MICHELLE BACHELET

An envoy from China’s Xinjiang province says Chinese authorities are ready for a “fight” with “anti-China” critics in the West and elsewhere over allegations of rights abuses in the anti-extremism campaign against Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups in the region.

Diplomats and human rights advocates speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly are calling for forceful action on China's alleged persecution of ethnic minorities.

As world leaders gather in New York next week for the annual U.N. General Assembly, China is also focusing on another U.N.-related meeting in Geneva.

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has offered a broad accounting of millions of dollars under his control and took credit for social programs benefiting people across the troubled South American country.

Nada al-Nashif, the acting U.N. high commissioner for human rights, laid out rights concerns about more than 30 countries, regions and territories including Ethiopia, Ukraine, Myanmar and Haiti in an opening speech to the latest session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “In the face of soaring energy prices which threaten to impact the most vulnerable as winter approaches, some EU member states are turning to investments in fossil fuels infrastructure and supplies,” al-Nashif said. “There is no room for backtracking in the face of the ongoing climate crisis,” she said. EU nations have been looking to tap new sources of natural gas to help them wean themselves off supplies from Russia. The four-week autumn session at the council, which brings together 47 U.N. member states, is expected to take up “country situations” in many places including Afghanistan, Congo, Myanmar, Ukraine and Venezuela.

The acting U.N. human rights chief has urged European Union member states to avoid “backtracking” on their efforts to develop renewables and energy-efficiency projects at a time when soaring energy prices have prompted some to ramp up use of and searches for fossil fuels

A top Chinese diplomat says China can’t work with the U.N. human rights office after it released a report criticizing Beijing’s policies against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in western Xinjiang.

Türk will replace Michelle Bachelet of Chile as high commissioner for human rights, based in Geneva. China blasted the report, accusing the U.N. rights office of fabrication and allowing itself to be used by Western nations. Tuerk can also expect to face pressure from human rights activists. From 2015 to 2019 he was assistant high commissioner for protection where he focused on developing the Global Compact on Refugees. From 2019 until January 2022, Türk served as assistant secretary-general for strategic coordination in Guterres’ office.

The U.N. General Assembly has approved veteran Austrian diplomat Volker Türk to be the global body’s human rights chief and the world’s advocate for adherence to the universal rights at a time when the office is facing harsh criticism from China for accusing Beijing of abuses against Muslim minorities.

The U.N. chief says in a new report that North Korea has increased its repression of the rights and freedoms of its people and the U.N. Security Council should consider referring the country to the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity

The U.N.’s long-delayed report on mass detentions and other rights abuses against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in China's far-western Xinjiang region has been welcomed by survivors as an acknowledgement of abuses they say they faced at the hands of the Chinese state.

China is responding furiously to a United Nations report on alleged human rights abuses in its northwestern Xinjiang region targeting Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim ethnic minorities.

The U.N. accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity” in a long-delayed report examining a crackdown on Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups.

The United Nations human rights chief has released a long-delayed report, concluding that "serious" human rights violations have been committed against Uyghurs and other minorities in the region.

The closely watched review faced criticism from both human rights advocates, who worried it would whitewash state-sponsored abuses, and Chinese officials, who called the investigation politically motivated and unfair.

GENEVA — (AP) — China's discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity, the U.N. human rights office said in a long-awaited report released Wednesday. It was unexpected to break significant new ground beyond sweeping findings from independent advocacy groups and journalists who have documented concerns about human rights in Xinjiang for years. But Bachelet’s report comes with the imprimatur of the United Nations, and the member states that make it up. Hours before the release, China’s U.N. ambassador, Zhang Jun, said Beijing remained “firmly opposed” to the release. Some countries, including the United States, have accused Beijing of committing genocide in Xinjiang.

The report was unexpected to break significant new ground beyond sweeping findings from independent advocacy groups and journalists who have documented concerns about human rights in Xinjiang for years. But Bachelet’s report comes with the imprimatur of the United Nations, and the member states that make it up. Hours before the release, China’s U.N. In June, Bachelet said she would not seek a new term as rights chief, and promised the report would be released by her departure date on Aug. 31. She hinted last week her office might miss her deadline, saying it was “trying” to release it before her exit.

