Archivo de la Categoría 'UN'

The Human Rights Council can help bring truth to Sri Lanka

Procession at the funeral of the Trinco 5, students killed by Sri Lankan security forces on 2 January 2006 © Private

By Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International

Kasippillai Manoharan listened to the frantic voice on the other end of the phone. His 20 year old son Ragihar said he was surrounded by troops. Then the phone went dead.

Desperately, the Sri Lankan doctor tried to return the call but there was no answer.

Minutes earlier, Ragihar and his friends were sitting on the seafront in the port town of Trincomalee in north eastern Sri Lanka when an auto-rickshaw drove by. Continuar leyendo ‘The Human Rights Council can help bring truth to Sri Lanka’ »

‘Dating Diplomats’: Diary of an arms trade lobbyist

For more than a decade, Amnesty International has lobbied for a global Arms Trade Treaty © Amnesty International

By Alberto Estevez, AI’s Lobbying Coordinator on the Arms Trade Treaty

In a vast, windowless conference hall, scores of people in suits sit behind row upon row of desks.
Their manner is deadly serious – and rightly so, as they’re part of a a debate that could save millions of lives.
Here at the UN in New York the discussion is about an Arms Trade Treaty which will be agreed in fewer than four months.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, injured, raped and forced to flee from their homes as a result of the irresponsible arms trade. Continuar leyendo ‘‘Dating Diplomats’: Diary of an arms trade lobbyist’ »

Protecting economic, social and cultural rights in Ireland – and internationally

Rosalind McKenna has been campaigning for Ireland to become party to the Optional Protocol for the last three years. (c) Amnesty International

Rosalind McKenna has been campaigning for Ireland to become party to the Optional Protocol for the last three years. (c) Amnesty International

By Rosalind McKenna, Coordinator, Human Rights in Ireland Programme,  Amnesty International Ireland,

Three years on from its adoption, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights needs five more countries to become parties to it before it comes into force. Rosalind McKenna, Amnesty International Ireland’s Human Rights in Ireland Coordinator, reflects on three years of campaigning – and the progress that is being made.

“We hope to be in a position to sign the Optional Protocol to the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights before the end of this year.” So spoke Ireland’s Justice Minister at the Human Rights Council on 6 October, to the delight of myself and everyone else who has been campaigning for this. Continuar leyendo ‘Protecting economic, social and cultural rights in Ireland – and internationally’ »

Derechos, no penalización, para niñas y mujeres, dice el experto de la ONU en salud

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Manifestación contra la prohibición del aborto en Nicaragua, 28 de septiembre de 2011. (c) Fondo Centro Americano de Mujeres

Por Stephanie Schlitt, investigadora y asesora de políticas en materia de género de Amnistía Internacional.
Hoy, en la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, el experto de la ONU en el derecho a la salud, Anand Grover, presentará un informe innovador, en el que se explica cómo los Estados están poniendo en peligro la vida y la salud de las mujeres y niñas como consecuencia de la imposición de leyes penales y otras restricciones legales poco acertadas, que niegan a la población femenina el acceso a información y servicios en materia de salud sexual y reproductiva, así como la capacidad de toma de decisiones sobre su vida sexual y reproductiva.
El informe concluye que las restricciones en la práctica del aborto y el uso de métodos anticonceptivos, la criminalización de la conducta de mujeres embarazadas (como, por ejemplo, la tipificación como delito del consumo de drogas durante el embarazo), así como las restricciones en el acceso a información sobre salud sexual y reproductiva, violan el derecho de las mujeres y niñas a la salud sexual y reproductiva. Este informe corrobora las conclusiones anteriores de expertos de la ONU, que afirman que este tipo de leyes constituyen un incumplimiento por parte de los Estados de sus obligaciones internacionales en materia de derechos humanos.

Continuar leyendo ‘Derechos, no penalización, para niñas y mujeres, dice el experto de la ONU en salud’ »