UN experts urge the Bahamas to halt plans to demolish 600 homes
GENEVA (7 May 2021) – UN human rights experts today called on the Bahamas to halt planned demolitions this week of approximately 600 homes at two informal settlements known as the Farm and the Farm Road on Abaco island.
A community of Haitian descendants and migrants numbering up to 2,000 people, including many women and children, are at serious risk of becoming homeless as a result of the clearance expected to take place on 7 May. The planned forced evictions and demolitions constitute a serious violation of the human right to adequate housing and will result in arbitrary internal displacement, the experts said. To make things worse, this is scheduled to occur during the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening to expose an already vulnerable minority to all kinds of risks for their health and safety.
Cambodia: UN expert condemns conviction of three environmental rights defenders, urges their release
GENEVA (7 May 2021) – A UN expert today condemned a decision by a Cambodian court to sentence three environmental human rights defenders to jail terms of up to 20 months and urged the Government to release them immediately and unconditionally.
The convicted human rights defenders - Mr. Thun Ratha, Ms. Long Kunthea and Ms. Phuon Keoraksmey – are members of Mother Nature Cambodia (MNC), a non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection and preservation of Cambodia s natural environment and supports local communities in defending those rights.
The three, who were sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal court on charges of incitement to create social chaos, had been in pre-trial detention for eight months before the conviction.
United States: UN expert decries new laws targeting peaceful and Black Lives Matter protesters
GENEVA (5 May 2021) – The adoption of new state laws in Florida and Oklahoma, among others, aimed at suppressing racial justice protests and the Black Lives Matter movement seems to violate international law and the US constitution’s protection of the right to peaceful assembly, a UN human rights expert said today.
Clément Voule, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to peaceful assembly and of association, said the laws were riddled with vaguely defined offences and draconian penalties.
“Vague definitions of ‘riot’, ‘mob intimidation’, and ‘obstruction’ as set out in these laws provide excessive discretion to law enforcement authorities to intimidate and criminalize legitimate protest activities,” Voule said. “Any restrictions on this fundamental freedom must be a narrowly and clearly defined.”
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GENEVA (4 May 2021) – UN human rights experts today expressed serious concern over the condition of imprisoned Iranian filmmaker and political activist Mohammad Nourizad and called for his immediate release. His health has reportedly deteriorated so severely that he risks serious complications and possible death if he remains in prison and does not receive appropriate medical care.
“We are seriously concerned at the mistreatment of Mohammad Nourizad and his continued imprisonment for expressing his opinion,” the experts said. “Furthermore, his continued detention despite medical professionals finding he cannot stay in prison given his serious health condition, and the resulting denial of adequate medical care, may amount to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.