UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

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The Ukrainian serviceman is wearing fatigues and a Balaclava. The room looks bare with rough, chipped walls.

Non-Coercive Interrogation Outlined in New UN Manual Advances Méndez Principles

Practical steps, based on the Mendez Principles, promote ethical, more effective practices to end torture and reduce crime and violence.
Ugandan soldiers of African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) patrol in Merka, Southern Coastal Somalia, on September 19, 2019. (Photo TINA SMOLE/AFP via Getty Images)

Before Leaving Somalia, African Union Should Provide Compensation for Civilian Harm

The mission serves as an important precedent for others, so the international community must provide funding as a gesture of respect.
Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terror (CFT) regulations and compliance concept. (Illustration via Getty Images)

Rethinking Risk: Reducing Harm to Nonprofits in the Push to Counter Terrorism Financing

After years of detrimental side effects from the Financial Action Task Force's power, a course correction is overdue.
lit candles in the foreground, while a group of Ukrainian residents gather in the background

On International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, a Call to Better Support Them

"It is too often lost in the fight against torture that much of the work is rooted in hope. Hope is a powerful change agent, and in the simplest terms, it is what the U.N. Voluntary…

Uniting for Uyghurs at the United Nations

A statement from 50 nations suggests momentum despite a failed Human Rights Council vote. What the international community should do next.

Encryption Helps Ukrainians Resist Russia’s Invasion, but a European Plan Threatens the Underlying Trust Any Tech User Needs

The intended crime-fighting proposals could force encrypted-messaging services to abandon basic confidentiality or pull out of the market.
A wide shot of the United Nations General Assembly hall.

Addressing Atrocity Crimes at the United Nations General Assembly’s 77th Session

As the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly’s 77th annual session kicks off, atrocity crimes are being committed in many parts of the world. The U.N. Security Council, with…
Former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet gives a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland. She is wearing a dark blue shirt with a pearl necklace and a blue and white backdrop of the world is behind her.

Crimes Against Humanity in Xinjiang: The UN (Finally) Weighs In

On her final day in office, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet issued a long-awaited report on the Chinese government’s actions in Xinjiang.…
Uyghur activist in exile Abdullam Imerov (L) of the Belgium Uyghur Association and Member of Belgium Parliament (Ecolo - Agalev) Samuel Cogolati (R) deliver remarks with a bullhorn near the Bank of China on July 8, 2021 in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

UN Report on China’s Rights Abuses Against Uyghurs Illustrates Need for “Naming and Shaming”

There is no substitute for documenting abuses and exposing gaps between a government's international obligations and actual practices.
Muslim Uyghurs hold pictures of their relatives detained in China during a press conference in Istanbul, on May 10, 2022. The signs behind them say "Close the Chinese Concentration Camps" and "Rescue Our Families From Camps." Turkey's Uyghur community urged UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet to probe so-called "re-education camps" during a long-delayed visit to China that month, including to Xingjiang, where Western lawmakers have accused Beijing of genocide and crimes against humanity. Bachelet subsequently released her report on Aug. 31. (Photo by OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images)

A UN Report Implicates the Chinese Government in Crimes Against Humanity. What Comes Next?

Governments and UN bodies must act swiftly to hold the Chinese government accountable and protect those who are speaking out.
Tamil members of Sri Lanka's parliament hold placards during a demonstration outside the President’s office in Colombo on February 24, 2022, to protest against the acquisition of their land in northern and eastern regions under the guise of protecting archeological sites. They hold signs in a variety of languages. One reads, “Stop the land grab! of Tamils under the guise of Mahaweli”

Sri Lanka’s Real Reckoning is Yet to Come

Accountability for atrocities against Tamils and curbing Sinhala Buddhist nationalism are key to the island’s stability and prosperity.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet (L) delivers a speech during an urgent debate on the Ukraine conflict at the UN Human Right Council in Geneva on March 3, 2022.

Toward a Better Accounting of the Human Toll in Putin’s War of Aggression

With the war entering its fourth month, the United Nations and others should address the killing of Ukrainian soldiers as well as Russian conscripts who Putin has effectively sent…
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