Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: David Seymour denies playing ‘race card' in UN stoush is ‘identity politics'
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Afghanistan: UN Report Documents Human Rights Violations Of Forced Returnees
KABUL/GENEVA (24 July 2025) – A UN report published today documents the cases of individuals involuntarily returned to Afghanistan who have experienced serious human rights violations on the basis of their specific profiles. These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security – at the hands of the de facto authorities. Since 2023, large numbers of Afghans have been involuntarily returned to the country, primarily by Pakistan and Iran. The report issued by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN Human Rights Office found that groups of people returning to the country who were at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers and civil society. It is based on interviews conducted in 2024 with 49 individuals involuntarily returned to Afghanistan. 'Nobody should be sent back to a country where they face risk of persecution on account of their identity or personal history,' said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk. 'In Afghanistan, this is even more pronounced for women and girls, who are subjected to a range of measures that amount to persecution on the basis of their gender alone.' Interviewees affiliated with the former government and its security forces revealed that they had been forced to go into hiding since returning due to fears of reprisals, despite the de facto authorities' publicly stated amnesty for all who had previously fought against them in the conflict. For women involuntarily returned to the country, the situation is particularly severe. One former TV reporter who left the country after the takeover in August 2021 due to earlier Taliban threats described how, after her involuntary return to Afghanistan, she and other women in similar situation found there that there were no job opportunities, no freedom of movement, and no access to education beyond grade six for women and girls. 'I can unequivocally state that I am effectively under house detention,' she said. A former government official described how, after his return in 2023, he was detained for two nights in a house where he was severely tortured, including beatings with sticks, cables and wood, waterboarding, and was subjected to a mock execution. His leg was broken as a result. Sending people back to a country where they are at risk of persecution, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, enforced disappearance or other irreparable harm, is in violation of the principle of non-refoulement and a serious breach of international law. The report urges States to ensure that individualised assessments are carried out before any return of persons to Afghanistan, and to refrain from returning any individuals at real risk of serious human rights violations to Afghanistan. States are also called on to increase the availability of safe pathways for Afghans at risk to leave the country and to remain safely in their territories without fear of detention for purposes of expulsion. Many hundreds of thousands of Afghans have been involuntarily returned from Pakistan and Iran, placing enormous pressure on the limited resources available to the de facto authorities to address their needs more generally. The report also recommends that States increase financial support to ensure that sustainable reintegration is possible. 'While the de facto authorities have responded in a coordinated manner to the significant influx of returnees to Afghanistan in recent years, more needs to be done to ensure that all returnees are included in society and have their human rights upheld,' said Roza Otunbayeva, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA. 'The participation of all Afghans in the social, political and economic life of the country is critical to the development and prosperity of the nation. I urge the de facto authorities to uphold their obligations under international law and their responsibilities to the Afghan people.'
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UN Experts Call For End To Israeli State And Settler Violence In The West Bank
GENEVA (24 July 2025) - UN experts* today expressed grave concern over systematic and ongoing violations by Israeli settlers and Israeli security forces against Palestinian peasants and rural workers in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. "We are deeply troubled by alleged widespread intimidation, violence, land dispossession, destruction of livelihoods and the resulting forcible displacement of communities, and we fear this is severing Palestinians from their land and undermining their food security,' the experts said. "The alleged acts of violence, destruction of property, and denial of access to land and resources appear to constitute a systemic pattern of human rights violations," they said. The experts noted a disturbing pattern of attacks targeting West Bank communities, including assaults on civilians, destruction of homes and livelihoods, and the forcible displacement of families. 'Settler violence has reportedly involved arson, livestock theft, and the poisoning or destruction of water sources, severely undermining the ability of Palestinians to sustain their agricultural way of life,' the experts added. 'The demolition of Palestinian-owned structures has further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, leaving families homeless and vulnerable.' They said the continued attacks targeting Palestinian Bedouin, peasant and rural communities do not appear to be incidental, but rather an intentional strategy to erase their presence in key agricultural areas, undermine their food security and food sovereignty and ultimately sever Palestinians from their land. Hundreds of Bedouin families, including a significant number of children, have been displaced due to settler violence and intimidation. These attacks have caused significant economic harm, including an estimated USD $76 million in direct agricultural damages in the West Bank between October 7, 2023, and late 2024. It is estimated that the West Bank GDP declined by more than 19 per cent, and the unemployment rate rose to 35 per cent. "Israel, as the occupying power, bears the obligation to take necessary measures to safeguard Palestinian communities at risk of displacement and violence," the experts said. "This includes stopping the violence immediately, halting illegal settlement expansion, holding effective and impartial investigations into violations, prosecuting those responsible, and guaranteeing victims access to justice and reparations." 