Syria: UN experts urge 57 States to repatriate women and children from squalid camps
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GENEVA (8 February 2021) – UN human rights experts expressed serious concerns at the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation at the Al Hol and Roj camps in northeast Syria - home to over 64,000 people, mostly women and children - and urged 57 States whose nationals are held there to repatriate them without delay.
“The number of the countries concerned and the dire humanitarian conditions of the camps highlight the need for collective, sustained and immediate action to prevent irreparable harm to the persons in vulnerable situation held there,” the experts said. “Thousands of people held in the camps are exposed to violence, exploitation, abuse and deprivation in conditions and treatment that may well amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment under international law, with no effective remedy at their disposal. An unknown number have alr
Myanmar coup: UN expert calls for strong international response including sanctions and arms embargo
GENEVA (1 February 2021) – A UN human rights expert today condemned the military coup in Myanmar, urging a strong and unequivocal condemnation and action by the international community.
“I call for the immediate, unconditional release of everyone who has been detained, the restoration of communications and an end to this outrageous and unlawful action,” said Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.
“The ‘state of emergency’ in Myanmar is the military itself. They are guilty of an assault on an emerging democracy and the people of Myanmar. Human rights and democracy champions are in detention and under siege. They need and they deserve the world to be standing with them, which makes a strong international response imperative.”
US must remove sanctions and allow Syria to rebuild – UN expert
GENEVA (29 December 2020) – UN human rights expert Alena Douhan today called on the United States to remove unilateral sanctions which may inhibit rebuilding of Syria s civilian infrastructure destroyed by the conflict. The sanctions violate the human rights of the Syrian people, whose country has been destroyed by almost 10 years of ongoing conflict, said Douhan, UN special rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights. The conflict and violence have already had a dire impact on the ability of the Syrian people to realise their fundamental rights, having extensively damaged houses, medical units, schools, and other facilities, she said.
Spain: Power outages put children s lives at risk in informal settlement – UN experts - Spain reliefweb.int - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reliefweb.int Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
GENEVA (22 December 2020) – A UN human rights expert today issued an open letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, asking him to pardon Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been held in Belmarsh high security prison since his arrest by British authorities inside the Embassy of Ecuador in London in April 2019.
A British court is set to rule on 4 January whether Assange should be extradited to the U.S. to face criminal prosecution and, if convicted, up to 175 years in prison for the publication of secret documents through the whistleblower platform WikiLeaks in 2010. This is the text of the letter from Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: