THE RAPPORT — 2 February to 15 February 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/.

Americas

• The imposition of sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control against three prominent Palestinian human rights organisations — Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights — appears to be part of a pattern of “retaliatory actions directed at officials and staff associated with the International Criminal Court, and at those who cooperate with it,” say the Working Groups on business and human rights and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and Palestine. (USA 38/2025)

• The termination of funding for legal services for unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings represents a “persistent violation of statutory, regulatory, and other protections for children” and constitutes a clear denial of access to justice for migrant children in the United States, say the Special Rapporteurs on trafficking, independence of judges and lawyers, and migrants. (USA 39/2025)

• The attempted murder of Venezuelan LGBT+ human rights defender Yendri Omar Velásquez Rodríguez in Bogotá on 13 October 2025, apparently in retaliation for his legitimate human rights activities, is indicative of Venezuela’s trend toward transnational repression, which violates “the principle of non-intervention and the prohibition of extraterritorial persecution, in addition to undermining Colombia’s sovereignty,” say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and SOGI. (VEN 5/2025, COL 6/2025)

• Acts of intimidation against Garífuna women human rights defenders Melissa Martínez and Miriam Miranda, coupled with the dissemination of racist narratives about the Garífuna community by various media outlets in Honduras, “place human rights defenders and their communities at greater risk and contribute to the normalization of attacks against them,” say the Working Group on people of African descent and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and freedom of assembly. (HDN 6/2025)

• The disappearance of Mapuche Indigenous leader Julia Chuñil Catricura, the alleged lack of progress in investigations to locate her and hold those responsible accountable, and ongoing concerns for the safety of her family members engage Chile’s obligations under international human rights law to ensure an effective, prompt, and impartial investigation, say the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders. (CHL 7/2025)

Africa

• The legal harassment, intimidation, and surveillance of former police officer and whistleblower Patricia Mashale “constitutes a serious misuse of the law for the purpose of the self-interest of high-ranking police and government officials” in South Africa, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and freedom of opinion. (ZAF 4/2025)

• The enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, ill-treatment during detention, abusive use of criminal proceedings, and unfair trial suffered by Ali Mammeri, a union leader, and Mohamed Tadjadit, a poet and human rights defender, are indicative of the degenerating situation in Algeria for individuals considered dissidents by the regime, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, cultural rights, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, independence of judges and lawyers, and privacy. (DZA 7/2025)

• A directive by the Algiers bar association prohibiting members from participating in public debates makes “no distinction between lawyers speaking on behalf of the bar association on general judicial system issues and lawyers speaking on individual cases,” and broadly undermines lawyers’ freedom of expression in Algeria, say the Special Rapporteurs on independence of judges and lawyers, freedom of opinion, and human rights defenders. (DZA 8/2025)

• Arbitrary arrests and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters demonstrating in Banjul in August and September 2025, constitute part of a series of “escalating incidents of violence during peaceful demonstrations” in The Gambia, in violation of the ICCPR and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, say the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly and human rights defenders. (GMB 1/2025)

• Proposed amendments to the Termination of Pregnancy Act, which would “significantly expand access to abortion in Zimbabwe,” are necessary in light of “the increasing invocation of religious arguments to deny gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights,” says the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. (ZWE 1/2026)

• The Special Rapporteur on terrorism has provided observations on amendments to Somalia’s Counter-Terrorism Law of Puntland State, including recommendations to revise vague and overly broad definitions of terrorism and to remove the mandatory imposition of the death penalty. (SOM 1/2026)

Asia

• Ongoing pre-trial detention of and prolonged delays in the trials against journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and human right advocates Marielle Domequil and Alexander Abinguna in the Philippines appear to form part of “a deliberate strategy to prolong their unfair detention and further intensifies concerns of legal harassment against them,” say the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion, human rights defenders, independence of judges and lawyers, and terrorism. (PHL 7/2025)

• The ongoing detention of former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, and his wife Bushra, in conditions reportedly falling below international standards, could amount to a violation of the prohibition of torture, says the Special Rapporteur on torture. (PAK 16/2025, PAK 15/2026)

