Tag Archives: rights

United Nations, United States | AFP | A bid by African countries to delay the appointment of the first-ever UN expert on LGBT rights was defeated on Monday, clearing the way for the investigations of anti-gay violence. A draft resolution demanding talks on the legality of the new expert’s mandate …

Paris, France | AFP | Burundi’s brutal regime has set the small central African country on a “descent into hell”, a prominent human rights group said Tuesday, warning of the risk of genocide. “Since April 2015, when large popular protests broke out against the decision of President Pierre Nkurunziza to …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP |  Sudanese security agents seized all copies of three newspapers Sunday, a journalists’ association said, just days after they covered a fuel price hike in reports seen as critical of the government. Members of the powerful National Intelligence and Security Service, or NISS, took copies of …

United Nations, United States | AFP | African countries on Friday demanded that the appointment of a new UN expert on LGBT rights be suspended, saying his mission to report on anti-gay violence had nothing to do with human rights. The UN Human Rights Council in late September appointed international …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Uganda told the UN rights council on Thursday that it does not “tolerate” discrimination based on sexual orientation, a claim directly undermined by the government’s widely condemned record on gay rights. Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa also blamed British colonialism for laws that remain on Uganda’s …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP |  Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, which advises the cabinet, has turned down a proposal to study the issue of women’s driving, a Shura member told AFP on Wednesday. The kingdom has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women, and is the only country where …

United Nations, United States | AFP | Russia on Friday failed to win re-election at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a vote rights groups said reflected international disapproval of Moscow’s involvement in the war in Syria. The UN General Assembly elected Hungary and Croatia instead to represent eastern …

Washington, United States | AFP | The US Supreme Court said Friday that it will decide which bathrooms should be used by transgender people, a highly sensitive question with national political resonance. The case involves 17-year-old Gavin Grimm, who was born a female but identifies as a male. Grimm filed …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  Former British prime minister Gordon Brown on Thursday called for a war crimes investigation of the deadly strike on a school in Syria that killed 22 children. “This is the worst assault on school children among 98 separate attacks on Syrian schools in …

United Nations, United States | AFP |  Burundi on Thursday formally notified the United Nations of its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, dealing a blow to the tribunal seen as a pillar of international justice. South Africa was the first to take the formal step at the United Nations …