United Nations Human Rights Council

NHRC notice to Centre over 'anti-labour practices' at MNC campus in Haryana

The NHRC has issued a notice to the Centre over reported "anti-labour practices" at one of the warehouses of a multinational company in Haryana's Manesar, officials on Wednesday said. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has observed that the content of the news report, if true, raise a serious issue of human rights of the workers in violation of the labour laws and the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment from time to time. The NHRC in a statement said that it has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that at one of the warehouses of a multi-national company in Haryana's Manesar "a 24-year-old worker was asked to pledge that they would not take toilet or water breaks until they finished unloading packages from six trucks, each measuring 24 feet long, after their team's 30-minute tea break had ended". "A female employee at the Manesar warehouse reportedly stated that no restroom facilities are available on the working sites," it ...

UN, aid group leaders urge release of 17 staffers held by Yemen's rebels

The heads of six UN agencies and three international humanitarian organisations issued a joint appeal Thursday to Yemen's Houthi rebels for the immediate release of 17 members of their staff who were recently detained along with many others also being held by the Iranian-backed group. Their appeal was echoed by a statement from several dozen nations and the European Union ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Yemen where UN special envoy Hans Grundberg said the Houthis were holding all those detained in the crackdown incommunicado. The Houthis said Monday they had arrested members of an American-Israeli spy network, days after detaining the staffers from the UN and aid organisations. Major General Abdulhakim al-Khayewani, head of the Houthis' intelligence agency, announced the arrests, saying the spy network had first operated out of the US Embassy in the capital Sanaa. After it was closed in 2015 following the Houthi takeover of Sanaa and northern Yemen, he said, they continued

Sri Lanka strongly rejects UN rights report on enforced disappearances

Sri Lanka has questioned the timing and the mandate of a report issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) this week in which it asked the country's government to ensure accountability for enforced disappearances during the armed conflict with the LTTE. The OHCHR report issued on Friday said Sri Lanka's Government must take meaningful action to determine and disclose the fates and whereabouts of tens of thousands of people who have been subjected to enforced disappearance over the decades and hold those responsible to account. According to the Sri Lankan foreign ministry officials, the ministry would officially write to the OHCHR on its unilateral action to issue a report, particularly its timing. Sri Lanka was irked by the timing -- a day ahead of plans by the Tamil diaspora and kith and kin in the country of those who died during the final battle of the government's war with the LTTE in May 2009 to commemorate the dead. Events were held

Indian American lawmakers stress on conversation over human rights

: Reiterating that they would continue to raise the issue of human rights in India with its leadership, Indian American lawmakers on Thursday, however, said that lecturing New Delhi on this issue is unlikely to work and they favoured entering into a conversation with the Indian leadership on their concerns with them. India was colonized for over 100 years. So, when we're having a conversation about human rights, and you're having a conversation with (External Affairs Minister S) Jai Shankar or someone else, you have to understand that just coming in from a perspective of lecturing India. When they say that we've had colonial powers lecture us for hundreds of years is not going to be productive, Congressman Ro Khanna told members of the Indian American community during the Desi Decides Summit of Indian American Impact. Khanna, who is also co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, was joined by three other Indian American lawmakers -- Shri Thanedar, Pramila Jayapal and Dr Ami Bera --

UN appeals for $2.8 bn to help 3 mn Palestinians who need food, aid

The United Nations appealed for USD 2.8 billion on Tuesday to provide desperately needed aid to 3 million Palestinians, stressing that tackling looming famine in war-torn Gaza requires not only food but sanitation, water and health facilities. Andrea De Domenico, the head of the UN humanitarian office for Gaza and the West Bank, told reporters that massive operations are required to restore those services and meet minimum standards and this can't be done during military operations. He pointed to the destruction of hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, homes, roads and schools, adding that there is not a single university that is standing in Gaza. De Domenico said Israel's recently-ended second major military operation at Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest medical facility, was so destructive the facility has been forced to shut down. As an example, he questioned what the military objective was in shooting an MRI scanner that examines parts of the body and can detect cancers. He

Pakistan set to launch second phase of repatriation of documented Afghans

Even as confusion prevails about the exact number of undocumented Afghans sent back from Pakistan to their country, preparations are afoot to launch the second phase of repatriation aimed at nearly one million documented' Afghans, a media report said on Monday. The Interior Ministry had already issued directives to district authorities and police to expedite the mapping, and collecting data of the whereabouts of the Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders and given March 25, Monday, as the deadline to complete the exercise, the Dawn newspaper reported quoting documents it had accessed and an official privy to the developments. Pakistan launched the first round of repatriation of what it called undocumented aliens in November last year. No date has yet been announced, but the official said the campaign to repatriate hundreds of thousands of ACC holders could begin in early to mid-summer, following approval from the federal government. We have already started the mapping process, Abid Maje

UN special representative calls on Taliban to reverse restrictions on women

The Taliban has restricted media freedoms and banned women from public places like parks and gyms

UK announces new sanctions on Israeli settlers over 'human rights abuses'

The United Kingdom on Monday announced new sanctions on the four extremist Israeli settlers, who committed alleged human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank

75 years of Universal Declaration of Human Rights: What has it achieved?

