Globally, more than 40 million people are subject to modern forms of slavery — 71 per cent of them women and girls — a grave human rights situation exacerbated by gender inequality, poverty, cultural norms and discriminatory laws that demand change, the Special Rapporteur on the topic told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian, Cultural) today.
Thousands of trans and gender-diverse persons are subjected to levels of violence that “offend the human conscience”, the first United Nations expert on the topic told the Third Committee today, as delegates engaged with mandate holders on the promotion and protection of human rights.
With an economy in free fall, 70 per cent youth unemployment, widely contaminated drinking water and a collapsed health care system, Gaza has become “unliveable”, the Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, insisting that all parties — particularly Israel — bring an end to “this disaster”.
So-called “sensitivities” and relativist arguments invoking culture do not absolve States from their human rights obligations, the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates sparred with experts over country-specific mandates for situations in Myanmar and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Women and girls with disabilities face grave violations of sexual and reproductive rights, including forced abortions and sterilizations, Catalina Devandas, Special Rapporteur on the topic, told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates engaged her and other mandate holders on how best to promote and protect human rights.
The world has been fundamentally reordered by widespread neoliberal economics that has privatized basic public goods — social protections, education, pensions and criminal justice among them — with often disastrous impacts on the human rights of the extremely poor, experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today.
The recent “shocking” case of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi is only one of thousands of enforced disappearances and the international community must stand firm in denouncing such crimes, the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) heard today as it continued its debate on human rights.
A shift in States’ legal obligations when countering terrorism, the negative impacts of unilateral coercive measures and the right to development were among the many topics experts covered in briefings to the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates engaged with them in lively interactive dialogues.
Seventy years after the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, extremism and intolerance are overshadowing moves towards democracy, delegates told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) in continued debate on the promotion and protection of human rights today.
Early warnings must trigger rapid responses to human rights abuses, the top United Nations human rights official told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as it began its deliberations on the promotion and protection of human rights.
