Human Rights

India must end crackdown on Kashmiri human rights defenders: UN expert

A top UN expert on Friday asked India to immediately end the crackdown on Kashmiri human rights defenders and urged New Delhi to release and close all investigations initiated against them. Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders made this comment days after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) formally arrested jailed Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society programme coordinator Khurram Parvez in connection with its NGO terror funding case. The NIA said the case relates to the terror funding of proscribed terrorist organisations, such as LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, by certain NGOs, trusts and societies based in the Valley. Indian authorities appear to be intensifying the long-standing repression of Kashmiri civil society, Lawlor said. The State must respect its human rights obligations and be held accountable where it violates them," she said in a statement. Parvez has been in prison since his arrest by the NIA in November 2021 for anti-national ...

Significant human rights issues like arbitrary killings in India: US report

India experienced significant human rights issues in 2022, including unlawful and arbitrary killings, freedom of press and violence targeting religious and ethnic minorities, a US report claimed on Monday. Released by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the annual human rights reports of the State Department is a mandatory requirement of the US Congress giving details of human rights status in countries across the world. The latest edition of the annual report slams Russia and China for the massive violation of human rights in these two countries along with some other nations like Iran, North Korea and Myanmar. Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine beginning in February 2022 has resulted in massive death and destruction, with reports of members of Russia's forces committing war crimes and other atrocities, including summary executions of civilians and horrific accounts of gender-based violence, including sexual violence against women and children, Blinken said in the report. In ..

Necessary to include human rights issues in climate policies: NHRC

It is necessary to include human rights issues in climate policies and programmes along with proper funding of social protection schemes to promote local knowledge and assist community-led adaptation to the effects of climate change, the head of India's human rights commission has said. Addressing an international conference on climate change in the Qatari capital Doha, Justice Arun Mishra, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India, said that the human-induced build-up of Green House Gases is causing climate change and raising serious concerns about human rights. He said that climate change causes displacement, loss of property, income and access to essential services like healthcare and education due to which the vulnerable groups suffer the most. "Therefore, it is necessary to include human rights issues into climate policies and programmes along with proper funding of social protection schemes to promote local knowledge and assist community-led adaptatio

NHRC chairperson lauds constructive role of human rights defenders

Human rights defenders play a very constructive role in promoting and protecting human rights, NHRC chairperson justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra said on Thursday. He said this while chairing the first meeting of the National Human Rights Commission's re-constituted Core Group of Human Rights Defenders. NHRC Member D M Mulay and senior officers of the Commission were present on the occasion. Human rights defenders (HRDs) play a very constructive role in promoting and protecting human rights in the country, justice Mishra was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the NHRC. He said the role of the NHRC and the HRDs is complementary to each other. "The HRDs through their work on the ground can see and raise concerns, if any, on the status of the implementation of welfare schemes and human rights situation and help the Commission in the discharge of its mandate," the NHRC chief said. Justice (retd) Mishra said that with technological advancement and internet-aided connectivity, ne

NHRC notice to Maha govt over plight of women engaged in sugarcane cutting

The NHRC has issued a notice to the Maharahshtra government over reported plight of women labourers engaged in sugarcane cutting for many factories in Ahmed Nagar district, officials said on Tuesday

Bangladesh doesn't want foreign interference in internal affairs: FM Momen

"The current government is committed to holding free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections under the Independent Election Commission"

NHRC notice to Bihar govt, state police chief over Saran hooch tragedy

The National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to the Bihar government and the state's police chief over the Saran hooch tragedy in which at least 30 people have died, officials said on Friday. The sale and consumption of alcohol was completely banned in Bihar in April 2016, though its "implementation has been patchy," the NHRC observed in a statement. The Saran hooch tragedy toll rose to 30 on Friday, the biggest since Bihar went dry more than six years ago, and it continued to cast a shadow on the state legislature where BJP members disrupted proceedings in both Houses before staging a Raj Bhavan march. However, unconfirmed reports claimed up to 50 people died by drinking illicitly brewed country liquor. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has "taken suo motu cognisance of the media reports that several people have died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in Saran district of Bihar," it said. The commission has observed that the contents of the media repor

Elon Musk's Twitter disbands its 100-member Trust and Safety advisory group

Elon Musk's Twitter has dissolved its Trust and Safety Council, the advisory group of around 100 independent civil, human rights and other organisations that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform. The council had been scheduled to meet with Twitter representatives Monday night. But Twitter informed the group via email that it was disbanding it shortly before the meeting was to take place, according to multiple members. The council members, who provided images of the email from Twitter to The Associated Press, spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fears of retaliation. Our work to make Twitter a safe, informative place will be moving faster and more aggressively than ever before and we will continue to welcome your ideas going forward about how to achieve this goal, said the email, which was signed Twitter. The volunteer group provided expertise and guidance on how Twitter could better combat

S Korea to hold international forum on N Korea's human rights situation

South Korea's new envoy for the North's human rights, Lee Shin-hwa, plans to serve as a moderator for the seminar