“We haven’t seen this report yet, but we are completely opposed to such a report, we do not think it will produce any good to anyone," Zhang told reporters outside the Security Council. But Bachelet’s report comes with the imprimatur of the United Nations, and the member states that make it up. In June, Bachelet said she would not seek a new term as rights chief, and promised the report would be released by her exit date on Aug. 31. That led to a swell of back-channel campaigns — including letters from civil society, civilians and governments on both sides of the issue. She hinted last week her office might miss her deadline, saying it was “trying” to release it before her exit.

A long-awaited report from the U.N. human rights office says China’s discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang may constitute crimes against humanity.

GENEVA — (AP) — The outgoing U.N. human rights chief suggested Thursday that her office may not make good on her promise to release its long-awaited report on China’s Xinjiang region by the end of her term next week. The final months of Bachelet’s term have been overshadowed by extended delays in releasing the report about Xinjiang, which many Geneva diplomats believed to be nearly completed a year ago. Bachelet said her office — as is common practice when the U.N. rights office reports on countries — has informed China about its “findings” and officials have come back with a “substantial” number of comments. Independent human rights groups have denounced what Beijing has called vocational centers for ethnic Uyghurs and other minority groups as detention centers, while some countries including the United States have accused Beijing of committing genocide in Xinjiang. She said her office had received “huge numbers” of letters, starting as early as year ago, requesting the publication of the report on Xinjiang — and in recent months she received a letter from about 40 countries including China “asking for non-publication” of the report.

The outgoing U.N. human rights chief has suggested her office won’t make good on her promise to release its long-awaited report on China’s Xinjiang region by the end of her term next week

Myanmar has carried out its first executions in nearly 50 years, hanging a former lawmaker, a democracy activist and two other political prisoners who had been accused of a targeted killing after the country’s military takeover last year.

The United Nations says the first 10 years of Syria’s conflict, which began in 2011, killed more than 300,000 civilians

Hundreds of people, mostly ethnic Amhara, were slaughtered in a village and its surroundings this month in the latest explosion of ethnic violence in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation.

Switzerland Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, delivers her statement during the opening day of the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, June 13, 2022. Bachelet used her opening address to the summer session of the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council to say that her comments on Monday “will be the last which I brief” the 47-member-state body. Rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani confirmed that meant that Bachelet, a former president of Chile, would not be seeking a new term after the current one ends on Aug. 31. In it, the groups accused her of having “whitewashed the Chinese government’s human rights atrocities” during her visit. On Monday, she said she had raised “human rights violations in the context of China’s policies for countering terrorism and safeguarding national security” as well as protections for ethnic minorities, women and human rights “in the digital space” and business.

The U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, says she will not seek a new four-year term after the current one that has been overshadowed by criticism of her response to China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang

United Nations Human Rights FILE - Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks during a news conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Dec. 9, 2020. Bachelet, said Monday, June 13, 2022 she will not seek a new four-year term after the current one that has been overshadowed by criticism of her response to China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File) (Martial Trezzini)GENEVA — (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said Monday she will not seek a new four-year term after the current one that has been overshadowed by criticism of her response to China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang. Bachelet made the comments in her opening address to the latest session of the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, saying that her comments to the session “will be the last which I brief” the 47-member-state body. Rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani confirmed that meant that Bachelet, a former president of Chile, would not be seeking a second four-year term when the current one ends on Aug. 31.

China’s security state is increasingly devoting vast resources to policing the private lives of socially active people with views it deems problematic.

Michelle Bachelet, the first U.N. human rights chief to visit China since 2005, was criticized for not speaking out more forcefully against the crackdown in Xinjiang.

The top U.N. human rights official said Saturday that she raised concerns with Chinese officials about the impact of measures on the rights of Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang region.

