There is much focus on the United Nations today, as President Obama gives his first speech to the General Assembly. China’s President Hu will also speak, and both met yesterday after they addressed a conference on climate change. While President Obama’s speech did not touch on Tibet/China (and was not expected to), there are elements that bear watching for how his Administration will tackle this issue now...

There are a lot of discussions, including some in China, about Chinese government policies concerning ethnic minorities. The extraordinary Gongmeng report on the failure of these policies in Tibet and the early-July demonstrations of Uighurs in Xinjiang have brought new and deserved attention to the autonomy structures in these regions. It is increasingly evident that the crisis situations in Tibet and Xinjiang...

The New York Times published today an opinion piece by the great democrat, Czech statesman and global human rights activist, Vaclav Havel. Havel calls on countries committed to human rights to reclaim the UN Human Rights Council “by simply refusing to vote for human rights abusers” in tomorrow’s election for new members. What a perfect solution to the so far failed expression of the Council’s...

The Durban Review Conference on racism made global headlines mostly for the grandstanding rhetoric of Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the no-show by diplomats from numerous Western nations, including the United States. And let’s not forget the clowns! But the UN conference in Geneva last week dealt with issues of real substance on racism, freedom of religion and a whole host of other issues that both divide...

Secretary Clinton has announced that the United States will seek election to the United Nations Human Rights Council.  Welcome back to the fight!  You’ll remember that Clinton made a lot of folks mad (outside of China) when she said (en route to China) that U.S. pressing on human rights issues would have to take a back seat to “the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security...

As a member of ICT’s advocacy team in Europe, one of my duties is to monitor goings on at the UN human rights bodies in Geneva, Switzerland. In reality, this could be a full-time job for an entire office, such is the labyrinth of UN experts, mechanisms, rapporteurs and procedures! So we have to prioritise our work at the UN, but there is no doubt that it is a crucial forum for any advocacy organisation, despite...