Category: Human Rights

Addressing a commemorative meeting to mark the International Day of Remembrance of The Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade, Assembly President Dennis Francis highlighted the harrowing journeys endured by millions during the so-called Middle Passage, emphasizing the stripping of their identities and dignity.

“It is inconceivable that the enslaved were cruelly regarded as mere commodities for sale and exploitation,” he said.

“Together with their children born into slavery, perpetuating the vicious cycle of bondage and suffering – enduring untold horrors at the hands of their oppressors,” he added.

Pursuance of justice

Assembly President Francis paid tribute to revolutionary figures such as Samuel Sharpe, Sojourner Truth, and Gaspar Yanga, who bravely fought for freedom, paving the way for abolitionist movements and inspiring generations to challenge injustice.

He emphasized the ongoing impact of slavery’s legacy, calling for accountability and reparations as essential components of pursuing true justice, stressing the urgent need to address systemic racism and discrimination faced by people of African descent, both historically and in contemporary society.

“It is incumbent upon States, institutions, and individuals to acknowledge their roles in perpetuating these legacies of injustice – and to take meaningful steps towards reparatory justice,” he said.

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Dennis Francis, President of the General Assembly, addresses a commemorative meeting to mark the International Day of Remembrance of The Victims of Slavery and The Transatlantic Slave Trade

Echoes continue today

Also on Monday, Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet of the Secretary-General, delivered a message on behalf of the UN chief, further amplifying the call for remembrance and justice.

Reading the Secretary-General’s message, Mr. Rattray echoed the sentiments of honouring the millions who suffered under the brutal regime of slavery.

“For four hundred years, enslaved Africans fought for their freedom, while colonial powers and others committed horrific crimes against them,” he said.

“Many of those who organized and ran the Transatlantic slave trade amassed huge fortunes,” he continued, noting that the enslaved were deprived of education, healthcare, opportunity, and prosperity.

“This laid the foundations for a violent discrimination system based on white supremacy that still echoes today.”

Mr. Rattray underscored the need for reparatory justice frameworks to help overcome generations of exclusion and discrimination, urging united effort towards a world free from racism, discrimination, bigotry and hate.

“Together, as we remember the victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, let’s unite for human rights, dignity and opportunity for all.”

This is being compounded by an increase in child and forced marriage, and the recruitment of boys by combatants in the continuing war between rival generals that erupted nearly a year ago.

All this is happening against the backdrop of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the country that has caused an unprecedented mass displacement of over nine million people.

Access to support for victims and survivors has reportedly deteriorated since December, eight months after the outbreak of conflict between Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Human Rights Council-appointed experts said.

Girls sold at ‘slave markets’

Young women and girls, including internally displaced persons, are reportedly being trafficked, they said.

“We are appalled by reports of women and girls being sold at slave markets in areas controlled by RSF forces and other armed groups, including in North Darfur,” the experts said.

Some of the cases of child and forced marriage are occurring due to family separation and gender-based violence, including rape and unwanted pregnancies. 

“Despite previous warnings to both Sudanese authorities and RSF representatives, we continue to receive reports of recruitment of children to actively participate in hostilities, including from a neighbouring country,” the experts said. 

“The recruitment of children by armed groups for any form of exploitation – including in combat roles – is a gross violation of human rights, a serious crime and a violation of international humanitarian law,” they said. 

Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are not UN staff and are independent of any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and receive no salary for their work.

Mass grave found in Libya highlights migrant horrors

A mass grave has been found in southwest Libya containing at least 65 migrants who are believed to have died while being smuggled through the desert.

According to the UN migration agency (IOM), which sounded the alarm on Friday, increasing numbers of people are dying on dangerous routes to northern Africa and beyond.

Without legal pathways for migrants, “such tragedies will continue to be a feature along this route,” the agency warned.

Questions remain

The circumstances are not clear surrounding the deaths of those found in the mass grave and their nationalities are also unknown. 

Libyan authorities had launched an inquiry, IOM said, urging the “dignified recovery, identification and transfer of the remains of the deceased migrants” and for their families to be notified.

According to the UN agency’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 3,129 people died or disappeared in 2023 along the so-called “Mediterranean route”. 

Even before the discovery of the mass grave, it was already the deadliest migratory route in the world.

Massive rise in displacement in DR Congo poses dire threat to children

A major upsurge in violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that has displaced at least 400,000 people in North Kivu since the beginning of the year is exposing children to unacceptable levels of violence, said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.

