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UN rights chief says Myanmar’s junta committing crimes against humanity

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has accused Myanmar’s military junta of committing crimes against humanity, warning that the situation in the country seems to be heading toward a “fullblown” conflict in the wake of a February coup. Ms. Bachelet raised the alarm in a statement on April 13 and said expressing condemnations and imposing punitive measures...

Europe sees progress in latest rounds of Iran nuclear talks

VIENNA—European diplomats say the latest round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program has made progress, expressing hope that agreement can be reached for Tehran to comply with a 2015 deal aimed at curbing its atomic ambitions and also see the United States rejoin the accord. Enrique Mora, the European Union official who chaired the June 1 talks in Vienna, said...

UK food, hospitality firms hit by shortages, shoppers warned to brace for price hikes

Stock shortages have impacted over a quarter of food and hospitality businesses in the United Kingdom in recent weeks and shoppers were told to expect higher prices as the country’s supply chain crisis gets worse. Twenty-seven percent of food services and accommodation companies have experienced low stock levels and other sectors are also beginning to experience the same problems, according...

Israel settlement expansion ‘tramples’ on human rights law, experts contend

Israel’s plan to build thousands of new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has drawn strong condemnation from two independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council.  Settlement expansion “tramples” on human rights law, Special Rapporteurs Michael Lynk and Balakrishnan Rajagopal said in a statement on Nov. 3.  Solidifying a permanent presence Nearly 700,000 Israeli settlers are now living...

‘In 2022, Let’s Tax the Rich’: 10 billionaires added $402 billion to their fortunes in 2021

by Jake Johnson, CommonDreams.org “Heading into 2022, the 10 wealthiest individuals in the world are all worth more than $100 billion,” CNBC noted, citing the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which tracks and ranks the fortunes of the planet’s richest people. “History paints a bleak picture of what happens to extremely unequal societies.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus,...

UN labor agency cites concerns about China’s Xinjiang region

GENEVA—An annual report from the United Nations labor agency highlighted the work conditions of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang region, noting signs of “coercive measures” that deprive workers of free choice in selecting jobs. It also called on Beijing to provide more information about how it’s respecting their rights. The report from an International Labor Organization committee of...

Haitians protest rising insecurity; some burn a plane

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—Haitians took to the streets March 29 to protest rising insecurity, with demonstrations turning violent in the southern city of Les Cayes where people stormed the airport and attacked and burned a small plane owned by a U.S. missionary group. At least one person died, and five others were injured, including four police officers, in the confrontation between protesters...

Yazidis, displaced again, fear more strife in Iraqi homeland

by Rashid Yahya and Samya Kullab  ZAKHO, Iraq—Iraqis in a northern town still traumatized by memories of the Islamic State group feared more violence May 3, after hostilities between the military and a local militia erupted, people internally displaced by the fighting said. Tensions reached a fever pitch when Iraq’s military launched an offensive in Sinjar district May 1,  to...

37 migrants dead at Morocco-Spain land border amid police use of ‘violence,’ rights groups call for probe

Human rights groups in Spain and Morocco have demanded a probe into the deaths of at least 37 migrants after a mass attempt to scale the border fence into the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Africa. Authorities in Morocco said the migrants died on June 24 in a “stampede” after about 2,000 people tried to climb the iron fence that...

Step up protection for activists who challenge big business in Colombia

Activists who raise concerns about business projects in Colombia are under serious threat for speaking out, and UN human rights experts are urging the government to do much more to protect them.  “Serious threats, including death threats, are commonplace in Colombia for defenders who raise concerns about corporate activity, in particular in land-intensive industries,” said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation...