States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) will meet in Geneva, Switzerland from 26 to 27 April 2016 for the Preparatory Committee of the Eighth Review Conference. In an innovation from previous review cycles, they will resume their work from 8 to 12 August. The Review Conference…

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families today concluded its twenty-fourth session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Mauritania, Lesotho, Senegal and Turkey. The concluding observations and…

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today concluded its fifteenth session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Chile, Lithuania, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Thailand and Uganda on how they implement the provisions of the Convention on…

GENEVA (21 April 2016) – United Nations experts have called on Kyrgyzstan to immediately release jailed political activist and journalist Azimjan Askarov, after finding that he had been arbitrarily detained, held in inhumane conditions, tortured and mistreated, and prevented from adequately…

Media Statement from the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria The Special Envoy for Syria, Mr. Staffan de Mistura, has just briefed the Security Council by Videoconference from the last leg of his trip, on the implementation of Security Council resolution 2268. Mr. de Mistura arrived in Tehran…

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities today concluded the examination of the initial report of Chile on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Presenting the report, Heidi Berner Herrera, Under-Secretary for Social…

The Human Rights Committee today concluded its one hundred and sixteenth session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of South Africa, Namibia, Sweden, New Zealand, Slovenia, Costa Rica and Rwanda. The concluding observations and recommendations on the seven country reports…

Arabic versionExplanatory Note This is an Explanatory Note to the Special Envoy’s Paper on Points of Commonalities. It sets out what the official purpose is of the paper. During the course of talks the Special Envoy noted that certain commonalities existed between the two sides in relation to their…

The Human Rights Council concluded its thirty-first regular session this evening after adopting 40 texts – 37 resolutions, two decisions and one Presidential Statement – on a wide range of issues, as well as its report for the session. The Council also adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic…

The Geneva International Discussions have just concluded their 35th round. During the meeting, the participants reached an important agreement on the resumption of the work of the Gali / Gal Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM). At the same time, they appreciated the intense work going…