China United Nations Human Rights In this image made from online video, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet speaks during an online press conference in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong Province, Saturday, May 28, 2022. Bachelet is on a six-day visit to China that includes Xinjiang, a region where the Chinese government has been accused of human rights violations. It's uncertain whether China's ruling Communist Party, which has vehemently denied all reports of human rights violations and genocide in Xinjiang, would change its polices. “It is critical that counterterrorism responses do not result in human rights violations,” she said. “Your advocacy matters.”The U.N. and China agreed to set up a working group to hold follow-up discussions on a range of issues, including the rights of minorities, counterterrorism and human rights, and legal protection, Bachelet said.

The top U.N. human rights official says she raised concerns with Chinese officials about the impact of counterterrorism and deradicalization measures on the rights of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups in China’s Xinjiang region.

An Algerian military officer-turned-democracy activist has been deported from Spain and charged in Algeria in a case that human rights groups see as another sign of an ever-expanding crackdown on dissent.

A leaked cache of thousands of photos and official documents, titled “The Xinjiang Police Files,” reveal new information surrounding China’s detainment of its Uyghur population. An anonymous hacker allegedly downloaded and decrypted the secret files from a number of police computer servers in Xinjiang before handing them to Dr. Adrian Zenz, a U.S.-based scholar who has previously published research on Xinjiang. Zenz published the details in a paper for the Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies on Tuesday.

China United Nations Human Rights In this photo taken May 24, 2022 and released by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) , United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, second from left, holds a virtual meeting with Vice Minister Du Hangwei of the Ministry of Public Security, seen on screen at right, in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province. (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights via AP) (Uncredited)BEIJING — (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping defended China's record to the top U.N. human rights official Wednesday, saying each nation should be allowed to find its own path based on its particular circumstances and criticizing those countries that lecture others on human rights and politicize the issue. “Through long-term and persistent hard work, China has successfully embarked on a path of human rights development that conforms to the trend of the times and suits its own national conditions,” Xi told U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet in a video call, according to an online report from state broadcaster CCTV. Bachelet is in the middle of a six-day visit to China that includes stops in Xinjiang, a remote northwestern region where the Chinese government has been accused of human rights violations and genocide against the Uyghurs and other ethnic groups. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has defended China’s record to the top U.N. human rights official, criticizing countries that he said lecture others on human rights and politicize the issue.

The U.S., Britain and other countries “jumped out and spared no effort to disrupt and sabotage the visit, creating conditions and obstacles for the visit," Wang said. Bachelet's trip is the first to China by a U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2005. “Wang noted that to advance the international cause of human rights, we must first respect each other and refrain from politicizing human rights." “Multilateral human rights institutions should serve as a major venue for cooperation and dialogue rather than a new battlefield for division and confrontation," it said. “Human rights are a fundamental part of the international order and Germany is committed to protecting them worldwide," Baerbock said.

China United Nations Human Rights In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, meets with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province on Monday, May 23, 2022. (Deng Hua/Xinhua via AP) (Deng Hua)BEIJING — (AP) — China's foreign minister met with the U.N.'s top human rights official on her visit to the country and shared with her that China opposes “politicizing” human rights and imposing double standards, its foreign ministry said. “Wang noted that to advance the international cause of human rights, we must first, respect each other and refrain from politicizing human rights." the Foreign Ministry said in a news release posted on its website. “Multilateral human rights institutions should serve as a major venue for cooperation and dialogue rather than a new battlefield for division and confrontation," the ministry said.

China says the U.S.

China on Tuesday said the U.S., Britain and other foreign powers are seeking to sabotage its foreign relations by orchestrating criticism surrounding a trip by the top United Nations official for human rights. China has long held back the fact-finding mission led by Michelle Bachelet, focused on allegations of mass confinement, forced labor and compulsory birth control measures imposed on members of the Uyghur, Kazakh and other Muslim minorities. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin went on the offensive over such criticisms Tuesday, saying “the U.S., Britain and other Western countries have been repeatedly staging political farces around the U.N. high commissioner for human rights’ visit to China."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says that Washington's "one-China policy" toward Taiwan "has not changed," after President Joe Biden said the US was willing to defend the island militarily from a Chinese invasion.

