UN Human Rights Committee

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Chen Xu looks at his watch in front of a projector screen, standing beside an aide.

New Challenges to Xi Jinping’s Alternative Facts on Taiwan: Lessons for the Human Rights Space, Too

Democracies must challenge Beijing’s threats to the UN human rights system and its standards, as they are starting to do on Taiwan.
Eastern European anti government demonstrations

Civil Society, Under Threat Worldwide, Needs a General Comment on the Right to Freedom of Association

Civil society and its allies need tools to push back against rising threats worldwide, and the U.N. Human Rights Committee can furnish an important one: a General Comment on the…

Death Toll Climbs in Ukraine With Russia’s ‘Double-Tap’ Strikes

The tactic adds to evidence of intent to kill civilians through targeted or indiscriminate attacks, including on aid workers and institutions.
Candles and flowers are placed in front of a portrait of Lasantha Wickrematunge.

15 Years Later, Sri Lanka Continues to Deny Justice to Murdered Journalist

Lasantha’s murder, and the government’s failure to meaningfully investigate it, is a potent illustration of the importance and necessity of holding the perpetrators of crimes…
An American flag hangs on a wall behind barbed wire.

US Regresses on Torture and Guantanamo at Treaty Review

By our count, the Human Rights Committee asked over 20 questions related to U.S. torture and/or the Guantanamo detention facility during the United States' ICCPR periodic review.…
Image: Right: ANDIJAN, UZBEKISTAN: Shoes are seen on the central square of the Uzbek town of Andijan, 14 May 2005, after clashes between the government forces and local protesters. Bodies littered the streets of the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan as security forces tightened their clampdown and the death toll continued to rise in what residents called massacres. (DENIS SINYAKOV/AFP via Getty Images). Left: The Human Rights Committee during its 128th Session. Credit: UN Multimedia

Overlooking Injustice: A Troubling Formalistic Turn at the UN Human Rights Committee

The Committee has recently dismissed complaints for technical reasons and enforced time limits more strictly - calling into question its role as a last avenue for justice.
Image: A picture taken on September 27, 2018, a bird resting on Israel's controversial separation barrier on the outskirts of East Jerusalem on September 27, 2018 - (Photo credit should read AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)

The International Community and Israel: Giving Permission to a Permanent Occupation        

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories reflects on 50+ years of international inaction on the Israel's illegal occupation of Palestine.
A phone screen shows a statement by Trump on May 5, 2021. Another screen in the background shows an image of Trump. The statement text reads, “What Facebook, Twitter, and Google have done is a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country. Free Speech has been taken away from the President of the United States because the Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth, but the truth will come out anyway, bigger and stronger than ever before. The People of our Country will not stand for it! These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our Electoral Process.”

For Facebook’s Sake: Getting Conversant with Human Rights

The Facebook Oversight Board decision on former President Trump has helped bring into sharper focus what international law scholars and lawyers have long understood: international…
Belsat TV journalists Katerina Bakhvalova aka Andreeva and Daria Chultsova, who were detained in November while reporting on anti-government protests, flash the V-sign from a defendant's cage during their trial in Minsk on February 18, 2021.

Belarus Jailing of Journalists for Reporting on Peaceful Protest Violates International Law

An appeal hearing in Minsk offers a chance for the court to rectify an injustice that illustrates how reporters have been targeted for abuse..
A police personnel wearing a face mask crosses a street on foot as military personnel on motorcycles ride in lines toward him as they take part in a rehearsal for the Independence Day Parade in Colombo on February 3, 2021.

Highlighting Sri Lanka’s Abuses to the UN in Reviews and Strategic Litigation

The Human Rights Council should build on the documentation and advocacy NGOs have done over the years to encourage accountability for gross violations.
Journalists and well-wishers light candles on the grave of slain anti-establishment editor Lasantha Wickrematunge on his 12th death anniversary, in Colombo on January 8, 2021.

Escalating Attacks on Journalists in Sri Lanka Demand New Tack from Human Rights Council

The continuing impunity in the wartime killing of a revered editor and the recent escalation of rights abuses expose the government's recalcitrance.
Pompeo on a computer screen giving a press conference.

Estrangement Over Engagement: How the Trump Administration is Bucking Bipartisan Human Rights Diplomacy at the UN

The practice of the Trump administration turning its back on rights at the United Nations goes well beyond the Human Rights Council.
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