THE RAPPORT – 20 July to 2 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

• Deaths in custody and detention conditions amounting to torture and ill-treatment in Shala Prison, in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, where approximately 9,000 people are being arbitrarily detained by the Rapid Support Forces, would, if confirmed, “constitute serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law,” say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on food, health, torture, and water. (OTH 45/2026)

• The alleged arbitrary detention of Mr. Hassan Bouras, currently held at El Haoud prison in Algeria on alleged terrorism charges, “appear to form part of a series of measures of harassment and reprisal against Mr. Bouras because of his legitimate activities as a journalist and human rights defender,” in violation of international human rights obligations, say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion and human rights defenders. (DZA 3/2026)

• The ongoing and worsening insecurity situation in Northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt has had profound human rights implications for Christian women and girls, as exemplified by recent attacks against Christian women and girls from villages in Borno State and the case of the “Shikarkir Abductees,” say the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls, executions, minorities, and torture. (NGA 2/2026)

Americas

• Military support provided by the United States Southern Command in Ecuador in the context of efforts to combat “narcoterrorism” — in circumstances where the precise nature, scope, and legal basis of the U.S. military activities involved have not been publicly clarified — may not only amount to a direct violation of the right to life, but also a violation of the obligation to “refrain from aiding or assisting another State to violate the right to life,” say the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, education, executions, independence of judges and lawyers, internally displaced persons, and migrants. (USA 13/2026, ECU 4/2026)

• The acquisition and subsequent public exhibition/demonstration of an electric shock device for law enforcement forces, known as the Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (G.L.O.V.E.), by the authorities of the Argentinian province of Córdoba, is incompatible with the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel and degrading treatment, say the Special Rapporteurs on torture and freedom of assembly. (OTH 46/2026, ARG 4/2026)

• The Special Rapporteur on education has congratulated Colombia on Draft Bill No 503, which seeks to criminalise “offences against education” — including, for instance, the death of teachers, attacks on or military use of property intended for the provision of the public education service, and attacks against students and educational staff — which, in the Special Rapporteur’s words, “would serve as an example for other States to follow in improving their legislative protection of the right to education by criminalizing attacks on and the military use of educational institutions, thereby contributing to the consolidation of State practice toward the prohibition of the military use of schools under customary international law.” (COL 4/2026)

• The decision by Brazil’s Federal Senate to repeal a resolution that established guidelines for the provision of rights-based care to children and adolescents who are victims of sexual violence “may represent a retrogression in the protection of sexual and reproductive health rights, may weaken coordination and protection mechanisms aimed specifically at children and adolescents in situations of heightened vulnerability, and may remove already established safeguards without providing compensatory measures or equivalent alternatives,” say the Working Groups on discrimination against women and girls and African Descent and the Special Rapporteurs on executions, health, racism, and torture. (BRA 6/2026)

Asia

• Excessive use of force by police forces against peaceful protesters in Indonesia during protests across the country in both August 2025 and April 2026 stems from “increasing restriction on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression in the country, as well as the apparent misuse of criminal law and laws regulating information systems and digital content to subject individuals to judicial proceedings for exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms,” say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly, education, executions, freedom of opinion, international solidarity, terrorism, and torture. (IDN 5/2026)

• Free Trade Agreement negotiations between the EU and the Philippines, which are premised on compliance with the 1991 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, “may have potential negative implications for the enjoyment of human rights by Filipinos, in particular the right to food, by restricting farmers’ rights including their ability to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds and propagating materials,” say the Working Group on peasants and the Special Rapporteur on the right to food. (PHL 4/2026, OTH 56/2026)

• The Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on torture, executions, peaceful assembly, and transitional justice have offered their views on how Bangladesh, currently experiencing “a moment of considerable opportunity [and] … high expectations,” address some of the legal deficiencies and structural and underlying conditions that have allowed torture to persist in the country, including, inter alia, legislative lapses affecting the National Human Rights Commission. (BGD 5/2026)

Europe

• Systemic and ongoing discrimination against civilian victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina — including “structural imbalances” between war veterans and civilian victims of war which prioritise the former, and inconsistent approaches of recognising children born as a result of wartime sexual violence across the country’s entities and administrative units — has created “a hierarchy between victims, which is inconsistent with international human rights standards that require equal recognition and protection for all victims of gross human rights violations,” say the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on transitional justice, executions, and torture. (BIH 1/2026)

• Bulgaria’s Draft State Budget Act for 2026, which would, inter alia, amend the statutory mechanism for determining the remuneration of judges, prosecutors and investigators, may violate the principle under international law that requires that any formula used for determining judicial salaries “preserve the material conditions necessary for judicial independence and protect judges against arbitrary, discriminatory or politically motivated financial pressure,” says the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. (BGR 1/2026)

• The Special Rapporteur on the right to food has encouraged the Scottish government to “set out a clear and realistic timeframe” for extending its provision of free school meals to children in primary school. (GBR 11/2026)

Middle East

• Widespread arbitrary arrests and detention — often followed by the enforced disappearance, torture, and the imposition of the death penalty — in the context of the nationwide protests in Iran earlier this year, constitute a long list of human rights violations, including the rights to life, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, and protections on due process, say 12 Special Rapporteurs. (IRN 7/2026)

• The imminent executions of Bita Hemmati, Mohammadreza Majidi-Asl, Yousef Ahmadi, Raouf Sheikh-Maroufi, Mohammad Faraji, Mohsen Eslamkhah, and Ruhollah Korki in Iran, following judicial proceedings marred by violations of fair trial guarantees, would amount to an arbitrary deprivation of life, contrary to international standards, say the Special Rapporteurs on Iran and executions. (IRN 8/2026)

• Online harassment of and acts of intimidation and threats against Ms. Rima Flihan and Ms. Alaa Amer of the Syrian Feminist Lobby engage the State’s “obligation under international human rights law to act with due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide remedies for acts of violence against women and girls, whether committed by State or non-State actors, including when such violence is perpetrated or facilitated through digital technologies,” say the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls and human rights defenders. (SYR 2/2026)

Other

• The International Olympic Committee’s “Policy on the protection of the Female (Women’s) category in Olympic Sport and Guiding Considerations for International Federations and Sports Governing Bodies”, instead of proposing nuanced solutions contributing to the difficult conversation about how to maintain fairness and promote the participation of everyone, imposes blanket bans on the participation of most women with innate variations in sex characteristics and all transgender women from all women’s sports competitions, regardless of their actual circumstances, performance advantage in their specific sport and discipline, and demonstrated risks in the context of contact sports, say the Working Groups on business and human rights and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on cultural rights, health, and SOGI. (OTH 55/2026)

• The Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court must revise the International Criminal Court’s complaints handling process, which “does not fully reflect best practice international standards in line with international human rights law, including labour rights,” say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, independence of judges and lawyers, and violence against women and girls. (OTH 44/2026)