5 months ago
MORNING - Human Rights Council Adopts Universal Periodic Review Outcomes of Belarus, Libya and Malawi
16 March 2021
Meeting Summaries
Begins Consideration of Universal Periodic Review Outcome of Panama
The Human Rights Council this morning adopted the Universal Periodic Review outcomes of Belarus, Libya and Malawi. It also began its consideration of the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Panama.
Speaking on the Universal Periodic Review outcome of Belarus were Ethiopia, Germany, India, Iran, Lithuania, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Syria, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Venezuela.
The following civil society…
5 months ago
New Permanent Representative of Bolivia presents credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva
16 March 2021
Presentation of Credentials
Maira Mariela Macdonal Alvarez, the new Permanent Representative of Bolivia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Macdonal Alvarez had been serving as an advisor in the office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bolivia since 2020, after serving as Chief of Cabinet of the Minister in 2019. In 2018 and 2019,…
5 months ago
New Permanent Representative of Lesotho presents credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva
16 March 2021
Presentation of Credentials
Thabang Matjama, the new Permanent Representative of Lesotho to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Matjama had been working as a public relations officer at the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, Mokhotlong since August 2016, after working as a public relations assistant there from May 2014 to July 2016. He…
5 months ago
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Keep mothers and newborns together, new health research says
16 March 2021
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, highlighted the risks of separating newborns from mothers, with new research showing that up to 125,000 lives could be saved by keeping them together to ensure skin-to-skin contact.
In many countries, if COVID-19 infections are confirmed or suspected, newborn babies are being routinely separated from their mothers, putting them at higher risk of…
5 months ago
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Syria’s decade of conflict takes massive toll on women and girls
16 March 2021
This week, Syria marks a grim anniversary: 10 years since the start of the country’s grinding conflict. Today, one decade into the catastrophe, about half the country’s population has been uprooted, with some 12 million people internally displaced or living as refugees.
Atop the persistent insecurity, Syrians are also enduring the COVID-19 pandemic and worsening economic conditions – all of…
5 months ago
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Myanmar: UN rights office ‘deeply disturbed’ over intensifying violence against protesters
16 March 2021
The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday it is “deeply disturbed” that the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Myanmar “continues to intensify”, with a soaring death toll on the streets, increasingly aggressive use of lethal force, arbitrary arrests, and reports of torture in custody.
At least 11 people were killed on Monday and 57 over the weekend, marking…
5 months ago
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Independent UN expert says ‘tsunami of hate’ targeting minorities must be tackled
15 March 2021
Social media has too often been used with “relative impunity” to spread hate, prejudice and violence against minorities, an independent UN human right expert said on Monday, calling for an international treaty to address the growing scourge.
“The Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers, it started with hate speech against a minority”, warned Fernand de Varennes, the UN…
5 months ago
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COVID-19: WHO and European Medicines Agency to meet on AstraZeneca vaccine
15 March 2021
Health officials from the UN and the European Union will meet this week on the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine after several more countries suspended its use, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
Agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists that WHO’s Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety has been reviewing available data on the vaccine and will…
5 months ago
AFTERNOON - Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Says a Treaty Is Needed to Regulate Hate Speech in Social Media, with a Focus on Hate against Minorities
15 March 2021
Meeting Summaries
The Human Rights Council this afternoon held an interactive dialogue with Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, who echoed the words of the Secretary-General that the world faces a veritable tsunami of hatred and xenophobia. He said a treaty was needed to regulate hate speech in social media, and this must in particular focus on the most prevalent and harmful forms of hate – and that was hate against minorities.
Presenting his thematic report on hate speech,…
5 months ago
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Syria: Grim 10-year anniversary of ‘unimaginable violence and indignities’
15 March 2021
As the Syrian war reaches its grim decade-long milestone, the UN envoy for the country told the Security Council on Monday that it will “go down as one of the darkest chapters in recent history” referring to the Syrian people as among “the greatest victims of this century”.
“I want to commemorate Syrian victims and remember Syrian suffering and resilience in the face of…
