Former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet has officially been appointed as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, following a vote Friday at the UN General Assembly in New York. The Bachelet announcement was warmly received by UN Secretary General António Guterres, who called her “a pioneer, a…
In Cameroon, more than 160 prisoners escaped early Sunday after a group of armed men attacked the Ndop prison, released its inmates and set fire to the facility in the country’s troubled northwest Anglophone region. The national media agency in Cameroon said that a group they identified as armed secessionists…
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, is appealing to the international community to take serious measures to curb the spiraling ethnic and communal violence in Central African Republic. “Last week’s violence in Bangui demonstrates just how volatile the situation is, and how easily crowds…
In an annual update to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein noted a list of concerns among African nations – and also a few bright spots. The human rights chief noted The Gambia’s announcement of a death penalty moratorium last…
An initiative designed to protect environmental defenders around the world from threats, intimidation, harassment and murder was launched Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Program. The UN Environmental Rights Initiative was introduced in Geneva with guests on hand including John Knox, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment;…
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, head of the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR), plans on stepping down next year because the climate for defending human rights across the globe has muted the power of advocacy in the role. A clearly discouraged yet defiant Zeid notified…
The world on Sunday marks Human Rights Day with observances and events spanning the globe, and the launch of a yearlong human rights campaign in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 2018. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, appealing to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, described stunning levels of human rights violations in the Kasai provinces of Democratic Republic of Congo in a renewed call for an independent international investigation. A UN team deployed to DR Congo…
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has asked the UN Human Rights Council to open an investigation into widespread violations and abuses in the Kasai regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The human rights violations include 42 mass graves documented by UN officials, who say the actual…
The African nations of Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo were top of mind Tuesday during an address by United Nations (UN) human rights head Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Zeid said that amid the world’s escalating crises and the suffering rooted in…
Negeri Lencho of Ethiopia, the country’s information minister, has defended the extended state of emergency in the East African nation and its refusal to allow United Nations officials access to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. Lencho’s comments came during an interview with al Jazeera broadcast Tuesday. “It is the…
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has appealed to South Sudan to investigate both this month’s attacks on Dinka civilians and retaliatory threats now being made against tribal groups from Equatorian states. In the two weeks since the attacks, messages warning Equatorians to leave or be eliminated were…
“Burundi is at bursting point, on the very cusp of a civil war,” said he UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein. Fears are mounting as actions taken by the Burundi government resonate with those who recall the 12-year civil war in the country. However, these…
On Thursday United Nation’s staff learnt that a French soldier had sexually abused a teenage girl who subsequently became pregnant and has now given birth, in the Central Africa Republic. The news comes as accusations increase in the country of abuse by UN peacekeeping troops on civilians. UN High Commissioner…