Category Archives: UN Bodies/General Assembly/Third Committee

Third Committee Delegates Debate Acceptable Limits to Privacy Rights, Personal Data Use During Pandemic, as Expert Warns Against ‘Omni-Present’ Surveillance

29 Oct

Personal data has become a tool for Governments, scientists and companies in the fight against COVID‑19, the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, stressing that any increased technology use for surveillance or contact tracing must respect human rights and return to pre-pandemic norms once the virus risk has subsided.

Third Committee Delegates Debate Acceptable Limits to Privacy Rights, Personal Data Use During Pandemic, as Expert Warns Against ‘Omni-Present’ Surveillance

29 Oct

Personal data has become a tool for Governments, scientists and companies in the fight against COVID‑19, the Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, stressing that any increased technology use for surveillance or contact tracing must respect human rights and return to pre-pandemic norms once the virus risk has subsided.

Women, Children at Greater Risk of Being Trafficked, Enslaved as Pandemic Deepens, Experts Warn Third Committee amid Calls for Creating Regular Migration Channels

28 Oct

The COVID‑19 pandemic and the subsequent disruptions it has caused have heightened the risk of trafficking in persons and modern forms of slavery, experts warned the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates engaged them in interactive dialogues, held virtually, on the broad theme of human rights.

Third Committee Delegates Call for Rights-Centred Approaches to Building New Food Systems, Preserving Biosphere, Managing Mass Graves, as Expert Dialogues Continue

27 Oct

Mass graves form an “underground map of atrocity” that stretches across human history, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, stressing that while dozens of such burials were found in 2020 alone, no single, coherent human rights framework exists for the respectful management of these sites.

Independent Experts Denounce Rights Violations in Occupied Palestinian Territory, Iran, Eritrea as Third Committee Delegates Split over Questions of Bias

26 Oct

A lack of ventilators and hospital beds to address COVID-19 has pushed Gaza’s overstretched medical system to the brink, the expert tasked with monitoring human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, stressing that Israel’s 53‑year blockade of the area amounts to a collective punishment banned under the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

‘Censorship Kills Scholarship’ Expert Warns Third Committee, amid Broad Calls for Upholding Rights in Myanmar, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

23 Oct

Stressing that “censorship kills scholarship”, the United Nations expert on free expression launched a passionate defence of academia as a bastion of ideas that all too often comes under siege by States seeking to control or supress the flow of information, as Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) delegates continued their interactive dialogues on broad questions of human rights today.

Climate the Leading Global Threat to Cultural Rights, Special Rapporteur Tells Third Committee, as Delegates Tackle Root Causes of Entrenched Bias, Exclusion

22 Oct

Governments must ensure that people facing discrimination are included in dialogues and decisions affecting their lives, experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates discussed cultural rights, as well as the human rights of persons with disabilities and albinism.

COVID-19 Could Push up to 175 Million People into Extreme Poverty, Expert Warns Third Committee, amid Calls for Repairing Entrenched Social Inequities

21 Oct

Between 150 million and 175 million more people will fall into extreme poverty, due to the epic fallout from COVID‑19, the Special Rapporteur on the topic told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates raised concerns about the plight of the world’s most vulnerable in a series of interactive dialogues.

COVID‑19 Amplifying Threats to Migrant Workers, Religious Minorities, Experts Tell Third Committee, as Delegates Debate Questions of Bias in Their Findings

20 Oct

The COVID‑19 pandemic is magnifying threats to the safety and fundamental rights of migrant workers and religious minorities, independent human rights experts told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates engaged with them in animated virtual discussions, which spanned half a day.

Cases of Enforced Disappearance Climb to Nearly 1,000 Daily, United Nations Expert Warns Third Committee, as Delegates Call for Upholding Key Human Rights Treaties

19 Oct

Questions around the right to free assembly, creation of an equitable world order and efforts to stem enforced disappearances — a crime that is soon to reach 1,000 cases a day — took centre stage in the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, as delegates evaluated the human rights norms underpinning State relations since the Second World War.