Page 59 - Optional Protocol News Today

Thank you, Madam President, The United Kingdom recognises São Tomé and Príncipe’s efforts to protect human rights through the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its Optional Protocol aiming at the abolition of the death penalty. The UK commends São Tomé and Príncipe for the delivery of peaceful elections in 2018 and encourages a free and transparent electoral proc...

Conflict-Affected Children at Heightened Risk of Grave Violations due to COVID-19, as 2020 Marked OPAC’s 20th Anniversary Format The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated children’s vulnerability to grave violations in situations of armed conflict and restricted the realization of their rights, highlighted the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict in her annual report to the Human Rights Council, which covers the period from December 2019 to December 202...

International human rights law meanders between the vague and the hazy when it comes to its stance on the age of criminal responsibility and what, if any, punishments should be imposed on child soldiers guilty of war crimes.

The Australian government should seriously address the criticisms of its human rights record and scores of recommendations raised by United Nations member countries, Human Rights Watch said today.

Committee on the Rights of the Child 18 January 2021 The Committee on the Rights of the Child today opened its online limited eighty-sixth session. Luis Ernesto Pedernera Reyna, Chairperson of the Committee, said the Committee had been working on the Third Optional Protocol, and General Comment 25, and would spare no efforts to discharge its mandate. Because of COVID-19, pre-existing problems had worsened. Child poverty was increasing and the closure of schools had had a devastating impact, in...

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission (Lanka-e-News- 17.Jan.2021, 9.AM) A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka found S. V. R. P. P. A. R. L. S. Alphonsu, known also as Ranjan Ramanayake, as guilty of having committed the offence of contempt of court and sentenced him to four years of rigorous imprisonment. The accused is presently a Member of Parliament, formerly a deputy minister, and is also a well-known actor. The reason for the charge and the conviction was an inte...

BarristerBlogger How could Priti Patel reintroduce the death penalty? There was a flutter of interest on Christmas Day when, in festive mood, the Society of Black and Asian Lawyers tweeted the following: “ A little bird at the @ukhomeoffice tells us @pritipatel has asked Civil Service to scope a policy paper on the restoration of the death penalty in the #NewYear2021 and the #Tories have the majority to do just that.” In the past Ms Patel has expressed support for capital punishment. In 20...

Public Statement by Chair of Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (18 December 2020) Format SC/14934 The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the seventh report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Philippines (S/2020/1030), agreed to convey the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group: To all parties to armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo S...

Dear Ambassador, We are writing following the European Commission’s 30 November delegated regulation adding Uzbekistan to the list of GSP+ beneficiary countries. We believe that many of the salient shortcomings identified by the Commission perpetuate or continue to cause grave human rights violations and therefore could in fact constitute serious failures of Uzbekistan’s obligations to abide by core human rights treaties. We urge your delegation and other members of the Council to press the...

UNICEF Resident Representative Pays Farewell Call on President Solih Presidents Office Dr Mohamed El-Munir A. Safieldin, the UNICEF Resident Representative to Maldives has congratulated the Maldivian government on the multiple initiatives taken over the past two years to strengthen children’s rights in the island nation. The UNICEF representative made this remark during a farewell call he paid on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih at the President’s Office on Wednesday morning. During the call...