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GENEVA  – The human rights record of Tajikistan will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the fourth time on Thursday 5 November 2026, 9:00–12:30 (GMT+1), in a meeting in Geneva that will be webcast live. Tajikistan is one of 14 States scheduled to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session from 2 to 13 November 2026.

Piura, Peru, October 2018. Journalist Paola Ugaz flew almost 900 kilometres from Lima to see a judge. No source or story awaited her, but a criminal defamation complaint filed by the region’s archbishop, a member of the founding generation of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a Catholic organisation she had been investigating since 2011. The archbishop was asking for around US$50,000 over a Twitter thread. Eight years later, in August 2026, another complaint arrived.

GENEVA  – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Saturday said the death in Houthi custody of Mohammad el Shami, a Yemeni colleague, was utterly devastating. The High Commissioner urged the Houthi de facto authorities to ensure a prompt investigation. Mohammad el Shami, a staff member of the UN Human Rights Office in Yemen, had been arbitrarily held in Houthi custody since 6 June 2024.

I am deeply concerned -- and saddened -- by the announcement today by the highly respected and fiercely independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper that it is being forced to close, in yet another devastating blow for remaining independent media in the Russian Federation.

NEW YORK – The highest number of conflicts since the Second World War are obstructing the achievement of human rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a UN expert warned today. “Peace is a precondition for development. To be sustainable, peace must be rooted in human rights and address prevailing discriminations and injustices,” said Surya Deva, the Special Rapporteur on the right to development in his report to the UN General Assembly.

GENEVA – UN experts* today expressed grave concern about ongoing patterns of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances in Eritrea, which have been occurring with impunity since 1991. “For over 35 years, Eritreans have faced arbitrary arrests and detentions, often without charges or trial. They have been denied access to family, legal counsel, and judicial protection,” the experts said.

GENEVA – The human rights record of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the fourth time on Tuesday 3 November 2026, 14:30–18:00 (GMT+1), in a meeting in Geneva that will be webcast live. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of 14 States scheduled to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session from 2 to 13 November 2026.

GENEVA – UN experts* today welcomed a decision by a Swiss court which found Yurii Harauski, a former member of the Belarusian special police unit SOBR, criminally responsible for the enforced disappearance of Anatol Krasouski, one of three Belarusian opposition figures who were forcibly disappeared in 1999. All three cases remain outstanding before the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

NEW YORK – A fair and inclusive international tax system is essential to advance democracy, human rights, sustainable development and a democratic and equitable international order, said George Katrougalos, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. “Fiscal justice is not merely a matter of economic policy.

GENEVA – The human rights record of Samoa will be examined by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group for the fourth time on Tuesday 3 November 2026, 9:00–12:30 (GMT+1), in a meeting in Geneva that will be webcast live. Samoa is one of 14 States scheduled to be reviewed by the UPR Working Group during its upcoming session from 2 to 13 November 2026.