'It is essential that the West Bank be kept under Palestinian control, based on the rights to self-determination of the Palestinian people and full respect of international law,' they said. 'Israel must promptly bring to an end its unlawful presences in the West Bank, and ensure its compliance with the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice issued on 19 July 2024, including by evacuating all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.' The experts called on the international community to act with urgency to hold perpetrators accountable and ensure that violent settlers and armed forces cannot continue to operate with impunity. 'Silence and inaction only embolden further violations. We call on all States to uphold their obligations under international law—including through targeted measures, sanctions, and diplomatic pressure—to end these systematic abuses and protect Palestinian lives, livelihoods, and fundamental rights. The time for justice is now,' they said. * The experts: Carlos Arturo Duarte Torres, Working Group on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas; Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
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UN Experts Welcome Lifting Of Sanctions To Rebuild Syria
GENEVA (24 July 2025) – UN experts* today welcomed the recent lifting of sanctions on Syria by the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Switzerland, after more than 14 years of severe and widespread human rights impacts across the country. 'Sanctions on Syria are no longer justified for the actions of the al-Assad Government after it was deposed in December 2024. Their lifting opens promising pathways to recovery. We urge the interim Government to prioritise the reconstruction of sustainable infrastructure and public services to fulfil the wide range of human rights at risk in Syria,' the experts said. In 2011, the al-Assad Government ordered its security services to crack down on pro-democracy protesters and anyone deemed to be affiliated with them across the country. Widespread arbitrary arrests, detentions, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings constituted crimes against humanity. Several States introduced sectoral and financial sanctions on the al-Assad Government, its officials and related entities in response. These aimed to prevent repression of the democracy movement, human rights violations, and international crimes committed during the subsequent armed conflict with armed and terrorist groups. They also aimed to prevent the use of chemical weapons and alleged State sponsorship of terrorism. 'Despite being targeted and providing for humanitarian exemptions, the sanctions had the unintended consequences of seriously impeding the human rights of the Syrian people and the delivery of humanitarian relief,' the experts said. The rights affected included the rights to life, food, health, housing, an adequate standard of living, water and sanitation, education, a healthy environment, development, and access to essential financial services and the internet. Such violations disproportionately affected women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons, migrants, internally displaced persons, rural people, and ethnic, national and religious minorities. 'The legacies of armed conflict, the deadly earthquakes in northeastern Syria and the COVID-19 pandemic have made effective national recovery and sustainable reconstruction even more urgent,' the experts said. While the EU lifted sectoral sanctions on energy, transport and banking, and all economic sanctions, individuals and entities linked to the former al-Assad Government will remain listed to 1 June 2026. EU security sanctions, including the arms embargo and export restrictions on equipment and technology that could be used for internal repression, will remain in place. The United Kingdom has similarly relaxed sectoral sanctions on energy, transport, banking and finance. The initial relaxation of US sanctions, including by General Licence 25 (GL 25) in May 2025 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, allowed US persons to do business in Syria. However, the underlying Sanctions Framework, including designations under the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list ('SDN'), remained in place at that time, together with the US Export Controls, Foreign Terrorist Organization and State Sponsor of Terrorism schemes, among others. The US Executive Order of 30 June 2025, 'Providing for the Revocation of Syria Sanctions', significantly removes sanctions on Syria, including a number of SDN Designations, while maintaining them on Bashar al-Assad, his associates, human rights abusers, drug traffickers, individuals involved in chemical weapons activities, the Islamic State in the Levant and its affiliates, and alleged Iranian proxies. It also provides for possible whole or partial suspension of secondary sanctions under the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, and reconsideration of Syria's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. 'We call on all actors maintaining sanctions, and engaged in the reconstruction of Syria, to abide by international human rights law,' the experts said. 'All types of assistance, technical or financial, must respect human rights and non-discrimination. This includes avoiding reinforcing sectarian, ethnic or religious divisions. Human rights assessments of reconstruction efforts must consider gender and intersectional vulnerabilities and needs,' they said. The experts also expressed alarm at recent sectarian violence in Sweida province, and unlawful intervention there by Israel, and called on all parties to cease fire and allow the interim Government to restore order in full respect for international law. *The experts: Astrid Puentes Riaño, Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development. Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent fromany government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.
