Page 4 - Human Rights

ICJ set to decide if it can hear Ukraine's genocide case against Russia

The International Court of Justice is ruling Friday on whether it has jurisdiction to hear a case filed by Ukraine in the days after Russia's invasion accusing Moscow of breaching the genocide convention. In the highly-charged case, Kyiv claims that Russia breached the landmark 1948 convention by using trumped-up claims of genocide in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as a pretext for attacking Ukraine nearly two years ago. Ukraine also accuses Moscow of planning acts of genocide. Moscow rejects the allegations and argued last year that the court should throw out the case before even considering the merits of Kyiv's claims. At hearings in September, the leader of Moscow's legal team, Gennady Kuzmin, called Ukraine's case hopelessly flawed and at odds with the longstanding jurisprudence of this court. In order for the court to have jurisdiction, Ukraine has to establish that it has a dispute with Russia over the genocide convention. A member of Moscow's legal team, Sienho

CBI searches premises of Harsh Mander's NGO for financial irregularities

The CBI has registered a case of alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act against an NGO established by writer and human rights activist Harsh Mander and conducted searches at its premises on Friday, officials said. Mander, a former member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council during the erstwhile UPA government, is the founder of the NGO Aman Biradari. The FIR has been registered against Aman Biradari for alleged violation of various provisions of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act following a complaint by the Union Home Ministry.

More arrests reported as Belarus intensifies crackdown on dissent

A rights group on Thursday reported dozens more home raids and arrests across Belarus in the latest intensification of a years-long crackdown on dissent in the country of 9.5 million people. The Viasna human rights centre said it knew of at least 159 people targeted by searches and detentions in multiple Belarusian cities, including the capital, Minsk. Those targeted by authorities included relatives of jailed dissidents, journalists and others, it said. Leaders of Belarusian opposition have called the new wave of arrests, which is the biggest in recent months, "a blow to the solidarity within the country". According to Viasna, there are 1,419 political prisoners now held in Belarus. Many of those detained Thursday and earlier in the week had been helping families of those jailed for political reasons. Authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko unleashed an unrelenting crackdown on dissent in August 2020, after an election the opposition and the West denounced as a sham gave him

Human rights situation rapidly deteriorating in West bank: UN report

The report calls for an immediate end to the use of military weapons and means during law enforcement operations, an end to arbitrary detention and ill-treatment of Palestinians

China sanctions US research firm over reports on human rights in Xinjiang

China says it is banning a United States research company and two analysts who have reported extensively on claims of human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups native to the country's far northwestern region of Xinjiang. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was quoted as announcing late Tuesday night that Los Angeles-based research and data analytics firm Kharon, its director of investigations, Edmund Xu, and Nicole Morgret, a human rights analyst affiliated with the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies, would be barred from travelling to China. Also, any assets or property they have in China will be frozen and organisations and individuals in China are prohibited from making transactions or otherwise cooperating with them. In a statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Mao said the sanctions against the company, Xu and Morgret were retaliation for a yearly US government report on human rights in Xinjiang. Uyghurs and other natives

NHRC issues notice to K'taka over incident of stripping, beating of woman

The commission also sought a report from the Karnataka government within four weeks and decided to send its team for a spot inquiry

SC recommends setting up commission to probe human rights violations in J&K

Article 370 case verdict: In a ruling, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul recommended setting up a commission on the lines of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

75 years of Universal Declaration of Human Rights: What has it achieved?

The declaration isn't a treaty and isn't legally binding in itself, but the principles it sets out have been incorporated into many countries' laws

India is a role model in human rights, says Vice President Dhankhar

He further observed that "our civilizational ethos and constitutional commitment reflect our deep dedication to respecting, safeguarding, and nurturing human rights which is in our DNA"

Volkswagen shareholders demand more scrutiny after China plant audit

Volkswagen said on Tuesday that the much-anticipated audit of its China car plant had found no evidence of forced labour

Volkswagen-sanctioned audit finds no signs of forced labour at China plant

An audit commissioned by Volkswagen has found no indication of forced labour at its plant in China's Xinjiang region, where Western governments have accused the Chinese government of human rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority. The German automaker has come under fire for operating in Xinjiang, a remote western region that borders Central Asia. The US government has blocked imports from Xinjiang unless it can be proven that the products were not made with forced labour. The auditor, Loening Human Rights and Responsible Business, conducted 40 interviews and was able to inspect the factory freely, said Markus Loening, a former German human rights commissioner who founded the consultancy. We could not find any indications or evidence of forced labour among the employees, he said in remarks provided by Volkswagen from a media briefing in Germany on Tuesday. China launched a harsh crackdown in Xinjiang around 2017 in response to a series of bombings, knifings and other .

