Conference primer - Human Rights Council: 2023 - HRC53

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The United Nations’ top human rights body on Wednesday approved a Pakistani-led resolution on religious hatred despite opposition from major western countries as well as human rights NGOs, who warned the vote’s outcome risked legitimising religiously repressive countries.
Geneva Solutions, 12 July 2023

The United Nations’ human rights chief on Tuesday condemned the recent burning of a Quran in Sweden and said such actions were fabricated to provoke anger and division.
Geneva Solutions, published 11 July, updated 12 July

The UN and the wider international community can’t let WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange “fall between the cracks” as he faces an imminent extradition to the United States where he is wanted over espionage charges, his wife, Stella Moris-Assange, told journalists in Geneva on Monday.
Geneva Solutions, published 10 July, updated 12 July 2023

Israel has imprisoned more than 800,000 Palestinians in the occupied territory since 1967, including tens of thousands of children, and of the current 5,000 Palestinians in Israeli prisons about 1,100 are being held without charge or trial, an expert has told the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Al Jazeera, 11 July 2023

As the 53rd session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council approaches the finish line this week, the agenda is not expected to show signs of waning. New resolutions will be voted on and a report on technical assistance in human rights presented.
Geneva Solutions, 10 July 2023

The final week of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) second session of 2023 kicks off on Monday, with an agenda touching on prickly discussions on racism and racial discrimination, migration rights and religious intolerance. Countries are also set to be briefed on human rights emergencies in a host of countries.
Geneva Solutions, 10 July 2023

Human rights talks with China were held in Bern. However, at China's insistence, previously invited NGOs were excluded from the dialogue.
Article also available in Chinese.
Swissinfo, 6 July 2023

Switzerland and China have re-entered into dialogue over human rights issues four years after China froze regular talks.
Article also available in Chinese and Spanish.
Swissinfo, 5 July 2023

A UN special rapporteur reminds the council that she alerted them two years ago to the "totalitarian turn" taken by Minsk
Voice of America news, 5 July 2023

Iran is still meting out harsh punishments on people suspected of involvement in mass protests, including "chilling" executions, a United Nations fact-finding mission said Wednesday.
France 24, 5 July 2023

The UN rights body is set to hold an emergency debate after a copy of the Quran was set on fire during an authorised protest near Stockholm’s main mosque last week.
A UN spokesperson in Geneva told Geneva Solutions the discussion would take place on Tuesday 11 July, but the exact time was yet to be determined.
Geneva Solutions, 5 July 2023

On 4 July, the Human Rights Council will hear a report providing recommendations for protocol and standard settings in new technologies. We speak to the head of the team engaging with business and pushing for greater awareness of human rights implications from the fast-evolving sector.
Geneva Solutions News, 26 June 2023

Haut-commissaire de l’ONU aux droits de l’homme, l’Autrichien travaille aux Nations unies depuis des décennies. Doté de fortes convictions sur la puissance des droits fondamentaux, il dénonce avec force les graves violations commises dans le monde.
Le Temps Info, 25 juin 2023

Volker Türk says countries are failing to honor the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
VOA News, 19 June 2023

After its longest-ever session earlier this year, the Human Rights Council, opening again Monday, is expected to be just as busy. But behind the pressing resolutions, reports and discussions scheduled for the next three-and-a-half weeks, diverging perspectives and shifting global interests prevail.
Geneva Solutions, 19 June 2023

Dire humanitarian crises are piling up across the world, yet the United Nations’ human rights watchdog is still strapped for cash, its chief warned Wednesday.
Geneva Solutions, 4 June 2023

International Geneva is an important hub for multilateralism. But it is facing some unprecedented challenges.
Also available in Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, German, Italian and Portuguese
Swissinfo, 16 May 2023

On April 15, 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at the time official military forces in the country. The fighting rapidly spread to other cities and towns throughout the country, including to Darfur in Sudan’s western region and to eastern Sudan.
Human Rights Watch News, 25 April 2023

As the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights turns 75, we look at how it came about and if it is still relevant.
Article available in 10 languages: DE, ES, PT, ZH, AR, FR, RU, JA and IT
Swissinfo, 6 March 2023

L'absence persistante de reddition des comptes pour les violations et les abus commis par les forces russes en Ukraine est profondément préoccupante, a déclaré mercredi le chef des droits de l'homme de l'ONU, Volker Türk.
Nouvelles ONU, 13 juillet 2023

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Thursday called for a swift investigation into the killing of 87 civilians in Sudan following the discovery of a mass grave in West Darfur.
UN News, 13 July 2023