© WFP/Benjamin Anguandia

People displaced by conflict are living in a temporary camp near Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At-risk children must receive further protection to avoid more deaths, the agency added.

In the latest incident on Wednesday highlighting the spillover of the conflict into South Kivu province, an explosion in the town of Minova seriously injured four children who required hospital treatment.

Schoolchildren bombed

“It is tragic that at a busy time of day when many children were returning home from school, this explosion from a bomb maimed four innocent children,” said Katya Marino, UNICEF Deputy Representative to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The town is already under incredible strain with massive numbers of new arrivals of internally displaced people.”

More than 95,000 newly displaced people, half of whom are children, arrived in Minova in February as the conflict in North Kivu expanded.

Over the past week, UNICEF and local partners distributed essential household supplies in Minova to more than 8,300 newly displaced families. The area is now increasingly difficult to access with assistance, either by road or boat.

UNICEF has been assisting children affected by the conflict there with a package of basic but essential services since 2023 while supporting community-based networks to refer and protect children caught up in the fighting between numerous rebel groups and government forces.

Experts and UN leaders exchanged views about the best ways forward, centred on this year’s theme, A Decade of Recognition, Justice, and Development: Implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent. 

While the decade ends in 2024, much work remains to be done, General Assembly President Dennis Francis told the world body.

To galvanize action-based efforts, he announced a meeting focusing on the issue of reparatory justice, to be held on Monday on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, marked on 25 March.

People of African descent face many prejudices and injustices through legacies of slavery and colonialism, from police brutality to inequalities, he said, stressing that the world must take action to fully protect their human rights.

“Racism and racial discrimination are a flagrant violation of human rights,” he said. “It is morally wrong, has no place in our world and must therefore be roundly repudiated.”

UN chief slams ‘devastating’ legacies

The results of the legacy of enslavement and colonialism are “devastating”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement delivered by UN Chef de Cabinet Courtenay Rattray.

Pointing to opportunities stolen, dignity denied, rights violated, lives taken and lives destroyed, he said “racism is an evil infecting countries and societies around the world.”

While racism is “rife”, it impacts communities differently.

Action must dismantle inequalities

“People of African descent face a unique history of systemic and institutionalized racism, and profound challenges today,” the UN chief said. “We must respond to that reality, learning from and building on the tireless advocacy of people of African descent.”

Action must change that, he said, from governments advancing policies and other measures to eliminate racism against people of African descent to tech firms urgently addressing racial bias in artificial intelligence.

Violent history

Chef de Cabinet Mr. Rattray, speaking on his own behalf, reminded the world body that the International Day is observed annually on the day the police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid “pass laws” in 1960.

Since then, the apartheid system in South Africa has been dismantled, and racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries.

Today, a global framework for fighting racism is guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is now nearing universal ratification.

Ann Sophie Persson

Protesters gather in Times Square in New York City to demand justice and to protest racism in the United States following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, while in police custody. (file).

‘Commemoration is not enough’

However, Mr. Rattray said, racism is entrenched in social structures, policies and the realities of millions today, violating people’s dignity and rights while fuelling silent discrimination in health, housing, education and daily life.

“It is high time we shook ourselves free,” he said, calling for action.

“Commemoration is not enough. Eliminating discrimination requires action.”

That includes countries and businesses delivering reparatory justice, he said.

Also addressing the General Assembly were Ilze Brand Kehris, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights and June Soomer, Chair-designate of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

For full coverage of this and other official UN gatherings, visit UN Meetings Coverage, in English and French.

In an oral update to the Human Rights Council – UN’s paramount human rights body – Deputy High Commissioner Nada Al-Nashif said that DPRK (more commonly known as North Korea) was showing no signs of compliance.

“As there are no indications that the State will address impunity, it is imperative that accountability is pursued outside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” she said.

“This should be achieved first and foremost through referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC), or national level prosecutions in accordance with international standards under accepted principles of extraterritorial and universal jurisdiction,” she urged.

The deputy head of rights office OHCHR noted that non-judicial accountability was important.

“Moving ahead in tandem with criminal accountability efforts, non-judicial accountability is essential if victims are to receive some form of justice in their lifetime.”

Broad consultations

Ms. Al-Nashif said that in developing possible strategies, OHCHR had consulted widely in the past year with national and international judicial officials and practitioners, governments, civil society experts and academia.

Last month, for instance, the Office brought together experts in all aspects of accountability to a conference to discuss ways forward and best practices.