Taliban's education policies harm boys as well as girls in Afghanistan: Rpt

The Taliban's abusive educational policies are harming boys as well as girls in Afghanistan, according to a Human Rights Watch report published Wednesday. The Taliban have been globally condemned for banning girls and women from secondary school and university, but the rights group says there has been less attention to the deep harm inflicted on boys' education. The departure of qualified teachers including women, regressive curriculum changes and the increase in corporal punishment have led to greater fear of going to school and falling attendance. Because the Taliban have dismissed all female teachers from boys' schools, many boys are taught by unqualified people or sit in classrooms with no teachers at all. Boys and parents told the rights group about a spike in the use of corporal punishment, including officials beating boys before the whole school for haircut or clothing infractions or for having a mobile phone. The group interviewed 22 boys along with five parents in Kabul, .

Climate change impacts human rights, poor suffer most: NHRC chief

NHRC chairperson Justice Arun Mishra on Tuesday said climate change impacts human rights in a big way and the poorest of the poor suffer the most. He was addressing a session on 'Empowering those most affected by Climate Change' at the NHRI COP28 Symposium organised by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) in Dubai. There is a need for a safeguard information system for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, Mishra said. Climate change impacts human rights in a big way, with melting polar ice, rising sea levels, increased drought, high-density rainfalls, cyclones, floods, landslides and forest fires, and the poorest of the poor suffer the most, the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said. Besides other stakeholders, National Human Rights Institutions have to work to protect the environment and address the needs of people impacted by climate change-induced displacements resulting in violation of human rights

NHRC to hold camp in NE states to hear human rights violation cases

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will hold a camp sitting here on Friday to hear cases of alleged human rights violations in the North Eastern states, an official statement said. A national-level conference on sensitising local self-governments on various aspects of human rights will also be organised by the Commission, it said. The Commission will also meet members of civil society and NGOs as well as the press during its two-day visit, beginning from Thursday. NHRC chairperson Justice Arun Mishra, members Dnyaneshwar M Mulay and Rajiv Jain, secretary general Bharat Lal and other senior officers, will attend the conference and camp sitting. The conference on 'Advancing Human Rights through Local Self Governments' will be held on November 16, in which chairpersons of the state human rights commissions of Assam, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim will participate. The main objective of the conference is to create awareness regarding the role of local ...

US terms with China must consider human rights, national security: Yellen

Washington wants to build an economic relationship with Beijing that takes into account national security and human rights and is fair to both sides, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday. In laying out the Biden administration's economic approach toward the Indo-Pacific region, the country's top financial official said Washington does not seek to decouple from China, the region's largest economy and the world's second largest next to the United States. But it wants to diversify by investing at home and boosting links with trusted countries in the region. We've put forward a vision of the world grounded in values we share with these allies and partners and in which there is also a healthy and stable economic relationship between the United States and China," Yellen said in a speech hosted by the Asia Society less than two weeks before leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries will gather in San Francisco for an annual meeting. President Joe Biden and ...

IOC amends Olympic Charter to strengthen its human rights commitments

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday amended the Olympic Charter to strengthen its human rights commitments during the the first day of its 141st Session here. The IOC Session approved the inclusion of additional wordings relating to the respect of human rights after the executive board made a recommendation to this effect in September this year. Additional wording has been included in the Fundamental Principles of Olympism as an overarching commitment to the respect for human rights, specifically in Fundamental Principles of Olympism 1 and 4, the IOC said. The change is a result of the work by the Legal Affairs Commission and its consultation with the Advisory Committee on Human Rights, it added. The new wordings in Fundamental Principles of Olympism 1 are 'internationally recognised human rights' and 'within the remit of the Olympic movement'. In the Fundamental Principles of Olympism 4, 'internationally recognised human rights' and within the remit of the Olympic

UNHR Commissioner calls for immediate stop to ongoing violence in Israel

This comes after a barrage of rockets slammed into southern and central Israel after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Saturday morning

NHRC organises two-day international seminar on business and human rights

The seminar on Business Human Rights focused on two crucial themes, 'Harmonizing Climate Change, Human Rights and Business' and 'Advancing Human Rights in Business and Industry'

Biden's statement: Battle of perceptions

Was President Biden's statement in Vietnam on discussing human rights and civil society issues with PM Modi perfunctory appeasement of his domestic constituency or another example of US interference?

No 'gross violation' of human rights in India, says NHRC chief Mishra

The NHRC chairperson was referring to some foreign agencies taking up Human Rights violations in India at the international level