Gangs are fighting each other and seizing territory in Haiti's capital with a new intensity and brutality.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will start her six-day visit on Monday, her office said Friday. It will be the first such visit to China by a U.N. high commissioner for human rights since 2005, Bachelet's office said. A five-member advance team arrived in China on April 25 to prepare for Bachelet's visit, traveling to Guangzhou and Xinjiang. Bachelet announced in March that her office reached an agreement with China’s government that she could visit Xinjiang. Almost 200 rights groups have urged Bachelet to release her report, which diplomats have said has been ready — or very close to it — for months.

The United Nations’ top human rights official will visit China next week on a trip that will take her to the Xinjiang region, where rights groups and some Western governments allege the Chinese government is committing genocide and serious abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities

U_N_ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging the world to unite and end the war in Ukraine, calling it senseless, ruthless and “limitless in its potential for global harm.”

For the first time, key players seeking accountability for atrocities during the Ukraine war have come together at an informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council to spur investigations into abuses that many Western countries blame on Russia.

GENEVA — (AP) — A United Nations team has landed in China ahead of a long-delayed visit by the U.N. human rights chief to Xinjiang, where rights groups and some Western governments allege the Chinese government is committing genocide and serious abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. The U.N. human rights office said Tuesday its staffers arrived in southern China on Monday to prepare for the visit by High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, expected in May. Bachelet announced in March that her office reached an agreement with China's government that she could visit Xinjiang in far-western China. The rights chief has long talked about hoping to visit Xinjiang, and her office has also been compiling a long-awaited report into alleged human rights abuses in the region. The advance team is in China to make sure that Bachelet would gain “meaningful access” to fully understand the human rights situation in China, Throssell said.

Russia Ukraine War Human Rights FILE - Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaks to the media about the Tigray region of Ethiopia during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 3, 2021. The office uses strict methodology and has long acknowledged that its confirmed figures are far short of the real numbers. On April 9, U.N. human rights officers visiting Bucha documented the unlawful killing, including by summary execution, of some 50 civilians, her office said. The human rights office said detention of civilians “has become a widespread practice” in areas controlled by Russian forces and affiliated groups, with 155 such cases reported so far. ___Follow all AP stories on Russia's war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraineCopyright 2022 The Associated Press.

The United Nations’ human rights office has pointed to what it says is growing evidence of war crimes since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, declaring that humanitarian law appears to have been “tossed aside.”

APTOPIX Russia Ukraine War Internally displaced people from Mariupol and nearby towns arrive at a refugee center fleeing from the Russian attacks, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Thursday, April 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) (Leo Correa)BERLIN — The U.N. human rights chief says that international humanitarian law appears to have been “tossed aside” in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Human rights advocates have counted 32 cases under the new law by late April, targeting those critical of the invasion. India abstained when the U.N. General Assembly voted this month to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council. Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not joined sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The main opposition organization in military-ruled Myanmar has urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to act strongly to restore democracy in the Southeast Asian nation, saying that the international community should put sanctions and other pressures on the country’s generals

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met with the de facto rulers of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in efforts to ease gasoline prices as the West grapples with economic headwinds from Russia’s war in Ukraine.

More than 12,500 people in Myanmar have been detained, at least 440,000 have been displaced and about 14 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, the report says.

Poland Russia Ukraine War A mother and her child, fleeing Ukraine, wait to board a bus at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Poland, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Ben Wallace said Russian forces are already “exhausted” after facing logistical problems and suffering thousands of losses in the first 13 days of fighting. The United Nations has called the situation the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. __CANBERRA, Australia — The Australian government says it is placing sanctions on Moscow’s “propagandists and purveyors of disinformation” who legitimatize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had been accompanied by a widespread disinformation campaign, both within Russia and internationally, she said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the largest conflict that Europe has seen since World War II, with Russia conducting a multi-pronged offensive across the country.

