August 15, 2018 No comments
UN rights experts call on Russia to release Ukrainian film-maker whose life is in ‘imminent danger’
INTERNATIONAL, 15 August 2018, Human Rights - A Ukrainian film-maker whose outspoken criticism of Russia’s continued annexation of Crimea has landed him in jail, prompted United Nations human rights experts to call on Russian authorities for his immediate and unconditional release on Wednesday. “We urge Russian authorities to unconditionally release him as a matter of urgency,” the UN experts declared. Oleg Sentsov was arrested by Russian authorities in May 2014 in Crimea, and convicted to 20 years in a Russian prison, as a Russian citizen, on charges of terrorism. The Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia earlier that year, in contravention of international law. In March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on States not to recognize changes in status of the...
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August 15, 2018 No comments
Monsanto lawsuit ruling a ‘significant recognition’ of victims’ human rights, say UN rights experts
INTERNATIONAL, 15 August 2018, Health - The court decision to award nearly $290 million to a terminally-ill man from the United States who claimed his cancer was caused by a herbicide in a commercial weed killer, has been welcomed by two United Nations human rights experts as a “significant recognition” of the responsibilities that chemical companies have to consumers. Special Rapporteur Dainius Pûras. A court in California on Friday ruled that chemical giant Monsanto should compensate Dewayne Johnson, a school groundskeeper, after a jury found the company did not place a warning label on its weed killers, stating that their widespread use could cause terminal cancer. Mr. Johnson, 46, had regularly used Monsato products RoundUp and Ranger Pro in his work, according to media reports. He was...
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August 15, 2018 No comments
Afghanistan: top UN official denounces ‘extreme’ suffering of civilians in Ghazni
INTERNATIONAL, 15 August 2018, Peace and Security - With the death toll rising after days of intense fighting for Afghanistan’s second most populous city, Ghazni, the Head of the United Nations mission in the country (UNAMA) said on Wednesday that the situation was “unacceptable” and called on warring parties to lay down their arms and seek a political solution to the conflict. “The Taliban’s attack against Ghazni city, and the subsequent fighting in densely populated urban spaces, has again caused terrible suffering to civilians caught in the conflict,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, in a statement. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), when the fighting began, about 270,000 residents were trapped in the city, which is located about 150 km south-west of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul. Many...
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August 15, 2018 No comments
INTERVIEW: ‘Defend the people, not the States’, says outgoing UN human rights chief
INTERNATIONAL, 15 August 2018, Human Rights - For four years, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been taking governments across the world to task, exposing human rights violations and robustly advocating for the rights of victims. His appointment by the Secretary-General back in 2014 was a landmark: he became the first Asian, Muslim and Arab ever to hold the post. Before that, Zeid had already enjoyed a long and distinguished career, both at the UN and as a Jordanian diplomat. He served his country in several capacities, notably as Ambassador to the United States, and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, with a stint as President of the Security Council in January 2014. Governments are more than capable of defending themselves....
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August 14, 2018 No comments
Caspian Sea deal an invaluable step towards easing regional tensions, says UN Chief
INTERNATIONAL, 14 August 2018, Peace and Security - António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, has welcomed the historic signing of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, which took place on Sunday, marked by a ceremony which brought together the leaders of the five countries bordering its coastline. The region has been a subject of dispute, ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Up until that time, the Caspian - the largest enclosed body of water on earth - was shared by just two states, the USSR and Iran. Today, Iran has to share it with Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, all of which have different, and divergent, interests as far as the sea is concerned. Furthermore, one major sticking point has been whether...
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