Battling Terrorism Shouldn’t Justify Torture, Spying or Hangings, Says U.N. Rights Chief

The United Nations, which is the legal guardian of scores of human rights treaties banning torture, unlawful imprisonment, degrading treatment of prisoners of war and enforced disappearances, is troubled that an increasing number of countries are justifying violations of U.N. conventions on grounds of fighting terrorism in conflict zones.

U.N. Helpless as Saudi Flogging Flouts Torture Convention

Flogging a dead horse, as the old idiom goes, is far removed from flogging a live Saudi blogger.

Cash-Strapped Human Rights Office at Breaking Point, Says New Chief

After six weeks in office, the new U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein of Jordan launched a blistering attack on member states for insufficient funding, thereby forcing operations in his office to the breaking point "in a world that seems to be lurching from crisis to ever-more dangerous crisis."