Taking to Twitter, United Nations Human Right Council said, 'At its 35th special session, the @UN Human Rights Council decided to create a new fact-finding mission to investigate alleged #HumanRightsViolations in the Islamic Republic of #Iran related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022.'
The purge in Washington does not pause the war. Strikes continue, Hormuz remains closed, and Brent crude is still dancing around $109 a barrel. For India, the command chaos in the Pentagon is another layer of uncertainty piled on five weeks of conflict that was already straining every buffer Delhi has.
United Nation's top rights body on Wednesday asked Syria to stop attacking pro-democracy protesters and allow a fact finding team to assess the humanitarian situation in the country.
India abstained from a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution regarding Afghanistan, citing the need for a balanced approach that combines incentives and disincentives, and calling for new initiatives to address the humanitarian crisis.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the UN Human Rights Council and prohibiting any future funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Trump also directed the US to review its participation in UNESCO, citing concerns about anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment within the organizations. The executive order argues that the UNHRC, UNESCO, and UNRWA have drifted from their missions and act contrary to US interests. Trump previously halted funds for UNRWA during his first term, and President Joe Biden put a block on US funds for UNRWA in January 2024 over allegations that staff for the agency participated in Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack against Israel.
In a secret-ballot voting in the 193-member UN General Assembly on that race, Pakistan secured 169 votes.
A country required two-thirds majority of 124 to win a seat in the elections.
Iran is fighting a different war: Older, slower, and in some ways more dangerous. Iran doesn't need to shoot down an F/A-18. It only needs to make the Strait of Hormuz feel dangerous long enough for insurance markets, shipping companies, and oil futures traders to do the rest. Prem Panicker continues his must-read daily blog on the war in the Middle East.
Till date, Pakistan, in all its official communication, has been referring to Jammu and Kashmir as "Indian Administered Kashmir"
India on Thursday abstained in the UN General Assembly on a vote moved by the US to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over allegations that Russian soldiers killed civilians while retreating from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
They also used YouTube extensively to learn how to create Improvised Explosive Devices for carrying out terror attacks. Digital footprints analysed during the interrogation identified the primary handlers as 'Ukasa', 'Faizan' and 'Hashmi'.
Abstaining in the UN General Assembly on a vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, India on Thursday asserted that if it has 'chosen' any side, it is the side of 'peace and it is for an immediate end to violence.'
India on Thursday abstained on a draft resolution in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka which was adopted.
'While on the one hand, terrorism continues to be a serious threat to global peace and security, on the other hand, areas such as cyber, maritime and space, are emerging as new theatres of conflict'
As the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a United States-sponsored resolution on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, prominent rights groups on Thursday criticised it for failing to establish an independent international investigation into alleged crimes.
Ahead of a crucial vote in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva seeking to censure Sri Lanka on alleged war-time human rights violations, Amnesty International on Tuesday raised the pitch, saying the world body must support an independent international investigation.
A United Nations human rights expert has claimed that gruesome footage from the final days of Sri Lanka's civil war is authentic and proves war crimes took place there.
India on Wednesday voted in favour of a draft resolution tabled in the UN Human Rights Council that condemns and strongly rejects recent "public and premeditated" acts of desecration of the Quran.
The United Nations has expressed regret that noted human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin will not be able to serve on an independent inquiry commission that will investigate possible human rights violations and war crimes committed, particularly in the Gaza Strip.
India, which normally does not vote on nation-specific resolutions, made a last-minute departure in the current instance after overwhelming pressure from parties in Tamil Nadu, especially the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which had even considered pulling out its ministers from the government at the Centre, to vote against Sri Lanka.
The UNHRC agreed to defer the report on Sri Lanka's alleged human rights violations.
Several posters alleging harassment of minorities and women were put up at a square outside the UN building in Geneva coinciding with a session of the UN Human Rights Council.
China on Saturday maintained silence on India's abstention at the voting at the UNHRC on the human rights situation in Xinjiang
Amidst mounting pressure from ally Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and other parties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said India was "inclined to" vote in favour of a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN which meets "our objectives" with regard to the future of ethnic Tamils.
The Sri Lankan police have arrested two rights activists under an anti-terrorism law to prevent them from spreading "communal disharmony" in the country's war-torn northern region, ahead of voting on a resolution against the country at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Sri Lanka on Thursday blamed strategic alliances and domestic political issues, an apparent reference to politics in Tamil Nadu, for the UNHRC resolution that was backed by India to censure Colombo for its alleged war crimes during the ethnic conflict with the Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"Intermittent pauses in hostilities are not enough to address the scale of humanitarian challenges confronting the people, who grapple daily with acute shortages of food and fuel, inadequate medical services and lack of access to education," Harish said at the open debate on the 'Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question'.
The report documents allegations of reprisals and intimidation in 38 countries, some of which are members of the Human Rights Council.
India was elected last year and its term ends in 2010, but it would be eligible for re-election. Most members, including Pakistan and Bahrain, were elected despite opposition from the human rights groups who said that their record had been dismal.
There appears to be inadequate appreciation of the freedoms and rights that are guaranteed and practised daily in a vibrant democracy, India says.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also asked India to ensure that the National Register of Citizens verification in Assam does not leave the people stateless.
Hitting out at the report, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in New Delhi that the update of the earlier OHCHR report is "merely a continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative" on the situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
'She was the embodiment of knowledge, kindness, and compassion.'
The BRICS nations have expressed concern over the proliferation of trade-restrictive actions in the form of 'indiscriminate rising' of tariffs, particularly measures used as a means of 'coercion', cautioning that such practices risk marginalising the Global South countries.
Iran's Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri said that the morality police 'was abolished by the same authorities who installed it', The New York Times reported.
The Dutch envoy said to Tirumurti "You should not have abstained in the GA. Respect the UN Charter."
'We hope that the situation in Afghanistan does not pose a challenge to its neighbours and its territory is not used by terrorist groups'
She said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) adopted last year by India's Parliament was of 'great concern'.
The expert said the mission "lacked a holistic human rights approach'.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has accused Sri Lanka of sabotaging a UN-mandated probe into the country's nearly three decades-long brutal civil war, drawing a sharp reaction from Colombo as it dismissed the charges.
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