Iran faced calls on Wednesday from top UN-appointed rights investigators to halt the executions of people sentenced to death in connection with anti-Government demonstrations that have continued since the death in custody of Mahsa Amini last September.
UN News, 5 July 2023

Global heating is a burning human rights issue, as extreme weather and climate disasters threaten humanity’s universal right to food, UN rights chief Volker Türk said on Monday. |
UN News, 3 July 2023

Following a third night of riots and protests across France over the police shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent, the UN rights office (OHCHR) said it was time for the country to reckon with its history of racism in policing.
UN News, 30 June 2023

UN rights experts marked the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on Monday, by reiterating their call for an “absolute prohibition” on the use of torture during armed conflict, calling also for a push to end the international trade in instruments of torture.
UN News, 26 June 2023

The right to keep personal health data private is increasingly under threat in our digital world, with potentially devastating consequences for already vulnerable people, a UN-appointed independent rights expert told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
UN News, 22 June 2023

The multiple restrictions placed on women and girls by Afghanistan’s de facto rulers are costing the Taliban “both domestic and international legitimacy” and are highly unpopular across the country, said the top UN official based there on Wednesday.
UN News, 21 June 2023

A lack of strong cooperation with the international human rights system leaves States “adrift”, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said on Monday, as he addressed rights emergencies in dozens of countries including Iran, Mali and Russia.
UN News, 19 June 2023

President of the Council, Excellencies, Friends, When the first Secretary-General of the United Nations, Trygve Lie, laid the cornerstone of the New York building that was to house the United Nations, it contained a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Human rights are literally the cornerstone of the United Nations.
OHCHR News, 19 June 2023

GENEVA (19 June 2023) – Relentless edicts issued by the Taliban since taking power in Afghanistan in August 2021 have severely restricted the rights of women and girls and suffocated every dimension of their lives, UN experts* said today. “Women and girls in Afghanistan are experiencing severe discrimination that may amount to gender persecution – a crime against humanity – and be characterised as gender apartheid, as the de facto authorities appear to be governing by systemic discrimination with the intention to subject women and girls to total domination,” the experts said.
OHCHR News, 19 June 2023

Statement by Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the opening of the 53rd Human Rights Council
19 June 2023
OHCHR News, 19 June 2023

The plight of women and girls in Afghanistan featured prominently at the Human Rights Council on Monday where independent UN-appointed rights experts warned of systematic “gender apartheid” and “gender persecution”.
UN News, 19 June 2023

With hate spreading lightning fast on social media and “mega spreaders” using divisive rhetoric to inspire thousands, the United Nations is calling for concerted global efforts to combat hate speech.
UN News, 18 June 2023

GENEVA (15 June 2023) – The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards today expressed alarm at reports and testimonies which appear to indicate that Russian military forces in Ukraine are consistently and intentionally inflicting severe physical and psychological pain and suffering on Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war.
OHCHR News, 15 June 2023

GENEVA (15 June 2023) – UN experts* today expressed concern at the reported excessive use of force during protests in France earlier this year over pension reform and mega-basin projects. “The lack of restraint in the use of force against members of civil society for demanding their rightful participation in decision-making processes concerning their future, access to natural resources, the protection of human rights, dignity and equality would not only be anti-democratic, but profoundly worrying for the protection of the rule of law,” the experts said.
OHCHR News, 15 June 2023

Presentation of 2022 UN Human Rights Report by High Commissioner Volker Türk, Geneva.
OHCHR News, 14 June 2023

We are concerned by the continued devastating impact of the fighting in Sudan on civilians. This week alone, an attack striking a busy livestock market in the capital Khartoum left at least eight civilians dead, among them at least three members of the same family. The air strike on Al-Muwaliyyah market on 7 June was allegedly carried out by the Sudan Armed Forces. In another incident on 7 June, a child was reportedly killed after a shell hit his family home in the Al-Shajraa district, in southern Khartoum.
OHCHR News, 9 June 2023

The full realization of human rights for all is a “work in progress”, and the world must now adapt and update its thinking to respond to current “dramatic rollbacks”, the UN human rights chief said on Tuesday, marking the 30th anniversary of both his office and the global agreement that created it.
UN News, 6 June 2023

2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its 30 articles affect everyone’s lives – from the need to close the gender pay gap to ensuring everyone has access to education. The year is therefore an opportunity to rejuvenate thinking on how the Declaration is relevant to people today, as human rights bring solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
OHCHR News, 24 May 2023

Human Rights Day commemorates the day on which, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.