UN Human Rights

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed his great concern over reports that Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has been threatened recently.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned the "appalling atrocities" reportedly committed by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and southern Sudan, and demanded that they respect all rules of international humanitarian law.

The top United Nations human rights official in Nepal pressed its Government today to bring justice for a local businessman murdered by members of the Maoist army earlier this year.

An independent United Nations human rights expert has called on Sri Lanka to significantly improve access for more humanitarian relief and personnel to reach hundreds of thousands of people displaced in the northern Vanni region by the ongoing conflict between the Government and Tamil separatists.

A group of independent United Nations human rights experts have welcomed United States President-elect Barack Obama's announced decision close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre, stressing it will end "a dark chapter in the country's history."

The United Nations has condemned yesterday's attack against staff at the Himal Media publishing house in Kathmandu as an assault on the freedom of expression, and urged authorities in Nepal to ensure a safe environment for media professionals to do their work.

A United Nations investigation into a series of disappearances during the decade-long civil war in Nepal has uncovered eyewitnesses accusing former Government forces of killing a number of its captives, according to a report released by the world body today.

The top United Nations human rights official lamented today that there are still too many countries that criminalize sexual relations between consenting adults of the same sex and that some 10 States still have laws making homosexual activity punishable by death.

A United Nations court today sentenced the alleged mastermind behind the 1994 massacre of hundreds of thousands of people in Rwanda and two co-defendants to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Top United Nations officials are marking International Migrants Day by stressing the need to ensure the dignity and human rights of the more than 200 million people worldwide who cross borders to live and work, and who make a vital contribution to their societies.

An independent United Nations human rights expert has praised the Nicaraguan Government for giving the indigenous Awas Tingni community the title to its traditional lands, marking the culmination of a decades-long struggle by the group to gain recognition and protection of its ancestral territory.

Israel's refusal to allow a United Nations expert to transit to carry out his officially mandated functions in the occupied Palestinian territory, his detention and subsequent expulsion is "unprecedented and deeply regrettable," the world body's top human rights official said today.

The United Nations Human Rights Council marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in a special session today, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on it to rise above &#8220partisan posturing and regional divides&#8221 and review the record of every State.

A booklet that aims to build human rights awareness among the members of the armed forces of the young nation of Timor-Leste was released today and immediately welcomed by the United Nations mission in the country, known as UNMIT.

The United Nations human rights chief has welcomed the General Assembly's adoption of an important new instrument to strengthen the protection of economic, social and cultural rights, stressing that it gives a voice to victims of violations.

The top United Nations envoy to Iraq has strongly condemned a bombing near the northern city of Kirkuk today, killing dozens and injuring more than 90 civilians in a crowded restaurant.

The United Nations General Assembly today awarded its top human rights prize to seven global advocates ranging from a Congolese doctor who treats female victims of sexual violence, a nun who fought for indigenous rights before her murder in Brazil, and the assassinated Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto.

On the day that the United Nations celebrated the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the world body's new top human rights official brought her own special focus to the issue - as victim and nemesis of abuse.

The international community has not lived up to the vision held in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today told a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the landmark document.

The promises enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) remain unfilled for tens of millions of people worldwide, the top United Nations human rights official said today, on the eve of the landmark document's 60th anniversary.