Rajasthan's Dr. Kriti Bharti bags Global Youth Human Rights Champion Award

Rajasthan's Child Marriage Warrior Dr. Kriti Bharti honored with Geneva's Global Youth Human Rights Champion Award

UN economic body accredits 9 human rights, minority groups after US push

After years of delay, the UN body overseeing economic development and social issues voted Wednesday to give nine human rights and minority groups the right to raise concerns and participate in its discussions, overriding objections from Russia, China, India, Arab nations and others. The Economic and Social Council approved a US draft decision giving a green light for the nine groups to get special consultative status with the 54-nation UN body by a vote of 24-17 with 12 abstentions. The United States decided to go to the body's full membership after its 19-member Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, which handles requests for accreditation, deferred action again on the nine groups. The vote accredited Arab-European Center of Human Rights and International Law; Bahrain Center for Human Rights; Coptic Solidarity; Gulf Centre for Human Rights; International Dalit Solidarity Network; and the interregional rights group Man and Law. It also accredited Andrey Rylkov Foundation for

Iran accuses West of 'false human rights gestures', 'inciting riots'

'These officials, who are self-purported human rights defenders, work for the regimes that have "a history of coups, conspiracies, interference'

Taliban becoming more defiant, embracing policies of the past: US envoy

Taliban are becoming more defiant in embracing the policies of the past, US special envoy Rina Amiri has said, condemning the reports of public flogging in eastern Logar province, amid the growing concern over the human rights situation in Afghanistan."This is both appalling and a dangerous sign that the Taliban are becoming more defiant in showing the world that they are embracing the policies of the past. It didn't end up well before & it will once again take the country on a perilous path," US envoy Amiri said in a tweet.Media reports on Thursday said that three women and eleven men, who were charged with moral crimes were publicly flogged in Logar province."Fourteen people, including three women were lashed in the presence of scholars, authorities and people ... for different sins including adultery, robbery and other forms of corruption in a football stadium in Logar (province)," the Supreme Court said on Twitter, as quoted by Reuters.Earlier this month, Taliban supreme ...

Iran in a 'full-fledged human rights crisis,' says UN rights chief Turk

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Turk on Thursday said that a "full-fledged" crisis is underway in Iran amid a crackdown on protesters.He said that Iran is in a "full-fledged human rights crisis" as authorities clamp down on anti-regime dissidents, reported CNN.The Islamic Republic has been gripped by a wave of anti-government protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman detained by the morality police in September allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly.Turk called for "independent, impartial and transparent investigative processes" into violations of human rights in Iran during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council, reported CNN.Authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, with reports of forced detentions and physical abuse being used to target the country's Kurdish minority group.In a recent CNN investigation, covert testimony revealed sexual violence against protesters, ...

Religious freedom, related human rights in India under threat: USCIRF

Religious freedom and related human rights in India are under ongoing threat, the US Commission for International Religious Freedom alleged on Tuesday in an unusual year-end update of the status of its assessment of religious freedom in the country. India has previously rejected the USCIRF's observations, terming them as "biased and inaccurate". The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is a Congressional-appointed body. Its recommendations are, however, not mandatory to be implemented by the US State Department. In its 2022 Annual Report early this year USCIRF recommended that the US Department of State designate India as a country of particular concern for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as set forth by the International Religious Freedom Act. The US State Department has refused to incorporate the commission's recommendations so far. Reiterating its recommendations of early this year, USCIRF argued t

UN human rights ooffice urges Iran to free detained peaceful protesters

The UN human rights office is calling on Iran's government to immediately release thousands of people who have been detained for participating in peaceful protests, faulting its increasing harshness as Western countries seek to ratchet up scrutiny of Tehran's crackdown against demonstrators. Spokesman Jeremy Laurence of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was calling for all charges to be dropped against the demonstrators and cautioned that Iran can only mete out the death penalty for the most serious crimes" under international law amid concerns that some protesters could be facing capital punishment. Instead of opening space for dialogue on legitimate grievances, the authorities are responding to unprecedented protests with increasing harshness, Laurence said at a regular UN press briefing in Geneva. He said at least 10 protesters had been charged with offenses that carry the death penalty including one found guilty of either "waging war against God o

United Nations criticises China's human rights abuses in Xinjiang

'OHCHR found evidence of patterns of torture, forced medical treatments, forced labour, incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, violations of reproductive rights'

Job cuts at Twitter spur concerns about US midterms, human rights

Product and engineering teams were gutted by well over 50%, according to two sources, and other groups - like communications, marketing, human rights and diversity - were almost completely eliminated

India has role in shaping global human rights: UN secretary general

'As an elected member of the HRC, India has a responsibility to shape global human rights, and to protect and promote the rights of all individuals, including members of minority communities'

An own goal: FIFA World Cup and human rights

The rumblings of discontent from Righteous Europe over Qatar's admittedly appalling human rights record can only be viewed as deeply disingenuous and phoney