Category Archives: HUMAN RIGHTS

UN human rights report cites ‘multiple root causes’ of deadly Chile protests

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13 December 2019
Human Rights
During the recent mass protests which led Chile to declare a state of emergency, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a report published on Friday that international human rights norms had been violated by both police and army personnel, which should be prosecuted.
The 30-page report based on research during the first three weeks of November, extensively details multiple allegations, including torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence by the police against people held in detention.
The leader of the UN mission, Imma Guerras-Delgado, told journalists in Geneva, that the overall management of demonstrations by the police “was carried out in a fundamentally repressive manner.”
When a student protest in October over subway prices turned into a nationwide movement against the Government, peaceful demonstrations swept across the country.
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Unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Mali revealed in new report

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Escalating violence and insecurity in Mali have sparked an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, rendering 3.9 million people in need of assistance and protection – an increase of 700,000 since the beginning of the year, the UN said on Thursday.
Citing a recent report from the NGO Refugees International, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told correspondents in New York that the number of internally displaced people has also jumped from around 80,000 to nearly 200,000 in one year with more than half being children and women.
The data shows that 650,000 people face food insecurity, compared to 185,000 at the same time last year and that number is projected to nearly double to 1.2 million by June 2020.
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Three million undernourished people in Asia-Pacific need to be lifted out of hunger every single month until the end of 2030 to achieve Sustainable Development Goal

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UN agencies warn on the state of malnutrition across the world’s hungriest region and call for nutrition to be placed at the heart of social protection programmes
10/12/2019 Bangkok, Thailand
Three million undernourished people in Asia and the Pacific must be lifted out of hunger each month from now on, if the region is to meet the SDG 2 Zero Hunger goal by the end of 2030, says a new report released today by four United Nations agencies.
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Universal Health Coverage will ‘drive progress’ on 2030 Development Agenda

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11 December 2019
Health
Last September world leaders at the United Nations endorsed an ambitious political declaration on universal health coverage, “reaffirming that health is a human right”, Secretary-General António Guterres said on Wednesday in his message for International Universal Health Coverage Day.
He called the agreement “a significant achievement that will drive progress over the next decade on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and asked leaders to “keep the promise and ensure health for all is a reality for everyone, everywhere”.
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‘World has failed’ victims of genocide too often: Guterres

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9 December 2019
Human Rights
Too often, “the world has failed” populations under threat of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his message for the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of Genocide on Monday.
Marking the day at a round table event, Chef de Cabinet Maria Luiza Viotti spoke on behalf of the UN chief, saying that, genocide remains “a scourge…causing great suffering”.
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Plants, the ‘core basis for life on Earth’, under increasing threat, warns UN food agency

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Plants, which make up 80 percent of the food we eat, and produce 98 percent of the oxygen we breathe, are “under constant and increasing threat from pests and diseases”, the UN food agency, FAO, warned on Tuesday, at an event at the agency’s headquarters in Rome, to designate 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health.

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UN rights chief calls for dialogue to prevent conflict, ease social unrest in Ecuador

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The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Friday denounced the “high human cost”, of the recent unrest in Ecuador and urged all actors in the South American country to engage in dialogue to prevent new conflicts and forge an inclusive society “with full respect for its multicultural nature”.

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