International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

There’s Another Important Election Coming Soon, and It Concerns Universal Human Rights

Opinion by John Packer
• September 11, 2020

States parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights will elect new experts on Sept. 17 to the Human Rights Committee, which supervises the covenant’s implementation. It is one of the two solemn, widely ratified covenants that codify …

Categories: Human Rights, OPINIONS

TOPIC: WOMEN

Thank You, UN, for Protecting the Rights of Women

Bertrand Ramcharan
• February 28, 2018

There is still a long way to go to uphold the rights of women worldwide, and UN Women, a department of the Secretariat, is now carrying the torch in this struggle. It builds on the efforts of the UN human-rights …

Categories: Human Rights, International Justice, Women

OPINIONS

Haitian Letters Remind the UN of Cholera Victims’ Sadness

Opinion by Nancy Young
• December 13, 2015

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Here in the office of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux in Haiti’s capital, more than 2,000 letters of cholera victims seeking justice came pouring in to be delivered on Dec. 10 to the headquarters of the United Nations …

Categories: OPINIONS

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Repression of Civil Society in Cambodia Reflects an Alarming Global Trend

Clothilde Le Coz
• October 11, 2015

PHNOM PENH — Accused of organizing an “insurrection” last year, nearly a dozen Parliament ministers from the political opposition were sentenced to prison terms from 7 to 20 years by a Phnom Penh court this summer. The charge stemmed from …

Categories: Asia, Human Rights

Can Good Governance Become a Global Development Goal?

Bill Orme
• October 28, 2014

British Prime Minister David Cameron had two clear messages when he spoke at a post-2015 global development goals forum on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last month. The first was his emphatic view that the General Assembly …

Categories: Development, SDGs, Secretary-General

Indian Ban on Gay Sex Draws UN Human Rights Rebuke

Barbara Crossette
• December 13, 2013

An unexpected Indian Supreme Court ruling on Dec. 11 upholding a law that criminalizes same-sex relationships drew a swift rebuke within 24 hours from Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who called it a violation of …

Categories: Asia, Human Rights

The US, an Outlier in Ratifying the Children’s Rights Treaty

Opinion by Anthony C. Gooch
• March 26, 2013

It is urgent that the United States ratify the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. This treaty, which recognizes that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance, is based on the principle that the family is the …