Trump’s plan for ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza is illegal, says UN investigator

U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza is illegal under international law and “amounts to ethnic cleansing,” the United Nations’ top investigator on human rights in Palestine told POLITICO.

Israeli Authorities Responsible for War Crimes in Gaza, UN Inquiry Finds

A United Nations inquiry has concluded that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Briefing Security Council, senior officials urge UN system-wide approach to early warning, conflict prevention

 UN, 21 August 2014 – The Security Council today expressed its commitment to consider and use the tools of the United Nations system to ensure that warning signals about potential conflicts trigger “early, concrete preventive action,” as senior UN officials urged the body to take up the challenge of helping move the Organization from a culture of reaction towards one of prevention.

Unanimously adopting a resolution ahead of a day-long meeting on conflict prevention, the Council expressed its determination to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations “in preventing and ending armed conflicts, their escalation, spread when they occur, and their resurgence once they end,” and underlined the overriding moral, political and humanitarian imperatives as well as the economic advantages of taking such a preventive approach.

Japan’s stance on "comfort women" issue violates victims’ rights (UN official/Navi Pillay)

 UN, 6 August 2014 – The United Nations human rights chief today expressed profound regret that Japan has not provided effective redress to victims of wartime sexual slavery leading back to the end of the Second World War.

The outgoing High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in a statement that Japan “has failed to pursue a comprehensive, impartial and lasting resolution” to address the rights of so-called “comfort women.”

“It pains me to see that these courageous women, who have been fighting for their rights, are passing away one by one, without their rights restored and without receiving the reparation to which they are entitled,” Ms. Pillay stressed.

OHCHR: Pillay condemns continuing attacks on civilians in Gaza. (the core principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack)

OHCHR News, Media centre: 

GENEVA (31 July 2014) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday strongly condemned the 30 July shelling by Israeli military forces of a UN school in Gaza sheltering people fleeing the violence, as well as other attacks on schools, hospitals, places of worship and vital infrastructure such as Gaza’s only electric power plant.
She underlined the need for “real accountability considering the increasing evidence of war crimes and an ever-growing number of civilian casualties, including some 250 children.”

Israel vows to destroy tunnels before truce. ("important task for the sake of Israel's security")

Benjamin Netanyahu says tunnels Palestinian fighters built under Gaza-Israel border must be destroyed regardless of ceasefire efforts...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is determined, regardless of ceasefire efforts, to complete the destruction of tunnels that Palestinian fighters have built under the Gaza-Israel border.

In public remarks at the start of a cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, he said he would not agree to any proposal that would not enable the army "to complete this important task for the sake of Israel's security".

"Until now, we have destroyed dozens of terror tunnels and we are determined to finish this mission - with or without a ceasefire," Netanyahu said on Thursday.

OHCHR/New Ukraine report:The horrendous shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines may amount to a war crime (Navi Pillay)

Intense fighting in eastern Ukraine “extremely alarming”, says Pillay, as UN releases new report:

GENEVA (28 July 2014) - A total breakdown of law and order and a reign of fear and terror have been inflicted by armed groups on the population of eastern Ukraine, according to a new report issued today by the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The report documents how these armed groups continue to abduct, detain, torture and execute people kept as hostages in order to intimidate and “to exercise their power over the population in raw and brutal ways.”

Alarmed at rising death toll in Gaza, UN rights chief appeals to all sides to protect civilians

UN, 11 July 2014 – Voicing alarm at the Israeli military operations resulting in the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, as well as the indiscriminate firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel, the United Nations human rights chief today appealed to all sides to abide by their obligations to protect civilians. 

“Israel, Hamas, and Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have been down this road before, and it has led only to death, destruction, distrust and a painful prolongation of the conflict,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a news release. 

Ukraine: Amidst intensified military offensive, Ban condemns violence against civilians

UN, 7 July 2014 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned the “continued, unlawful” acts of armed fighters in Ukraine after reports that they are regrouping in eastern provinces, and urged Ukrainian authorities to exercise maximum restraint and protect civilians. 

According to media reports, armed groups have regrouped in Donetsk and Lugansk, from which more and more residents have fled and others are trapped in zones of heavy fighting. 

On 30 June, an extended ceasefire that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had put in place ended, resulting in Ukrainian forces to engage in what Mr. Ban termed “intensified military activity.” 

