THE RAPPORT – 17 August to 30 August 2026

THE RAPPORT is the only newsletter devoted to briefing human rights practitioners on the communications of the UN Special Procedures. It is written by our Principal, Kate McInnes, and is published on Sundays on a biweekly basis. To subscribe and read the full newsletter, visit https://therapport.substack.com/

Africa

• Serious human rights violations committed against thousands of victims by the FLN/ALN during the Algerian War of Independence are attributable to the Algerian State following independence, despite Algeria’s official position to the contrary, which “forms part of a broader context in which no steps have been taken to establish the facts, to fully clarify the circumstances and responsibilities surrounding these violations, or to acknowledge the lasting impact of these events on the populations concerned and their descendants,” say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteur on transitional justice. (DZA 4/2026)

• South Africa’s Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Amendment Bill “introduces deliberately retrogressive measures with respect to the right to housing” under international law, including undermining the obligation to ensure that nobody is rendered homeless as a result of an eviction and failing to strike a balance between the interests of property owners and protection from forced evictions and homelessness, say the Special Rapporteurs on housing and poverty. (ZAF 3/2026)

Americas

• The Tren Maya intercity railway megaproject, and the transfer of control of the project to Mexico’s Secretariat of National Defense (SEDENA) may result in, among others, violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and rural communities to land, natural resources, and free, prior and informed consent, as well as increased militarization, destruction of archaeological heritage, and threats to a healthy and sustainable environment, say 11 Special Rapporteurs. (MEX 10/2026, OTH 50/2026)

• Actions taken by the Executive Branch of the government of the United States, which are “aimed at transforming the functioning of the U.S. Immigration Courts from an institution devoted to conducting individualized merits review of immigration cases to an enforcement agency carrying out the policy aims of the Executive,” amount to violations against both foreign nationals in the United States and independent actors in the justice system, say the Special Rapporteurs on migrants and the independence of judges and lawyers. (USA 16/2026)

• Sex-based violence against female inmates at the Central California Women’s Facility, who are reportedly “forced to share intimate spaces with biological males,” engages the United States’ heightened duty of care towards persons deprived of their liberty, especially women with known histories of sexual and domestic violence, says the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. (USA 17/2026)

• The potential annulment of Executive Agreement No. 75-2023, which guarantees the free use, access, sale, and purchase of the emergency contraceptive pill in Honduras, “could increase the number of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, as well as expose women and girls to serious and lasting consequences for their physical and mental health, including risks of death and disability,” say the Working Groups on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion, health, and torture. (HND 3/2026)

• Honduras’s Law for the Strengthening and Protection of the Agroindustrial Sector, Energy Projects, Tourism, Livestock Farming, and Small Agricultural Producers may be incompatible with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas, by undermining, among others, the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas to non-discrimination, physical and moral integrity, and freedom of peaceful assembly, say the Working Group on peasants and the Special Rapporteurs on food, freedom of assembly, and human rights defenders. (HND 4/2026)

• Amendments to the Criminal Code of Honduras may be incompatible with international human rights law, including the principle of legality, due process guarantees and judicial independence in the designation of organizations as terrorist or criminal entities, applicable standards on communications surveillance, the defense of human rights, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the face of the criminalisation of social protest and the defense of territory, say the Working Group on peasants and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, environment, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, the independence of judges and lawyers, Indigenous Peoples, and privacy. (HND 2/2026)

  
  

Asia

• Amendments to the framework that regulates the legal profession in Vietnam — which allow for broad administrative sanctions, including temporary deprivation of practicing certificates, for vaguely defined professional misconduct — appear to contravene international human rights standards related to independence of lawyers, the autonomy of professional associations, and the right to effective legal assistance, say the Special Rapporteurs on the independence of judges and lawyers and human rights defenders. (VNM 2/2026)

• The ongoing denial of medical care to the mother of human rights defender Ms. Yang Li, apparently in relation to her daughter’s advocacy against unlawful land requisition and crop clearance carried out by authorities in Jiangsu Province, China, contributes to a “demonstrable pattern” in which China has denied medical treatment to imprisoned human rights defenders and their family members, in violation of international human rights standards, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and health. (CHN 6/2026)

Europe

• The designation of Vykhod, an LGTBQ+ group, as “extremist,” and prohibition of its activities within Russia, may result in, among others, the criminalisation of the legitimate exercise of freedom of expression and the arbitrary arrest and prosecution of individuals based solely on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on Russia, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, SOGI, and terrorism. (RUS 5/2026)

• The absence of reparations or an effective remedy for the families of French victims of acts amounting to enforced disappearance in Algeria that occurred after the signing of the Évian Accords of 18 March 1962 have had a disproportionate effect on women, “who reportedly often bore alone the legal, economic, and social consequences of these disappearances, in a context of marginalization, their capacity to exercise their rights having been hindered by the fact that their legal personality often remained tied to that of their disappeared spouse,” say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteur on transitional justice. (FRA 6/2026)

• Prosecutions brought against French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Ms. Rima Hassan for “glorification of terrorism,” based on social media posts and public statements relating to the situation in Palestine, may constitute political and judicial harassment against Ms. Hassan and form part of a growing trend of repression by authorities in France against voices defending the rights of the Palestinian people, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, independence of judges and lawyers, and privacy. (FRA 7/2026)

• The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers has offered her views on proposed amendments to the Constitution of Montenegro, which “may risk weakening the perception and reality of institutional independence” through the inclusion of amendments that concentrate appointment powers in another branch of the State and reduce the participation of civil society actors. (MNE 1/2026)

• The Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on torture, executions, and the independence of judges and lawyers have followed up on two prior communications sent in 2023 and 2024, reiterating concern with the “system of sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) which, notwithstanding its statutory abolition many years ago, continues to significantly and negatively impact thousands of individuals and their families in the United Kingdom.” (GBR 8/2026)

• The Working Group on business and human rights has offered their views on a draft federal law on corporate sustainability, which aims to align legislation in Switzerland with the relevant provisions of the European Union directive on corporate sustainability due diligence. (CHE 7/2026)

Middle East

• The arbitrary detention of Ms. Mariam Mohamed El-Sayed Abdelbasette in Oman — and the risk of her refoulement to Egypt, whose authorities have targeted her online expression and peaceful association with the “Egyptian Generation Z” movement — appear to constitute a pattern of “reliance on cross-border cooperation measures” which “may facilitate acts of transnational repression targeting individuals residing abroad for the lawful exercise of rights protected under international human rights law,” say the Working Groups on enforced disappearances and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, and violence against women and girls. (OMN 2/2026, EGY 4/2026)