UN focuses on countries hindering human-rights

UN Scribe Guterres and Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed(behind)

The UN human rights office said on Wednesday in its eighth annual report on reprisals that a record of 29 states have retaliated against citizens who cooperate with the UN.

It said that the state includes China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

“We are aware of cases where individuals we are communicating with have been abducted, detained, held incommunicado, or disappeared,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour said.

He was presenting the report to the UN Human Rights Council, nine of whose 47 members are named in the report.