News Clips- August 25, 2017
The United Nations Secretary General and the head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq
Credit: UN Photo/Samad Al-Safy
Civil Society
- Protesters in Hong Kong demonstrated last weekend to call for the release of three pro-democracy activists who were imprisoned last week. [Guardian]
- Maina Kiai, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur and a human rights activist, was detained at the Nairobi airport for two hours before allowed to leave the country last Sunday. [Guardian]
- A Chinese human rights lawyer plead guilty on Tuesday to charges of inciting subversion of state power, but civil society is calling the trial a sham and believe he was forced to confess. [VOA]
Activities of Human Rights Bodies & Experts and Intergovernmental Bodies
- The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued a decision through its early warning and urgent action procedure that calls on authorities in the United States to denounce racist hate speech and crimes and address the root causes of both. [OHCHR Press Release]
- The United Nations International Labour Organization has created the Global Commission on the Future of Work, which will study the challenges that prevent the creation of decent and sustainable jobs, and the relationship between social justice and work. [UN News Centre]
- The UN Assistance Mission to Iraq released a report this week that calls on the government of Iraq to ensure that women and girls who have survived sexual violence at the hands of ISIL receive care and protection. [OHCHR Press Release]
Politics
- India’s Supreme Court ruled this week that the right to privacy is a fundamental right; the ruling also states that sexual orientation is protected by the right to privacy. [Asian Correspondent]
- North Korea indicated this week that the country is building solid-fuel missiles, which can be launched faster and are easier to move. [New York Times]
- A candidate for president in Liberia promised this week that he would establish a war crimes tribunal. [Africa News]
- Last week, torture victims and the psychologists who helped create the United States Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation program reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit filed in 2015. [New York Times]