Venezuela on Thursday ordered the U.N. human rights office in Caracas to shut down all operations, ordering the staff to leave the country within three days. During a news conference, Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil announced the decision, saying that the office had played an “inappropriate role” and had become the “private law firm of...
Many Syrians who had fled the war face gross human rights violations and abuses upon their return to Syria, according to a report by the UN Human Rights Office released today. The documented violations and abuses have been perpetrated by the Government, de facto authorities and other armed groups across the country, the report states. They include arbitrary detention,...
Britain imposed sanctions Monday against four Israeli nationals, accused of violently attacking Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron called the four individuals “extremist Israeli settlers” and imposed strict financial and travel restrictions on them because of what was described as their “egregious abuses of human rights.” “Extremist Israeli settlers are...
The Emirates Detainees Advocacy Center (EDAC), the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch urgently appeal to United Nations special procedures, UN Member States, and the European Union to call on the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to drop recent abusive terrorism charges against at least 84 Emiratis. The defendants include many prisoners...
German chemical giant BASF will divest from two joint ventures in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, following reports that its business partners were involved in human rights abuses. “Recently published reports related to the joint-venture partner contain serious allegations that indicate activities inconsistent with BASF’s values. Consequently, BASF will accelerate the ongoing process to divest its shares,” read...
The mass trial underway of 84 Emiratis, including prominent human rights defenders, flagrantly violates the defendants’ fair trial rightsand disregards fundamental legal principle by re-trying some defendants for the same charges they were convicted of a decade ago, Amnesty International said ahead of a hearing in the case on 7 February. At least 65 of...
Reporters would not be able to speak freely under proposed new Gulf state owners, says co-founder of the Art Newspaper. A journalist has revealed how she was sacked for criticising the royal family of the United Arab Emirates as she warned that Telegraph journalists would not be able to speak freely if a planned takeover...
The United Arab Emirates has dispatched an ambassador to Damascus for the first time since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Syria’s state media reported today, in a new signal of Syria’s warming ties with the Arab region, Reuters reports. Incoming Emirati envoy Hassan Al-Shehi presented his credentials to Syria’s Foreign Affair Minister Faysal Al-Meqdad at...
China’s human rights record faced rare public scrutiny at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva last week, and while Beijing was able to lobby some countries from the Global South to praise human rights conditions in the country, analysts and advocates say its charm offensive has had a limited effect. “A lot of governments...
While December 2023 saw the global spotlight on Dubai for the COP28, Abu Dhabi discreetly conducted the second-largest political mass trial in the UAE’s history, known as the “UAE87” in a complete absence of media coverage. On December 7, 2023, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal held its first hearing of a new mass trial involving...