Human Rights in the News: October 2024
/Welcome to the October 2024 edition of Human Rights in the News, Woven Teaching’s monthly collection of important human rights stories from around the world.
Site of Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza (Credit: Reuters/Abdul Karim Farid)
Türk says world must act as darkest moment of Gaza conflict unfolds
United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights | 25 October 2024
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the international community to act to prevent further atrocities in Gaza. Under the Geneva Conventions, States have an obligation to act to prevent crimes against humanity.
People near voting booths in Maryland, US (Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Photo)
10 Principles for Protecting Human Rights in US Elections
Human Rights Watch | 28 October 2024
Human Rights Watch offers 10 principles for protecting human rights during the upcoming US elections. “Relevant law can be found in the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [...]; the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [...]; and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [...] which is considered reflective of customary international law. Many of these provisions are reflected in US constitutional, federal, and state law.”
Pirita Näkkäläjärvi, president of the Sámi Parliament in Finland, wearing traditional Sámi clothing (Credit: Ville Fofonoff / Sámediggi / Saamelaiskäräjät)
UN report backs up Sámi claims that mining in Finland violates their rights to land and culture
Tristan Ahtone | The Grist | 18 October 2024
Two United Nations committees have recently found that Finland violated the rights of the Indigenous Sámi people by granting mineral exploration permits in Finnish Sápmi, the homeland of the Sámi. The case was brought to the UN by three Sámi teenagers.
A protester in Washington, DC holds a fake noose (Credit: Ali Khaligh / Middle East Images via AFP)
Women Are Leading the Resistance Against Executions in Iran
Bahar Mirhosseni | The Nation | 24 October 2024
Iranian women and girls are leading the movement against the death penalty in Iran, often while incarcerated. “Women in Evin Prison [...] gathered in the prison courtyard to demand an end to weaponizing capital charges against other human rights activists who have been subjected to torture [...] Recently, prison guards violently attacked these women and their fellow political prisoners for speaking out against executions, and subsequently denied them access to medical care and visitation rights.”
A Sudanese flag attached to an RSF machine gun (Credit: Reuters/Umit Bektas/File Photo)
New wave of mass killings in Sudan alarms UN
Farouk Chothia | BBC News | 27 October 2024
At least 124 people were killed last week by Rapid Security Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s central Gezira state. The RSF is a paramilitary group that evolved from the Janjaweed militias who perpetrated the genocide in Darfur. The group was supposed to integrate into the Sudanese army, but the RSF resisted integration. A power struggle between the RSF and the Sudanese army erupted in 2023, so far displacing more than 10 million people.
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