GENEVA — (AP) — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Thursday for the U.N. human rights office to release a report it has compiled on the situation of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Baerbock said in a video speech to the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that the global body needs “more transparency.”“We encourage the High Commissioner (for Human Rights) to publish your report on the detention of members of the Muslim Uyghur community – and we call on Beijing to allow unfettered access,” she said. Diplomats in Geneva have said the report on the situation in China's western Xinjiang province has been ready — or very close to it — for months. U.N. right chief Michelle Bachelet’s office has acknowledged delays in the release. All rights reserved.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Thursday for the U.N. human rights office to release a report it has compiled on the situation of the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Baerbock said in a video speech to the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that the global body needs “more transparency.”

Russian forces have stepped up their attacks on several Ukrainian cities, with a huge convoy of Russian tanks and armored vehicles on a road to the capital, Kyiv, and fighting intensifying there and in other population centers.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he plans to open an investigation “as rapidly as possible” into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine

Russia Ukraine War People lie on the floor in the improvised bomb shelter in a sports center, which can accommodate up to 2000 people, in Mariupol, Ukraine, late Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) (Evgeniy Maloletka)The latest on the Russia-Ukraine war:GENEVA — The head of the United Nations refugee agency says more than a half a million people had fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on Thursday. He also declined to spell out Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to put Russian nuclear forces on high alert. ___UNITED NATIONS — The two major bodies in the United Nations will hold separate meetings Monday on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Belarus has been providing support for Russia’s war effort, but so far has not taken a direct part in the conflict.

APTOPIX Germany Syria Torture Trial Syrian women Yasemine, center, who lost her father and brother in Syria, reacts after the verdict in front of the court in Koblenz, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. The verdict Thursday in the landmark trial has been keenly anticipated by Syrians who suffered abuse or lost relatives in the country’s long-running conflict. “The verdict is a breakthrough for Syrian victims and the German justice system in cracking the wall of impunity,” she added. “The goal remains to bring senior Assad associates, such as former Air Force Intelligence chief Jamil Hassan, to justice for their crimes,” said Kroker. Conservative estimates put the number of those detained or forcibly disappeared in Syria at 149,000, more than 85% of them at the hands of the Syrian government, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Most eligible Chilean voters stayed home for the first round of presidential voting.

The U_N_ human rights chief says if insecurity in Burkina Faso keeps up, the West African country could spiral into a humanitarian and human rights “catastrophe.”.

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has sentenced U.S. journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison with hard labor.

UN Human Rights Sudan FILE - Sudan's head of the military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, speaks during a press conference at the General Command of the Armed Forces in Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. She made the comments during an urgent session of the organization’s top human rights body about Sudan on Friday after the military coup there nearly two weeks ago. The Human Rights Council debate is taking place while the U.N. still recognizes the ambassador from the deposed Sudanese government as the country’s official representative in Geneva. "Fundamentally, this is about respect for democracy and human rights," Simon Manley, Britain’s ambassador in Geneva, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press. Human Rights Council spokesperson Rolando Gomez said a provision remained intact to create a “special rapporteur” to monitor the situation in Sudan for one year.

The United Nation’s top human rights official has condemned actions by military leaders following a coup in Sudan and says that excessive use of force by security forces has left at least 13 people dead and more than 300 injured.

U.N. says atrocities in "reckless" war between Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels "may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," as the U.S. urges citizens to pack their bags.

The U.N. human rights chief says Ethiopia’s yearlong war has been marked by “extreme brutality" as a joint investigation into alleged atrocities faults all sides for committing abuses.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Glasgow "is not the end of the road" and countries must keep raising their targets over the coming years.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Glasgow "is not the end of the road" and countries must keep raising their targets over the coming years.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Glasgow "is not the end of the road" and countries must keep raising their targets over the coming years.

Countries participating in an upcoming climate summit in Scotland are being called on to fulfill their Paris Accord pledges.

Countries participating in an upcoming climate summit in Scotland are being called on to fulfill their Paris Accord pledges.

