Thursday, 13 May 2021, 6:26 am
GENEVA (12 May 2021) – As powerful actors in the
current fragile and deteriorating context in Myanmar,
businesses must uphold their human rights responsibilities
and put pressure on the military junta to halt grave human
rights violations, UN experts said today.
The coup of
1 February has placed businesses with operations or business
relations in Myanmar in a challenging situation. While some
businesses have reiterated their public support for the rule
of law and human rights, and cut ties with the junta, many
continue to engage in business with the military as if
nothing has happened, they said.
As the military junta
Tuesday, 13 April 2021, 6:29 am
GENEVA (12 April 2021) – A UN expert called on the
Government of Lao PDR to immediately release three human
rights defenders who have been detained for more than five
years, saying their continued imprisonment was an impediment
to the advancement of human rights in the South-East Asian
nation.
A court in the capital, Vientiane, sentenced
Ms. Lodkham Thammavong, Mr. Soukane Chaithad and Mr.
Somphone Phimmasone to prison terms of up to 30 years in
2017 after they took part in a demonstration outside the Lao
Embassy in Thailand to express concerns over the
government’s human rights record. The three, who were
GENEVA (1 April 2021) – UN human rights experts today called on Belarus to end the continued pattern of excessive use of force, arrests, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment against protesters and the repression of journalists and media personnel. .
Friday, 2 April 2021, 7:54 am
GENEVA (31 March 2021) UN human rights experts today
urged the Indonesian Government to respect human rights and
the rule of law amid reports that a US$3 billion tourism
project on Lombok island has involved aggressive land grabs,
forced evictions of Sasak indigenous peoples, and
intimidation and threats against human rights
defenders.
“Farmers and fisher folks have been
expelled from their land and have endured the destruction of
their houses, fields, water sources, cultural and religious
sites, as the Government of Indonesia and the ITDC
(Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation) groomed
Mandalika to become a ‘New Bali’,” said Olivier De
Friday, 2 April 2021, 7:56 am
GENEVA (31 March 2021) – A group of UN experts
today expressed alarm at the increased recruitment and use
of private military and foreign security contractors by the
Government of Central African Republic, and their close
contacts with UN peacekeepers.
The Working Group on
mercenaries said they were deeply disturbed by the
interconnected roles of Sewa Security Services,
Russian-owned Lobaye Invest SARLU, and a Russian-based
organisation popularly known as the Wagner Group. In
particular, they expressed concerns about their connections
to a series of violent attacks that have occurred since the
presidential elections on 27 December 2020.
In
addition, the experts said they were disturbed to learn of