back on their feet, but the explosions came at a critical juncture: the economy was already in freefall, COVID-19 had drained the health sector and the country was already hosting large numbers of refugees who had fled the war in Syria. This ‘triple crisis’ quickly turned into a ‘quadruple crisis’, further deepening the suffering of people who had already been pushed to the brink. Today, the needs remain vast, and are continuing to grow. Matias Meier, Country Dir...
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