UN rights council rejects Eritrea's bid to end human rights investigation
Eritrea's rare bid to scrap the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on its human rights record was defeated on Friday, with only four votes in favour, 25 against, and 18 abstentions.
The move by Eritrea surprised some observers and marked one of the few times a state under active investigation tried to end such scrutiny through a formal vote.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the outcome, calling it 'an important message that the international community is not fooled by Eritrea's efforts to distract from, and discredit, independent human rights reporting on the country's dire rights record.'
Eritrea's motion argued that alleged rights violations were not systemic and blamed 'capacity constraints' common to other developing nations. But European states responded with a counter-resolution to extend the mandate for another year, which passed with ease.
In his latest report in June, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the UN-appointed special rapporteur and a Sudanese human rights lawyer, said Eritrea had shown 'no meaningful progress' on accountability.
He referenced the 2016 UN inquiry that found 'systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations … committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government … may constitute crimes against humanity.'In the 2016 report, the UN's Commission of Inquiry (COI) for Eritrea said the government of President Isaias Afwerki had committed heinous crimes since independence a quarter-century ago, including the 'enslavement' of 400,000 people.
Many of those abuses are allegedly linked to a harsh national service programme in the secretive Horn of Africa state, which for many is almost impossible to escape and which the COI compared to lifetime enslavement.
DefendDefenders, a pan-African human rights organisation, said Babiker's role remained vital for victims and the wider Eritrean diaspora.
'The expert plays an indispensable role, not only for the victims and survivors of Eritrea's abuses, but also for the Eritrean diaspora,' the group said in a statement.
The EU warned that terminating the mandate would enable 'impunity and repression to deepen in silence.'
Eritrea's representative, Habtom Zerai Ghirmai, lashed out at the decision, accusing the EU of displaying a 'neo-colonial saviour mentality complex'.
He added, 'The continued extension of the Special Rapporteur's mandate is an affront to reason and justice.'
Iran, Sudan and Russia – all under their own UN investigations – supported Eritrea's motion. China also backed the move, arguing that such mandates were a misuse of international resources.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
UN blasted for funding committee 'created to destroy the Jewish state,' despite budget crisis
Critics slammed the United Nations for rewarding a controversial anti-Israel Commission of Inquiry with four new positions worth up to three-quarters of a million dollars, even as the world body undergoes a severe cash crisis. "When it comes to spending money for the spread of antisemitism, the U.N. doesn't have a spending limit," Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital. On June 4, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (COI), led by South African Navi Pillay, announced four new job openings for senior-level positions in Geneva. These include two P-2 level associate interpreters, one higher-level P-3 level human rights officer, and a still more senior P-4 level human rights officer. Combined, their salaries will range from $530,000 to $704,000, based on salary scales released by the U.N. and its location-based salary multiplier (set at .814 for Swiss employees), published in a document supplied to Fox News Digital by a diplomatic source. These salaries do not include other senior-level U.N. employee benefits, including dependent costs, housing allowances, or relocation fees. Bayefsky asked why the U.N.'s "belt-tightening exercise…applies to all kinds of urgent matters but exempts the COI, which has simultaneously gone on a spending-spree." "The COI was created to destroy the Jewish state and is now conducting itself accordingly." She said its latest report, issued in June, is "totally unhinged" and "claims Israelis are like Nazis engaged in 'extermination' of the Palestinians, refers to those 'extremist Jews,' denies biblical history, [and] fuels antisemitism by claiming Jews defile Muslim holy sites." A spokesperson from the U.N. Human Rights Office did not respond to Fox News Digital's questions about the Commission's findings. Pillay and the COI have come under fire previously for anti-Israel sentiment. In January 2022, 42 Republicans and Democrats in Congress signed an open letter calling for the U.S. to defund the COI. The Representatives expressed concern that "Chairwoman Navi Pillay, while serving as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014, repeatedly and unjustly accused Israel of committing war crimes." They stated that while she condemned Israel, Pillay "reportedly said nothing at all about egregious human rights abuses in dozens of other countries which, unlike Israel, received the worst, 'Not Free' rating from the respected Freedom House." In October 2023, a representative from the U.S. Mission to the U.N. in Geneva said before the Third Committee of the U.N. that the U.S. "remains deeply concerned about the scope and nature of the open-ended Commission of Inquiry established in May 2021. The COI demonstrates a particular bias against Israel in subjecting it to a unique mechanism that does not exist for any other U.N. Member State." In October 2024, a report from the COI excluded information about Hamas' use of Kamal Adwan Hospital for operations, failed to recount the maltreatment Israeli hostages received at Gazan hospitals, and could "not verify" that tunnels found below Al-Shifa hospital "were used for military purposes." Bayefsky said the report trafficked in blood libels. In March, Pillay's commission claimed that rape and sexual violence are part of the Israel Defense Force's "standard operating procedures towards Palestinians." Pillay also said that the IDF's sexual violence creates "a system of oppression that undermines [Palestinians'] right to self-determination." In response, Bayefsky called Pillay "the world's leading champion of the 2001 U.N. 