Michelle Bachelet

The coronavirus pandemic should not be an excuse for human rights abuses, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned today.

The Association of Defence Counsel Practising Before the International Courts and Tribunals urged the UN's Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Friday to free elderly war crime convicts to help ensure that they are not infected with the COVID-19 virus.

Syrian government air strikes backed by Russia have hit hospitals and displaced persons camps in northwest Syria and killed about 300 civilians as President Bashar al-Assad's forces press an assault against the last rebel stronghold, the United Nations said on Feb. 18.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed outrage for the release of a UN list that names and shames more than 100 companies that operate in the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations' human rights office on Feb. 12 named 112 companies it said have business ties to Jewish settlements in the West Bank, angering Israel and prompting a Palestinian threat of legal action against the firms.   

The United Nations has warned violence in Bolivia could "spin out of control" following recent skirmishes between security forces and coca farmers loyal to ousted President Evo Morales that have left nine dead.

The UN chief for human rights said she was "deeply shocked" by the conditions in which migrants and refugees are held in custody centers in the United States after reports of heavy overcrowding and disease-spreading cells.

President Rumen Radev goes to Geneva to participate in the 41st Session of the UN Human Rights Council. Bulgaria is a member for the first time since the establishment of the intergovernmental body.

On 24 and 25 June, President Rumen Radev will visit the Swiss Confederation for the 41st Session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Minister Delegate for European Affairs George Ciamba had a meeting in Geneva on Thursday with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, in which he voiced Romania's firm commitment as holder of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union to promote respect for human rights, to combat hate speech, anti-Semitism, racism, and intolerance.