Countries participating in an upcoming climate summit in Scotland are being called on to fulfill their Paris Accord pledges.

BERLIN — (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights official called Thursday for countries to act decisively on climate change, saying it is a “matter of survival” for humanity. “This is a human rights obligation and a matter of survival,” she said. Still, the veteran diplomat tried to strike an upbeat note ahead of the summit, which brings together tens of thousands of officials, scientists and climate activists. “I head to Glasgow as an optimist," he said in a speech Thursday at the London School of Economics. ___Follow AP's coverage of the climate summit at http://apnews.com/hub/climateCopyright 2021 The Associated Press.

The U.N.‘s top human rights official and U.S. President Joe Biden’s envoy to this year’s climate summit called Thursday for countries to step up the fight against global warming.

Warplanes attacked Turkey-backed opposition fighters in northern Syria on Sunday, killing and wounding about 20, an opposition war monitor and pro-government media said. The airstrike struck a position in an area near the town of Afrin. It came amid increasing tensions between government forces and insurgent groups who still have a stronghold in northwestern Syria, mainly in the province of Idlib.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has bracketed Myanmar with Afghanistan and Ethiopia as nations where peace and stability remain a distant dream.

The World Bank has dropped a popular report that ranked countries by how welcoming they are to businesses after allegations that it bowed to pressure from China and other governments.

The U.N. humanitarian chief says $1.2 billion has been promised to help Afghans facing a growing humanitarian crisis in the country and millions in the region, calling the pledges “an important step” toward helping the needy.

U.S. President Joe Biden says he will stick with his Aug. 31 deadline for finishing a U.S.-led evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others.

Tens of thousands have fled their homes in northern Afghanistan in recent days to escape fighting.

Human rights and press freedom activists are up in arms about a new report on NSO Group, the notorious Israeli hacker-for-hire company.

Cuban officials have rallied tens of thousands of supporters in the streets nearly a week after they were stunned by the most widespread protests in decades.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked his Southeast Asian counterparts to press for an end to violence in Myanmar, its return to a democratic path and the release of all political prisoners.

The seaside condominium that collapsed in Florida this week was a true reflection of Miami’s international mix — South American immigrants, Orthodox Jews, foreign retirees.

The top U.N. human rights body has passed a resolution aimed to intensify scrutiny of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Human rights groups and Western nations led by the United States, Britain and Germany are accusing China of massive crimes against the Uyghur minority and demanding unimpeded access for U.N. experts.

One hundred days since their takeover, Myanmar’s ruling generals maintain just the pretense of control over the country.

The guilty verdict in the trial over George Floyd's death was not just celebrated in America.

AdEthiopia continues to deny the Eritreans’ presence, even as senior officials with the interim Tigray government that Ethiopia appointed are increasingly outspoken about them. The Telegraph, citing witnesses, has reported one in Debre Abay. CNN, citing witnesses, has reported one in Dengelat. Even as it announced the limited media access, Ethiopia warned journalists to essentially behave themselves. An access map published this week by the U.N. humanitarian agency showed much of Tigray inaccessible beyond major roads and cities.

According to the U.N. report, at least 133 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia in 2020, a 23% increase from 2019. The United Nations also registered 76 massacres across the country last year, which are defined as events in which three or more civilians are executed at once. AdThe report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet. The United Nations urged Colombia’s government to increase its presence in these areas to protect civilians and bring down violence. Critics of his government have said that it has been slow at implementing some aspects of the peace deal, including the coca substitution projects.

Francisco Vera, 11, who is well-known in Colombia for his environmental campaigns and defense of children's rights, gives an interview in Villeta, Colombia, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021. The 11-year old activist who received a death threat over Twitter, says that he will continue to lead campaigns and urged other young people to use social media to support causes they believe in. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)VILLETA – A social media death threat aimed at an 11-year-old environmental activist has roused outrage in Colombia, a nation where attacks on social leaders are common and threats are taken seriously. Colombian officials said they are investigating the death threat against Francisco Vera and President Ivan Duque recently promised in a television appearance that his government would find “the bandits” behind the Twitter message. She said a town official suggested shutting down her son’s social media account, but she prefers to let him decide whether to stop campaigning.