“This included criminal justice avenues and civil liability options as well as non-judicial forms of accountability such as truth-telling, memorialization, and reparations,” she said.

Raising awareness

The Deputy High Commissioner said OHCHR had dedicated extra resources in the past year towards raising awareness about the human rights situation in North Korea.

In April 2023, it published a landmark report on enforced disappearances and abductions, including of nationals from neighbouring Republic of Korea and Japan.

“The report illustrated the impact of the crime on victims and their families, and their demands and needs relating to accountability,” she said.

Protect escapees

Ms. Al-Nashif highlighted that those who escaped North Korea and victims of rights abuses are a vital source of information on the situation in the country as well as for any accountability processes.

“I continue to call on all relevant Member States to ensure that OHCHR has full and unhindered access to escapees,” she said.

She also urged all States to refrain from forcibly repatriating people to DPRK, and to provide them with protection and humanitarian support.

“Repatriation puts them at real risk of torture, arbitrary detention, or other serious human rights violations,” she cautioned.

In February 2021 the military overthrew the elected Government in Myanmar arresting hundreds of officials, political leaders and activists, including President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The takeover triggered an intensification of armed conflicts with separatists and opposition forces across the country, including indiscriminate air strikes which have killed numerous civilians.

There have been mass killings of detainees, including dismemberment and desecration of corpses, reports of rape and the deliberate burning of entire villages.

In the latter half of 2023, several armed resistance groups united in an alliance against the regime, attacking several key junta strongholds, pushing back the military and forcing soldiers to surrender.

Killings and suffering continue

Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews told members of the Human Rights Council – the UN’s paramount rights body – that despite some opposition successes, the junta remains “extremely dangerous”.

“The killing of civilians continues with sophisticated, powerful weapons of war obtained from abroad,” he added.

Over the last five months, there has been a five-fold increase in airstrikes against civilians. Across the country, about 2.7 million people are displaced and 18.6 million – including six million children – require humanitarian aid.

“Now the junta has begun a program of forced military recruitment, at times abducting young men on the streets. This is pushing young people into hiding, or to flee the country, or to join resistance forces – young people who are unwilling to be drafted into the junta’s campaign of brutality,” Mr. Andrews said.

Among the worst affected are members of the minority Muslim Rohingya community, who continue to be attacked and persecuted. Several hundred thousand Rohingya were forced to flee their homes in Rakhine state due to a widespread military operation in 2017, seeking refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.

Impacts beyond Myanmar

The Special Rapporteur said the actions of the junta are impacting not only the people of Myanmar but also the region and the wider world.

“Thousands of desperate people continue to flee into neighboring countries, while junta fighter jets have violated the airspace of Myanmar’s neighbors, bombs have landed across borders,” he said.

“International criminal networks have found safe haven in Myanmar, which is now the top opium producer in the world and a global center for cyber-scam operations that enslave tens of thousands and victimize untold numbers of people around the world.”

Violence must stop

He warned that the response of the international community to the developments in the Asian country using appeasement and engagement with the junta without conditions, is not working.

The “inevitable conclusion” is that for engagement to succeed, certain prerequisites are imperative, chiefly that the violence must stop.

“For this to become a reality, the international community must undermine the junta’s murderous campaign by denying it the weapons and the money it requires to carry on this campaign,” he said.

Mr. Andrews called for the “immediate convening” of a coalition of States to establish coordinated, targeted sanctions to protect Myanmar’s people.

Unsplash/Zinko Hein

People across ethnic and religious divides hold vigil in Yangon, Myanmar. (file)

Tide is turning

In addition, he highlighted three crucial steps, which must be taken urgently. These include ensuring humanitarian aid reaches those in desperate need, ending impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and investing in Myanmar’s transition.

“I urge support for those who are building a political framework that enfranchises Myanmar’s rich and diverse population, while affirming human rights, equality and justice as the pathway to peace,” he said.

“The tide is turning in Myanmar and it is turning because of the courage and tenacity of its people. It is time for the international community to pay attention to Myanmar and take the strong, coordinated action that will enable them to seize this moment,” Mr. Andrews concluded.

Independent human rights expert

Appointed by the Human Rights Council in 2020, Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews is tasked with impartially assessing, monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in Myanmar.

Special Rapporteurs serve in their individual capacity, independent of the UN system and national governments. They are not UN staff and draw no salary.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar was first established in 1992 under the then Commission on Human Rights and extended annually.