On Tuesday 13 July 2021, British MPs voted in favour of a £4bn reduction to the UK’s overseas assistance budget, reneging on a 2019 manifesto promise to keep aid spending at 0.7% of gross national income (GNI). The cuts, approved by a majority of 333 to 298, are projected to bring the foreign aid budget… … Read more →
The UK government has been accused of giving extremist rhetoric a platform by bolstering protections for hate speech; introducing legislation that would enable individuals to sue universities and student groups. The controversial bill, entitled the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, has been described as “troubling and dangerous” by Labour and has now passed its… … Read more →
The Baha’i International Community (BIC) has released a statement in which it calls for the Iranian government to be held accountable for its “campaign of hate speech against the Baha’is in Iran.” … Read more →
On 7 July 2021, the significance of sport and the Olympic ideal with regard to human rights for young people was highlighted by a panel of experts at the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The contents of the June 2020 UN resolution, entitled “Promoting human rights through sport and the… … Read more →
On 7 July 2021 the Canadian delegation at the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) summed up the situation in Myanmar as part of the interactive dialogue with Thomas Andrews, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. … Read more →
A report, recently published by Turkey’s Progressive Journalists Association (ÇGD), has linked a recent escalation in physical attacks against the press to increasingly oppressive policy decisions by President Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). … Read more →
June 2021 marked 51 years since the first Pride march in New York which commemorated the raid of Stonewall Inn on 28 June 1969. Pride month, which now takes place every June, still gives a public space for the LGBTI community to be open and safe about their sexuality. However this year, just seven days… … Read more →
On 6 July, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Syrian Arab Republic presented its oral update to the 47th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC). … Read more →
The importance of privacy was highlighted in two meetings of the 47th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on 2 and 5 July 2021. The Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy, Prof. Joseph A. Cannataci presented his guiding principles concerning the use of information in the context of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, and discussed children’s privacy in his report on Artificial intelligence and privacy, and children’s privacy from January 2021. … Read more →
Twenty-nine organisations have collectively called on the UK to join its European partners in introducing corporate accountability law with the aim of upholding human rights and environmental obligations across company supply chains. … Read more →