'Durban Declaration' slander that a Jewish state is a racist state." In March 2024, Congress passed a budget bill that eliminated funding for the COI while simultaneously banning funds for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to the Jerusalem Post. The U.N. Human Rights Council is already experiencing the impact of the organization's liquidity crisis. In a June 16 letter penned by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, the Human Rights Council outlines more than a dozen reports, as well as studies, regional workshops, and panels mandated by the Council, which were not able to be completed due to inadequate resourcing. In response to a request for comment about how the COI has received additional personnel while the Human Rights Council deals with scarcity, spokesperson Pascal Sim told Fox News Digital that the Human Rights Council's "views are only expressed in the resolutions and decisions that its 47 Member States adopt at the end of each of its sessions." To the question of whether the council is in greater need of personnel or funds to fulfill its current workload, Sim said that "Member States of the U.N. are currently continuing consultations on this matter." In a press conference on July 1, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder updated reporters on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres' cost-cutting UN80 Initiative. Ryder said that the U.N. recognizes "that we have a difficult task of untangling the undergrowth of decisions and resolutions and mechanisms that we put in place to implement them, and we wonder if we're going to be able to advance significantly." Ryder also admitted that "When a similar review was undertaken 20 years ago, it ran rather quickly into the sand. It did not produce the results that were hoped for and expected at that time. We're looking at that experience of 20 years ago and we hope we can avoid some of the pitfalls." However, Bayefsky said, "For decades, the U.N. has engaged in phony cost-saving measures while their actual expenditures have ballooned," she said, noting that the U.S. "has always been satisfied by moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic." Bayefsky said that "it's our government's job to put an end to this devious calculus by immediately withholding the entire U.N. budget until such time as the dangerous lesions are removed. It's our job to deny visas to the COI members planning to come to the United States in the next couple of months. "Contrary to popular belief, it is not required by the U.S.-U.N. host agreement to allow international travelers into the U.S. to fan the flames of antisemitism, and vandalize our fundamental values and the Constitution from the middle of New York City," Bayefsky said. "We need a new boat, not new deck chairs." A budget proposal from the Trump administration leaked in April announced the intention to eliminate all expenditures to the U.N. and international organizations. In response to questions about whether a decision about U.N. funding has been finalized, a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital that "President Trump is ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely. Any announcements regarding funding to international organizations will come from the President or the administration." The U.S. through its taxpayers is the single-largest contributor to the U.N. In 2022, the U.N. reports that $18.1 billion, or 26.8%, of its $67.5 billion in expenditures came from the U.S.
New York Times
5 hours ago
- New York Times
Under Trump's Crackdown, a New Crop of Immigrant Rights Groups Rises
The call came into the hotline one afternoon in March: A group of officers, masked and in plainclothes, were taking away a young woman in a hijab. ''Someone is being kidnapped!'' the caller said to Danny Timpona, the operator who answered the phone. His group, the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network of Massachusetts, had been preparing for such a moment. Within minutes, Mr. Timpona sent out volunteers to verify the report in Somerville, a suburb northwest of Boston. When they arrived to empty streets, they began knocking on doors, looking for anyone who could help them piece together what occurred. One neighbor offered footage from a home security camera. The video, which has since racked up millions of views, captured agents from the Department of Homeland Security surrounding Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish citizen and doctoral student at Tufts University who spent the next six weeks in detention. It gave the nation one of the earliest scenes of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. A crop of grass-roots immigrant rights networks like Mr. Timpona's has been rising across the country to try to halt President Trump's agenda of mass deportation. They aimto quickly corroborate the presence of immigration officers. They document apprehensions that might otherwise go unnoticed. And they spread the word on social media about people being detained. These groups have recently been most visible in Los Angeles, where an immigration raid at a clothing wholesaler prompted a rapid response from activists who confronted federal agents. Days of protests followed. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Post
7 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump says Iran has not agreed to inspections, give up enrichment
President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He told reporters aboard Air Force One that he believed Tehran's nuclear program had been set back permanently although Iran could restart it at a different location. Trump said he would discuss Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits the White House on Monday. Advertisement 'I would say it's set back permanently,' Trump said as he traveled to New Jersey after an Independence Day celebration at the White House. 'I would think they'd have to start at a different location. And if they did start, it would be a problem.' 5 President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One during a fight to New Jersey on July 4, 2025. REUTERS Trump said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him. Advertisement The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff deepens over their return to the country's nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel. The US and Israel say Iran was enriching uranium to build nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic three weeks ago. 5 A satellite image of the Fordow Facility in Iran after the US bombardment on June 27, 2025. AP Advertisement 5 The US sent B-2 Stealth Bombers to the Fordow site while nuclear-powered submarines fired ballistic missiles at Isfahan and Natanz sites, south of Tehran. Rob Jejenich / NY Post Design The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran's facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority. Iran's parliament has passed a law suspending cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency's inspectors will be able to return to Iran. Advertisement Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations. 5 Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran on June 15, 2025. 5 President Trump salutes B-2 Bombers during a flyover at the White House alongside first lady Melania Trump on July 4, 2025. via REUTERS The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran's three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran's nine tons of enriched uranium, especially the more than 880 pounds enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.