Moscow shares UN concern over high civilian death toll from Kiev's military strikes in east Ukraine

Moscow shares UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s concern over numerous civilian deaths in Donetsk and Lugansk as a result of an ongoing military operation waged by Kiev against southeastern Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.  

Earlier, Pillay circulated a statement saying the UN has information that Ukrainian troops use anti-personnel mines which have already claimed several lives.

The Office UN Commissioner for Human Rights has received lots of alarming reports about deaths in Ukraine’s Lugansk and Donetsk regions, including a five-year-old girl, during an intensive military operation launched on June 30 hours after the end of the ceasefire, Pillay said.

UN report fails to objectively assess Kiev’s criminal actions. (operation in accordance with international standards)

The report could be considered as an indulgence for further escalation of the conflict in the east of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry says...

The report on Ukraine circulated by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights seeks to shield the Kiev authorities and their supporters form responsibility for the death of innocent people in Odessa, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday, June 18.

UN report documents law and order breakdown in eastern Ukraine (and worrying trends in Crimea)

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Wednesday issued a new report on Ukraine describing the breakdown of law and order in areas held by armed groups in the east of the country.

The 58-page report, covering the period May 7 to June 7, is the third to be produced by the 34-strong UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, since it was deployed by High Commissioner Navi Pillay in March.

General Assembly confirms Jordan’s Prince Zeid as new UN human rights chief

UN,  16 June 2014 – The United Nations General Assembly today unanimously approved Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein of Jordan as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights, succeeding Navi Pillay of South Africa.

“I am going to be the first High Commissioner from the Asian continent and from the Muslim and Arab worlds,” Prince Zeid said after the 193-member body approved his appointment by consensus.

“Needless to say this reflects the commitment of the international community towards this important dossier and its commitment to push it forward in this continent as well as in other regions of the world,” he added.

Jordan’s UN envoy to replace Navi Pillay as Human Rights chief

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday proposed that Jordan's U.N. ambassador, Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, replace Navi Pillay as the United Nations' human rights chief based in Geneva, the world body's press office said.

The nomination will now go to the 193-nation U.N. General Assembly for approval. Several U.N. diplomats said there was unlikely to be any resistance to the appointment given that Prince Zeid is generally popular and has established a solid reputation as a human rights advocate.

Moscow regrets that UN report on Ukraine justifies punitive operation in southeast

A new UN report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights monitoring team in Ukraine has pointed to the growing tendency of “violent confrontations” in the country...

The Russian Foreign Ministry deeply regrets that the report on the situation in Ukraine, published by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, actually justifies the criminal punitive operation in the southeast of Ukraine, conceals casualties among peaceful civilians, makes an attempt to put the blame for the committed violations of human rights on the “pro-Russian forces,” the ministry said in a statement.

Ban speaks to Ukrainian leader, UN rights experts ‘horrified’ by violence in Kiev

21 February 2014 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke today with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, urging him to implement a just-proposed deal with opposition leaders aimed at ending a standoff between security forces and protestors in Kiev and other parts of the country that has left scores of people killed or injured.
According to press reports, the deal, brokered overnight, calls for the formation of a new coalition government and for early elections.

Senior UN officials urge restraint, dialogue to defuse tensions fuelling protests in Ukraine

21 January 2014 – Urging restraint amid widespread anti-Government protests in Ukraine, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called today for sustained and inclusive dialogue to defuse tensions in the country.
“The violent clashes over the past few days in the centre of Kiev, which reportedly resulted in many people being injured, are very worrying,” said Ms. Pillay. “I appeal to all parties to engage in constructive dialogue to avoid further escalation of the unrest.
“The longer they wait, the more difficult it will become to resolve the impasse,” she added.
Demonstrators have been gathering in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, since late November, when thousands marched on municipal buildings in protests reportedly sparked by a Government decision not to sign an agreement on broader integration with the European Union.

Syrie: les islamistes commettent des crimes de guerre (Onu)

Les exécutions commises par des islamistes radicaux dans le nord de la Syrie peuvent être assimilées à des crimes de guerre, rapportent jeudi les médias occidentaux se référant à la Haut-commissaire de l'Onu aux droits de l'homme Navi Pillay.
"Au cours des deux dernières semaines, nous avons reçu des rapports faisant état d'une multiplication des exécutions de masse de civils et de combattants ne participant plus aux hostilités à Alep, Idlib et Raqqa par des groupes d'opposition armés extrémistes", a indiqué Mme Pillay.
Elle a également averti les responsables qu'il s'agissait de crimes de guerre.