The Latest Breaking News from Geneva

Geneva (AFP) - Fifty million people around the world are trapped in forced labour or forced marriage, the UN said Monday, warning that their ranks had swelled dramatically in recent years.

Western countries face a dilemma as the U.N. Human Rights Council opens on Monday: confront China over human rights violations in its Xinjiang region and risk failing or miss the biggest opportunity to bring accountability in years.

Geneva (AFP) - Faced with allegations of grave violations in China and Russia, the UN body created to address rights abuses seems paralysed by uncertainty on how to respond.

China's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said on Friday that Beijing would not cooperate with the U.N. human rights office following the release of a long-awaited report on alleged human rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang.

U.N. and Russian officials met in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss Russian complaints that Western sanctions were impeding its ability to export grain and fertilizer, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Geneva (AFP) - More frequent and intense heatwaves and wildfires driven by climate change are expected to worsen the quality of the air we breathe, harming human health and ecosystems, the UN warned Wednesday.

Geneva (AFP) - A French-Israeli businessman appealing against his conviction in one of the mining sector's biggest-ever corruption cases insisted Tuesday on his innocence and hoped the Swiss court would give him justice.

Angelica Bourgoin strokes the shell of Janus the tortoise, whispering to him quietly as he scuttles in his pen and - his two heads rubbing together - prepares to celebrate his 25th birthday.

The representatives of 11 Arab and Western States, as well as the Arab League and the European Union, called Thursday on all Syrian parties to resume the meetings of the Constitutional Committee and to implement UN Security Council resolution 2254. Representatives of Saudi Arabia, the Arab League, Egypt, the European Union, France,…

China firmly opposes the release by the United Nations Human Rights Office of its "so-called Xinjiang-related assessment", said China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva on Thursday.

Geneva (AFP) - The United Nations released a major report into serious human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang region Wednesday, saying torture allegations were credible and citing possible crimes against humanity but stopping short of calling it genocide.