Santana, who runs an organization that helps community leaders fleeing violence to settle in Bogota, is one of the thousands of activists assigned some sort of government protection. The Afro-Colombian community leader sometimes she uses a hat or a turban for disguise. Last year 120 community leaders were murdered in Colombia according to the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, up from 107 a year earlier. Now 46, he's spent half of his life promoting human rights and fighting against illegal mining and corruption in his province. The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, recently urged the government to increase protection for activists in rural areas.

In this fragile refugee community on the edge of Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict, those who have fled nearly two months of deadly fighting continue to bring new accounts of horror. “So if I go to Tigray, they would pick up that I’m Amhara because Amhara is not a part of them. For Tewodros, the conflict has been one civilian casualty after another since shelling began in early November as he worked at a hospital in Humera. Ethiopia's prime minister often speaks of “medemer,” or national unity, Tewodros said, in a country with more than 80 ethnic groups. In this conflict that remains so much in the shadows, he now relies on strangers to know their fate.

Others say it was Tigrayan forces and their allies who were responsible. In Sudan, where nearly 50,000 people have fled, one ethnic Amhara refugee gave The Associated Press a similar account. “Anyone they found, they would kill,” Tesfaalem Germay, an ethnic Tigrayan who fled to Sudan with his family, said of Ethiopian and Amhara forces. But another refugee, Abebete Refe, told the AP that many ethnic Amhara like him who stayed behind were massacred by Tigrayan forces. In Mai-Kadra, witnesses told the visiting Ethiopian rights commission they saw police, militia and members of a Tigray youth group attack Amhara.

Protests in Belarus have continued for almost four months after President Alexander Lukashenko won his sixth term in office in an election the opposition says was rigged. Police in Minsk said they detained more than 300 people. The Viasna human rights group released the names of 215 people detained in Minsk and other cities, where rallies also took place. At least four journalists have been detained in Minsk and the western city of Grodno, according the Belarusian Association of Journalists. On Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement that the situation with human rights in Belarus is getting worse.

Riot police block Belarusian pensioners wearing face masks to protect against coronavirus during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Monday, Nov. 30, 2020. (AP Photo)GENEVA – The United Nations' human rights chief lamented a deteriorating situation in Belarus and said Friday that reported beatings of protesters by security forces may in some cases amount to torture. Police have cracked down hard on the largely peaceful demonstrations, using stun grenades, tear gas and truncheons to disperse protesters. Thousands of people have been detained and many of them badly beaten since the protests began, human rights advocates say. Opposition leaders in Belarus have sought discussions with the government about a transfer of power or a new election, which Lukashenko has rejected.

Tigray women who fled a conflict in the Ethiopia's Tigray region, wait to receive aid at Village 8, the transit centre near the Lugdi border crossing, eastern Sudan, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020. Meanwhile, hundreds if not thousands of people have been killed, some 40,000 people have fled into Sudan and the U.N. says 2 million people in the sealed-off Tigray region urgently need help. I mean, our goal is a quick end to the conflict," Nagy told reporters late last week. In a rare intervention on an African issue, Trump told the State Department to suspend millions of dollars of aid to Ethiopia and asserted that Egypt would “blow up” the dam. But where Ethiopia will be by the time Biden takes office two months from now is unknown.

Ethnic Tigrayans arrested, in hiding or cut off from the world. Ethiopia’s deadly conflict is spilling beyond its northern Tigray region and turning identity into a mortal threat. Ethnic Tigrayans report being questioned and threatened. “I’m really afraid this might lead to ethnic attacks on Tigrayans,” said Mekonnen, who leads an association of ethnic Tigrayans. With such concerns rising, the international community has begun to highlight the threat of ethnic targeting in its warnings about Ethiopia’s conflict and its pleas for peace.