Page 32 - General Comment News Today

Staff from the Masvingo Centre for Research Advocacy and Development (MACRAD Trust) consult with members of the Chilonga community in Chiredzi.  © 2021 MACRAD Trust. The Zimbabwe government’s plans to evict 13,840 Indigenous Shanganipeople from their communal land in Chilonga, Chiredzi district, southeastern Zimbabwe is problematic for many reasons, not least for its failure to uphold human rights. On 26 February, the Local Government, Urban and Rural de...

  Dear Prosecutor General, We are writing to express our concern and request your action regarding the unfounded criminal prosecution of Yulia Tsvetkova, women’s and LGBT rights activist, theater worker and artist from Komsomolsk-on-Amur. She is facing from two to six years in prison on “pornography” charges for sharing body-positive artwork about female anatomy on social media. On February 8, 2021, the deputy prosecutor of Khabarovsk region, M. Sobchuck approved the indictment against Y...

UN Security Council Should Impose Targeted Sanctions, Arms Embargo Protesters run in the middle of tear gas smoke during a demonstration against the military coup, Yangon, Myanmar, March 3, 2021. © 2021 Sipa via AP Images (Bangkok) – Myanmar’s military junta should order its security forces to end the use of excessive and lethal force against largely peaceful protesters, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 3, 2021, security forces fired live rounds at ...

About one in three internet users today are children. In South Africa, where just over half of the population are connected, this means about 20% of our online population could be under the age of 18. What are we doing to protect their digital futures — especially contexts where other basic needs are yet to be met? Although access to the internet has repeatedly been recognised as a human right, the children who are online today are typically viewed as the lucky ones. They are the ones whose p...

19 February 2021 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights concluded today its review of the seventh periodic report of Finland on measures taken to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, Committee Experts asked the delegation to comment on the impact of the emergency measures on economic, social and cultural rights, notably how they affected minority groups, immigrants, refugees and...

Thursday, 18 February 2021, 5:11 pm The Myanmar military junta has arbitrarily detained journalists, threatened others into hiding, and dictated proposed legislation that would severely curb media freedoms, Fortify Rights said today. The junta arbitrarily arrested or detained at least nine journalists since a February 1 coup d’état. “In times of crisis like these, media freedom is especially necessary,” said Ismail Wolff, Regional Director of Fortify Rights. “ The junta evidently fee...

February 15, 2021 Regarding the Interpretation Guidelines of the Amendments of the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act We are writing in response to your call for comments regarding the Interpretation Guidelines for the Scope of Application of Article 24(1)3 of the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act.[1] The Amendment to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act (the “Act”) imposes strict limitations to some activities of North Korean escapee and civil society organizations ...

15 February 2021 The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights today opened its remote sixty-ninth session, hearing opening remarks by Peggy Hicks, Director of the Thematic Engagement, Special Procedures and Right to Development Division at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Renato Zerbini Ribeiro Leão, Chair of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in his opening remarks, said he was glad the Committee was able to continue its work d...

Myanmar’s military junta has put forward a draconian bill that would give it sweeping powers to access user data, block websites, order internet shutdowns, and imprison critics and officials at noncomplying companies, Human Rights Watch said today.

Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on China 80th pre-session Attacks on women’s rights activists including in the context of the #MeToo movement (Articles 1, 2, 3, and 7) Two years after the #MeToo movement took off in China, Chinese women’s rights activists face a political environment in which the Chinese Communist Party’s control over the internet, media, and independent activism is tighter than the previous 30 years.[1] Since the Chinese gov...