Geography

By extending the mandate of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Iran for another year, the Human Rights Council has recognized that serious human rights violations continue to take place in the country, and that international attention on human rights should not be diverted by the ongoing nuclear negotiations.

In an irony of sorts, as its 28th session concludes today, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) has demonstrated its relevance as the main international human rights body only with regard to issues and countries – mass surveillance, the relationship between freedoms of expression and religion and, to some extent, Syria – in the face of which the international community has seemingly been in a stalemate.

Source: Aljazeera Meerut, India – The massacre took place on May 22, 1987, the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The families of Hashimpura – a predominantly Muslim locality in the city of […]

The Human Rights Council this afternoon closed its twenty-eighth session after it adopted eight texts, including on extending the mandate of the Independent Expert on Mali, on combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of persons based on religion or belief, on the prevention of genocide, and on the impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights. The Human Rights Council also elected four mandate holders.

Armanshahr/OPENASIA HR & Civil Society Newsletter – issue 111 year VII

On Thursday evening a horrifying event took place in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital. Alongside the Kabul River that winds through the city centre, a mob of men viciously attacked a woman named Farkhunda.

Updated each year, the A to Z Guide to Assistance in Afghanistan aims to enhance general understanding of the array of actors, structures, and government processes related to aid and reconstruction efforts in the country.

Displaced Afghan females face significant constraints to accessing education, health and employment opportunities, according to a new report by NRC. 7 out of 10 say they have never attended school.

The 47 Republican senators who wrote to Iranian leaders this month may have believed they were sabotaging the talks on a deal on Iran’s nuclear program, hoping it would exacerbate fears in Tehran that any such deal could be reversed by the next U.S. president.

The mentally ill woman, her face covered in blood, rose to her feet and looked out across the mob. She pleaded. But these men meant to kill her. A kick sent her tumbling backward. In the courtyard of one of Kabul’s most famous shrines, men hurled stones at her and struck her with wooden planks.