U.n. Human Rights Council

Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war, a U.N. inquiry found on Wednesday, saying that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.

China opposes a planned United Nations Security Council meeting on human rights abuses in North Korea because it will only "intensify confrontation and antagonism," a spokesperson for China's U.N. mission in New York said on Monday.

Germany and Iceland submitted a request on Friday on behalf of dozens of countries to hold a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council on the ongoing protests in Iran later this month, a document showed.

The United Nations is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Monday, as a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war.

The United Nations General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a U.S. push to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.

China expressed regret on Wednesday over a U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council, with state media saying the image of the United States as a defender of rights was "on the verge of collapse".

The United Nations said on Wednesday that Israel's decisions to impose up to 20 years prison for people throwing stones and to force-feed prisoners on hunger strike threatened to worsen an "already-precarious human rights situation."

The Washington Post stepped up a campaign for the release of its jailed reporter in Iran, Jason Rezaian, on Wednesday, appealing to the U.N. Human Rights Council to help secure his release after a year of what it called "arbitrary" detention.

U.N. human rights investigators demanded an end to a Chinese crackdown on lawyers on Thursday after more than 100 people were detained, intimidated or went missing over the past week.

Israel will issue a report on Sunday arguing its 2014 Gaza offensive was lawful, a move aimed at pre-empting the release of findings of a UN war crimes investigation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as a waste of time.

The United States and other Western members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday slammed North Korea's human rights record after voting to overrule China's objections and add alleged grave abuses by the hermit state to the council's agenda.

The U.N. Security Council took up the issue of North Korea's bleak human rights situation for the first time on Monday, a groundbreaking step toward possibly holding the nuclear-armed but desperately poor country and leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea quickly denounced the move.

The United Nations' human rights chief called on Monday for an international inquiry into war crimes committed by both sides during Sri Lanka's civil war, saying the government had failed to do its own credible investigation.

An international inquiry into war crimes in Sri Lanka would bring "chaos," and the government's national reconciliation process must be given several more years to work, a top aide to Sri Lanka's president said on Monday.

The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever on Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries.The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commi...

Both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war, a U.N. inquiry found on Wednesday, saying that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses.

China opposes a planned United Nations Security Council meeting on human rights abuses in North Korea because it will only "intensify confrontation and antagonism," a spokesperson for China's U.N. mission in New York said on Monday.

Germany and Iceland submitted a request on Friday on behalf of dozens of countries to hold a special session at the U.N. Human Rights Council on the ongoing protests in Iran later this month, a document showed.

The United Nations is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, a senior U.N. official told the Security Council on Monday, as a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war.

The United Nations General Assembly will vote on Thursday on a U.S. push to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council over reports of "gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" by invading Russian troops in Ukraine.

China expressed regret on Wednesday over a U.S. decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council, with state media saying the image of the United States as a defender of rights was "on the verge of collapse".

The United Nations said on Wednesday that Israel's decisions to impose up to 20 years prison for people throwing stones and to force-feed prisoners on hunger strike threatened to worsen an "already-precarious human rights situation."

The Washington Post stepped up a campaign for the release of its jailed reporter in Iran, Jason Rezaian, on Wednesday, appealing to the U.N. Human Rights Council to help secure his release after a year of what it called "arbitrary" detention.

U.N. human rights investigators demanded an end to a Chinese crackdown on lawyers on Thursday after more than 100 people were detained, intimidated or went missing over the past week.

Israel will issue a report on Sunday arguing its 2014 Gaza offensive was lawful, a move aimed at pre-empting the release of findings of a UN war crimes investigation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as a waste of time.

The United States and other Western members of the U.N. Security Council on Monday slammed North Korea's human rights record after voting to overrule China's objections and add alleged grave abuses by the hermit state to the council's agenda.

The U.N. Security Council took up the issue of North Korea's bleak human rights situation for the first time on Monday, a groundbreaking step toward possibly holding the nuclear-armed but desperately poor country and leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea quickly denounced the move.

The United Nations' human rights chief called on Monday for an international inquiry into war crimes committed by both sides during Sri Lanka's civil war, saying the government had failed to do its own credible investigation.

An international inquiry into war crimes in Sri Lanka would bring "chaos," and the government's national reconciliation process must be given several more years to work, a top aide to Sri Lanka's president said on Monday.

The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian and transgender people for the first time ever on Friday, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the U.S. and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries.The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of sexual orientation and commi...