News headlines in 2022, page 121

A powerful new sculpture unveiled at UN Headquarters on Wednesday honours the memory and mission of two human rights experts who were murdered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) five years ago. 

MADRID, Aug 03 (IPS) - Human beings have proved to be capable of producing innumerable practical inventions while much too often making the worst use of them. Take the case, per example, of how criminal groups heavily rely on digital platforms to trap and enslave their victims also for extracting and selling their organs.

As the war in Ukraine continues to rage, skyrocketing energy prices are compounding an existential cost-of-living crisis for hundreds of millions of people, the UN chief said on Wednesday, introducing the third is a series of briefings from the Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on Food, Energy and Finance.

Every effort must be made to support the Yazidi community in Iraq, the United Nations said on Wednesday, marking eight years since the extremist group ISIL launched a brutal assault on the religious minority. 

A cohort of independent UN experts has called on the Human Rights Council to launch an international investigation into the massive explosion in Beirut two year ago, with a view to securing justice for those who died and were injured.

Amid growing restrictions on civic space and press freedoms in Cambodia, journalists are being increasingly subjected to various forms of harassment, pressure, and violence, according to a new report published on Wednesday by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

DAVAO CITY, Philippines, Aug 03 (IPS) - With the national election and transfer of power in the Philippines from outgoing President Duterte to incoming President Marcos Jr. in July 2022, it seems an appropriate time to briefly take stock of the country’s current demographic situation, as well as recent related developments.

The first, eagerly-awaited commercial shipment of grain to leave the Ukrainian port of Odesa since Russia’s invasion more than five months ago, was cleared to proceed to Lebanon on Wednesday, after a scheduled inspection stopover in Istanbul.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 03 (IPS) - A spike in state-sanctioned executions worldwide – including in Iran, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and more recently Myanmar – has triggered strong condemnations from the United Nations and several civil rights and human rights organizations.

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) denounced on Tuesday the hanging of two inmates in Changi Prison, located in the eastern part of Singapore.