• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, March 5, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

UN Rights Chief Urges ‘Impartial’ Probe Into Hong Kong Violence

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
08/13/19
in Featured, World
Hong Kong has been shaken by massive anti-government rallies this month

Hong Kong has been shaken by massive anti-government rallies this month. Photo: Hector Retamal, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

The U.N. rights chief on Tuesday voiced concern over force used against protesters during massive demonstrations in Hong Kong and called for an impartial probe amid increasingly violent unrest in the key financial hub.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is “concerned by the ongoing events in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the escalation of violence that has taken place in recent days,” her spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.

The U.N. rights chief, he said, was calling for a “prompt, independent, impartial investigation” into alleged excessive force by police against the protesters.

The comments came as pro-democracy protesters blocked passengers at Hong Kong’s airport Tuesday, causing further travel chaos a day after triggering an unprecedented shutdown.

The 10 weeks of unrest, which has seen millions of people take to Hong Kong’s streets, has become the biggest challenge to Chinese rule of the semi-autonomous city since its 1997 handover from Britain.

Riot police have clashed with anti-government protesters at Hong Kong airport https://t.co/nnXbjWpGg3 pic.twitter.com/tIuiOt46ub

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 13, 2019

The protests began in opposition to a bill that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland, but quickly evolved into a broader bid to reverse a slide of rights and freedoms in the southern Chinese city.

Colville said the U.N. rights office had reviewed “credible evidence of law enforcement officials employing less-lethal weapons in ways that are prohibited by international norms and standards.”

He pointed for instance to the firing of “tear gas canisters into crowded, enclosed areas and directly at individual protesters on multiple occasions, creating a considerable risk of death or serious injury.”

The U.N. rights office, he said, was urging Hong Kong authorities to investigate all such incidents “immediately.”

Authorities should also “ensure security personnel comply with the rules of engagement, and where necessary, amend the rules of engagement for law enforcement officials in response to protests where these may not conform with international standards,” he said.

Bachelet, he said, also condemned any violence or destruction of property by protesters, and “urges everyone participating in the demonstrations to express their views in a peaceful way.”

Protesters use lasers and luggage carts in an attempt to block riot police at Hong Kong airport, @PHancocksCNN reports: https://t.co/oPv991yYev pic.twitter.com/7l7lgqHmRW

— CNN International (@cnni) August 13, 2019

“She calls on the authorities and the people of Hong Kong to engage in an open and inclusive dialogue aimed at resolving all issues peacefully,” he said.

“This is the only sure way to achieve long-term political stability and public security by creating channels for people to participate in public affairs and decisions affecting their lives,” Colville said, stressing that the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in Hong Kong law.


More on the Subject 

Bloody Battle as Hong Kong Protesters and Opponents Clash in Streets

ShareTweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide
Opinion

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

by Omer Kanat
March 1, 2021
HRW released a statement on China's increasing prosecution of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.
Democracy at Risk

China Targets Uighurs With More Prosecutions, Longer Prison Terms: HRW

by Staff Writer
February 24, 2021
Hong Kong pro-democracy activists demonstrate in support of veteran activists outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court in Hong Kong.
Democracy at Risk

Veteran Hong Kong Activists on Trial Over Huge Democracy Rally

by Staff Writer
February 16, 2021
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny.
Democracy at Risk

UN Rights Office Urges Navalny’s Immediate Release

by Staff Writer
January 18, 2021
People protesting against the controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong in 2019.
Democracy at Risk

US, Britain, Canada Express ‘Concern’ at Hong Kong Arrests

by Staff Writer
January 10, 2021
Demonstrators breached security and entered the US Capitol
National

China Goes Online to Mock ‘Beautiful Sight’ of US Capitol Chaos

by Staff Writer
January 7, 2021
Next Post
Devastated and collapsed houses as a result of the 2010 Haiti earthquake

Deteriorating Food Situation in Haiti Affects 25% of Population

Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

Thousands of Brazilian Indigenous Women Protest Bolsonaro's 'Genocidal Policies'

Recommended

Malika Boumendjel, widow of Algerian lawyer Ali Boumendjel, speaks in a 2001 interview about her husband's death during his detention by the French army.

Algeria Welcomes France’s Admission It Killed Independence Figure

March 4, 2021
Jake Angeli speaks to a US Capitol Police officer.

Attempted US Capitol Coup a Security and Existential Crisis

March 3, 2021
Myanmar police fire water cannon at protesters as they continue to demonstrate against the February 1 military coup.

Six Dead as Myanmar Security Forces Fire at Protesters

March 3, 2021
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed on October 2, 2018, while he was inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Reporters Without Borders Sue Saudi Prince Over Khashoggi Murder

March 2, 2021
Hatice Cengiz delivers a speech addressing the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Capitol Hill, May 16, 2019.

Khashoggi Fiancée Demands Punishment for Saudi Prince

March 1, 2021
People lay flowers in central Moscow at the site where late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was fatally shot, February 27, 2021.

Russians Mark Sixth Anniversary of Kremlin Critic’s Murder

February 27, 2021

Opinion

Jake Angeli speaks to a US Capitol Police officer.

Attempted US Capitol Coup a Security and Existential Crisis

March 3, 2021
What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

March 1, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Stolpersteine in Greifswald, Germany.

I Can’t Mark Where My Grandfather Is Buried, but I Want to Mark Where He Lived

February 26, 2021
Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley

Trump’s Acquittal and Republican Senators: Not Setting the Bar Low Enough

February 22, 2021
Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

February 19, 2021
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post