The UN Human Rights Council has decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, or a three-year period, to replace the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. This will include examining its causes and its consequences, the Special Rapporteur focus principally on aspects of contemporary forms of slavery which are not covered by existing mandates of the Human Rights Council. You can see the full meeting agenda here.
The UN has express deep concern as attacks on students, teachers are rising in conflict areas. In the last three years attacks on schools have only increased, prompting the UN to issues a study and report to illustrate how grave the situation is. While the report stated that there are no exact and adequate figures, “but there are specific figures for the number of incidents in particular countries and territories and they suggest that the worst-affected in the past five years include Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Nepal, the Palestinian Autonomous Territories, Thailand and Zimbabwe, and in all cases except Nepal the conflict is ongoing”. The UN has called for an increase in efforts to see that all children receive an education, the creation of a database of all attacks globally, and international pressure to prosecute those involved in the attacks.
The UN prepares to vote on death penalty stance next week, the General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution that would urge all governments to stop using capital punishment. To date there are 81 member countries, out of 192 members, in favor of the move against the death penalty. Resolutions made by the General Assembly are not legally binding, however they hold a great deal of weight in the international community and place pressure on offending countries.
The U.S. criticizes South Africa for blocking rape resolution, as the United Nations General Assembly works to pass a resolution to condemn the use of rape and sexual abuse by governments and combatants. The US alleges that South Africa has been strategically blocking the resolution. Baso Sangqu, South Africa's Deputy Ambassador, said, "We are objecting to the resolution because it is politicized and singles out clear categories of rape. We want a resolution that is nonpoliticized and that looks at rape in a holistic manner in all its situations including rape by soldiers in detention centers and in situations of foreign occupation." There are no countries named in the proposed resolution, however the use of sexual violence is prevelant in countries such as Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
