GENEVA, June 10, 2016 — UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental human rights organization, today called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UN human rights high commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power and EU foreign affairs commissioner Federica Mogherini to endorse an appeal to all 47 member states of the UN Human Rights Council to issue an amnesty to release their political prisoners on the occasion of the Council’s 10th anniversary, which is being celebrated in Geneva at a high level ceremony with the participation of all past presidents of the Council. Continuer la lecture →

China continues to generate controversy with its rapidly growing investments in Africa. However, new research reveals that some of the West’s biggest concerns over Chinese investment—its true size, its focus on natural resources, and its disregard for good governance—are not always well grounded. Continuer la lecture →

My name is Biram Dah Abeid. I have devoted my life to the struggle against slavery, impunity and injustice. It’s a promise I made to my father, who married a slave and whose family was ripped apart because of slavery. Today, I am writing to you from the prison cell I am kept in for speaking out to end this cruel trade. Continuer la lecture →

 I became a slave at age 5. Every day I looked after the herd. Every night I was raped by my master. I always thought, without understanding, that this was normal. Continuer la lecture →

Washington

Ten anti-slavery activists were arrested earlier this month in the town of Rosso, Mauritania — the country that has the highest rate of slavery in the world, according to a recent human rights group report.
Charged under Mauritania’s terrorism laws with incitement to racial hatred, the activists now await trial in the capital Nouakchott. There, authorities last week detained a further two human rights defenders — this time for organizing protests calling for the release of their fellow campaigners.  Continuer la lecture →