The declaration isn't a treaty and isn't legally binding in itself, but the principles it sets out have been incorporated into many countries' laws

World Kindness Day 2023: History, importance, theme, wishes, quotes

World Kindness Day is committed to the act of kindness. The day helps us to remember the strong ripple effect that acts of kindness can have on an individual, a community, and the world in general

'Get us out of this hellhole': SOS messages by UNRWA staff in Gaza

The 13,000-strong staff working with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is terrified and tired and described the situation in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip as a hellhole, a spokeswoman for the agency said. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is the largest UN agency working in the Gaza Strip, both in terms of the size of its operations as well as the number of staff. The 13,000-strong UNRWA staff in Gaza includes teachers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, warehouse workers, logisticians, technicians and drivers. We have a very, very big operation in the Gaza Strip. What we hear from our staff is that they are terrified and they're tired. They want all of this to come to an end and the message that we're getting is: Get us out of this hellhole. This has become hell', UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma told reporters here through video conference on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Touma said the messages of SOS' have

Israel to enable humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza: US Secy Blinken

Blinken noted that Biden will receive a comprehensive brief on Israel's war aims and strategy

UNICEF India head Cynthia McCaffery bats for child-friendly, safe cities

UNICEF India head Cynthia McCaffery has stressed on developing cities that are safe, accessible and friendly for children and youth. Clean air, green spaces and a safe environment benefit not only children but the entire community, McCaffrey said. She participated in the Urban 20 (U20) Mayoral Summit held in Gujarat's Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad cities on July 7 and 8, as part of India's G20 presidency, where discussions were held on the future of cities of the world. "More than 56 per cent of the population currently lives in urban areas. Estimates suggest that 70 per cent of the global population will live in cities by 2050, adding an additional 2.5 billion people to the urban population mostly in Asia and Africa. This means that there will be more than 1.6 billion children living in urban areas by 2050, McCaffery said. Every week, around 1.4 million people move to urban areas worldwide and many of the people will find themselves living in temporary and informal settlements, she ..

Restrictions on women, girls should be removed in Afghanistan: UN

They demanded that the 9international community should closely monitor human rights violations in Afghanistan and pressurize the Taliban to alter their conduct

UNHRC passes resolution on human rights abuses in Sudan, amid conflict

The United Nation's top human rights body adopted a resolution on Thursday that drew attention to mounting civilian deaths and rights abuses in Sudan since a bloody conflict erupted between the African country's two top generals last month. The violence in Sudan has so far killed more than 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands. The fighting has also spread to other regions, namely the restive Darfur province. The Human Rights Council - made up of 47 UN member states - narrowly passed the resolution with 18 states voting for the resolution, 15 against and 14 other nations abstaining. The resolution aims to further scrutinise human rights violations taking place in Sudan since April 15. The fighting in Sudan started as a result of a power struggle between the chief of Sudan's military, Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and rival Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Arab and African nations - including Sudan -

As SC examines the issue, a look at status of same-sex marriages globally

The Netherlands became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage when the Dutch parliament passed a landmark bill in December, 2000 allowing the practise

UN chief Guterres points to 'massive' rights violations in Ukraine

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered the most massive violations of human rights in the world today, the head of the United Nations said on Monday, as the war pushed into its second year with no end in sight. The Russian invasion has unleashed widespread death, destruction and displacement, UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres said in a speech to the UN-backed Human Rights Council in Geneva. After failing to capture the Ukrainian capital in the opening weeks of the invasion and suffering a series of humiliating setbacks in the east and the south during the fall, Russia has stabilised the front and is concentrating its efforts on a slow push to capture the rest of the Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas. Ukraine, meanwhile, hopes to use battle tanks and other new weapons pledged by the West to launch new counteroffensives and reclaim more of the occupied territory. He said attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure have caused many casualties

UN chief Guterres slams 'climate-wrecking' firms at human rights body

UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres on Monday stressed the importance of legal challenges against climate-wrecking corporations" like fossil-fuel producers, ratcheting up his call for the fight against climate change - this time before the UN's top human rights body. Guterres opened the latest session of the Human Rights Council, part of an address that decried summary executions, torture and sexual violence in places like Ukraine; antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and the persecution of Christians; inequality and threats to free expression, among other issues. Guterres also sought to undergird the concept of human rights which have faced "public disregard and private disdain and tie them together with environmental concerns. "Human rights are not a luxury that can be left until we find a solution to the world's other problems. They are THE solution to many of the world's other problems," he said. From the climate emergency to the misuse of technology, the answers to today's cri

World NGO Day 2023: Theme, quotes, history, significance, celebration

February 27 is marked as World NGO Day, celebrated to recognise and honour the objective of contributing to society and these organisations

UN Rights chief urges Taliban to drop work restriction on Afghan women

The United Nations' human rights chief on Tuesday decried increasing restrictions on women's rights in Afghanistan, urging the country's Taliban rulers to reverse them immediately. He pointed to terrible consequences of a decision to bar women from working for non-governmental organisations. Last week, Taliban authorities stopped university education for women, sparking international outrage and demonstrations in Afghan cities. On Saturday, they announced the exclusion of women from NGO work, a move that already has prompted four major international aid agencies to suspend operations in Afghanistan. No country can develop indeed survive socially and economically with half its population excluded," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Trk said in a statement issued in Geneva. "These unfathomable restrictions placed on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans but, I fear, pose a risk beyond Afghanistan's borders. This latest decree by the de f