UN, 28 July 2014 – The shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane over
eastern Ukraine may amount to a war crime, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights today said today, releasing a new report
that details a total breakdown of law and order and a reign of fear and
terror inflicted by armed groups in the area.
“I would like to stress to all those involved in the conflict, including
foreign fighters, that every effort will be made to ensure that anyone
committing serious violations of international law, including war
crimes, will be brought to justice, no matter who they are,” Navi Pillay
said. “I urge all sides to bring to an end the rule of the gun and
restore respect for the rule of law and human rights.”
Israeli forces pounded Gaza on Wednesday, meeting stiff resistance from
Hamas Islamists and sending thousands of residents fleeing, as US
Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Israel cease-fire talks
had made some progress.
In a blow to Israel's economy and a
public relations coup for Hamas, US and European air carriers halted
flights to the Jewish state citing concern over a militant rocket from
Gaza that hit a house near Ben Gurion airport. Israel urged a rethink,
saying its air space was safe.
La recommandation faite à Kiev de mener l'opération militaire dans l'est de l'Ukraine selon les "normes internationales" peut être considérée comme un feu vert à poursuivre l'escalade du conflit, a déclaré mercredi le porte-parole de la diplomatie russe Alexandre Loukachevitch en commentant un nouveau rapport du Haut-Commissariat de l'Onu aux droits de l'homme (HCDH).
"Ce qui indigne le plus, c'est la recommandation hypocrite donnée aux autorités ukrainiennes d'effectuer leur opération antiterroriste «conformément aux normes internationales». Il s'agit de facto d'une autorisation à poursuivre le massacre de civils et l'escalade du conflit", lit-on dans le communiqué de M. Loukachevitch mis en ligne sur le site du ministère russe des Affaires étrangères.
18 February 2014 – There can no longer be any excuses for inaction
regarding rights abuses in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK), United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
said today, welcoming a UN-mandated report cataloguing crimes against
humanity of an “unimaginable scale” being committed in the country.
“In January 2013, I urged the international community to put much more
effort into tackling the human rights situation of people in DPRK. Two
months later, the Commission of Inquiry was duly established by the
Human Rights Council,” said Ms. Pillay in a press release.
GENEVA: Extremist Islamic groups in Syria are committing a "soaring" number of killings in the country's north that could amount to war crimes, the UN human rights office said on Thursday.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says that over the past two weeks her office has received reports of "a succession of mass executions of civilians and fighters who were no longer participating in hostilities in Aleppo, Idlib and Raqqa by hardline armed opposition groups in Syria, in particular by the" al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
She warned that such killings violate international humanitarian law, and the numbers of such violations are thought to be alarmingly high.