The UN accused DR Congo on Tuesday of backing a militia that has mutilated toddlers and hacked pregnant women in the troubled Kasai region as the Catholic Church put the death toll there at more than 3,300. “I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the … Read more
A Democratic Republic of Congo military court held a second day of hearings Monday in the trial of a man and a teenager accused of killing two UN experts in March, their lawyer said. Evariste Ilunga, a 16-year-old student, and Mbayi Kabasele, 30, who sells palm oil, are accused of war crimes, including murder and … Read more
Ethiopia should rein in a controversial anti-terrorism law and release prisoners, the UN human rights chief said Thursday during a visit to Addis Ababa. The visit by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, comes after Ethiopia’s parliament in March extended by four months a state of emergency it declared after … Read more
Suspected militants have killed three police officers and wounded five others in an attack in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, the interior ministry says. The assailants, riding in two vehicles, opened fire on a security convoy on the main ring road in the Nasr City area. No group has yet said it was behind the attack, … Read more
A new UN body tasked with identifying individuals guilty of atrocities in Syria should start work shortly, a key step towards holding war crimes suspects to account, the UN rights chief said Monday. A prominent judge or international lawyer to head the panel will be named “soon”, after funding for the post and a deputy … Read more
As many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have died in the last few months of the fighting The United Nations has condemned Sri Lanka’s government for failing to investigate civil war-era atrocities, suggesting the government was afraid of punishing soldiers who committed abuses during the conflict. The world body had previously accused the Sri Lankan … Read more
The UN rights chief warned Tuesday that a “tidal wave of bloodshed” over more than six years of war in Syria had effectively turned the country into a “torture chamber”. “As the conflict enters its seventh year, this is the worst man-made disaster the world has seen since World War II,” said Zeid Ra’ad Al … Read more
Two United Nations workers from peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been kidnapped by unknown assailants in the central Kasai region. The government of DRC said in a statement one of the victims was Michael Sharp, an American, and the other Zaida Catalan, a Swede. The UN lists Catalan as Chilean, … Read more
So-called Islamic State (IS) shot dead 40 civilians on Tuesday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul after accusing them of treason, the United Nations says. Their bodies were then hung from electricity poles in several districts, the office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner said, citing sources. A man was also reportedly shot dead … Read more
Donald Trump’s “deeply unsettling and disturbing” views make him a danger internationally, the UN’s human rights chief has said. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein cited Mr Trump’s comments on the use of torture and his attitude to “vulnerable communities”. The Republican presidential candidate’s campaign has been marked by a number of … Read more