Posted by hpcr on March 28, 2014  |   Comment  |   Subscribe

[As part of its research and policy project on monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding, the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) at Harvard University aggregates news detailing recent developments in this domain. For more information about this project, visit the project’s web page.]

• Sheila Keetharuth, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, traveled to Germany to meet with Tzeggai Yohannes, the Chairman of the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change, to document the worsening human rights situation in Eritrea.
• Margaret Ssekaggya, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, has asked the Ugandan government to improve the human rights environment in the country.
• Benue Youths in Diaspora have requested a commission of inquiry to investigate the involvement of external forces and killings in Benue state in Nigeria.
• Richard Falk, UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, has urged the International Court of Justice to assess the legal status of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
• Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, in a recent report, highlighted human rights violations committed in Iran — particularly against minority and ethnic groups, such as Ahwazi Arabs and Kurds — and condemned the recent execution of Ahwazi Arabs activists.
• Ruki Fernando and Father Praveen Mahesan, who were arrested last week in Sri Lanka under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, have been released by the government.
• Christof Heyn, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, after visiting Papua New Guinea, denounced Papua New Guinea’s human rights record and requested that an efficient human rights body is created in the country.