• Sri Lanka’s draft Protection of the State from Terrorism Act, which “falls significantly short of conformity with international law” due, inter alia, to its vagueness, overbreadth, and diluted actus reus and mens rea elements, risks exerting “exceptionally harmful effects on the protection of fundamental rights, particularly for minorities, historically marginalized communities, and civil society,” say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, executions, human rights defenders, privacy, and torture. (LKA 1/2026)

Europe

• The Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 has resulted in severe and widespread violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, “filtration” in occupied territories, torture, sexual violence, summary executions, and violations of fair trial rights, among others, say the Workings Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on Russia, Belarus, executions, human rights defenders, independence of judges and lawyers, and torture. (RUS 14/2025)

• The arrest, detention and conviction by Russia’s Zabaykalsky Regional Court of journalist Nika Novak, apparently in direct retaliation for her reporting of critical issues in Russia, is “emblematic of a broader pattern of reprisals against journalists in Russia, particularly those who report on sensitive issues and human rights violations,” say the Special Rapporteurs on Russia, freedom of opinion, and human rights defenders. (RUS 1/2025)

• The Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys, signed by the United Kingdom and France and aimed at disincentivizing dangerous crossings of the English Channel by asylum-seekers, fails to provide adequate protection to people in vulnerable situations, including those who are at risk of human trafficking, say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on migrants, executions, health, international solidarity, racism, slavery, trafficking, and violence against women and girls. (GBR 20/2025, FRA 13/2025)

• Physical and death threats against LGBTQ+ rights defender Vira Chernyhina, together with the reported failure to conduct an effective investigation and the absence of adequate hate crime legislation, point to “widespread impunity for hate crimes committed against LGBTQ+ people” in Ukraine, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and SOGI. (UKR 3/2025)

• The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty has welcomed the introduction of a new equality ground of socioeconomic disadvantage in Ireland’s Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024. (IRL 2/2025)

• The imminent forced eviction of more than 400 people from Badalona B9, an abandoned secondary school located in the city of Badalona, Spain, in the absence of any durable alternative housing solution consistent with international human rights standards, engages the State’s obligation to “take all necessary measures, to the maximum of its available resources, to ensure that alternative housing, resettlement, or access to productive land, as appropriate, is provided” to prevent homelessness, say the Special Rapporteurs on housing and migrants. (ESP 3/2025)

• Criminal sanctions imposed on students in Switzerland for participating in a peaceful demonstration at ETH Zurich in solidarity with the Palestinian people constitute undue restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and academic freedom, as guaranteed by the ICCPR and ICESCR, say the Working Group on business and human rights and the Special Rapporteurs on education, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and Palestine. (CHE 5/2025)

• The lack of progress in the by-election and appointment of three members of the Truth Commission for the Sámi People in Sweden risks undermining the international standard that “truth-seeking mechanisms established in transitional justice contexts must be and be perceived to be fully independent from the government or interested parties in order to ensure their legitimacy, impartiality and effectiveness,” say the Special Rapporteurs on transitional justice and Indigenous peoples. (SWE 3/2025)

Middle East

• The death sentence imposed on Ehsan Faridi, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering student charged with “propaganda against the state” of Iran, clearly violates international human rights standards, which permit capital punishment only for intentional killing, says the Special Rapporteur on Iran. (IRN 21/2025)

• The “arbitrary detention, judicial harassment and disproportionally harsh sentencing under the guise of national security and counterterrorism legislation” of Mohammed Saleh al-Bajadi, a founding member of a now-banned human rights organisation in Saudi Arabia, amount to the criminalisation of human rights defence which is incompatible with international human rights law, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, independence of judges and lawyers, and terrorism. (SAU 2/2025)

• The Special Rapporteur on executions has “sincerely welcomed the ongoing legislative discussions aimed at abolishing the death penalty” in Lebanon. (LBN 1/2026)

Other

• Meta, Intuit, and Google’s disruption of digital operations of Palestinian organisations following their designation and subsequent imposition of sanctions by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control may amount to a violations of these companies’ responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, say the Working Groups on business and human rights and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and Palestine (OTH 152/2025, OTH 153/2025, OTH 151/2025)

• The Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls has offered her observations on the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, particularly emphasizing the need to close certain gaps concerning the definitions of “sex” and “gender.” (OTH 10/2026)