THE RAPPORT – 22 June to 5 July 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

• The conviction of Ms. Saadia Mosbah in Tunisia, following a trial that did not respect fair trial standards, “appear to be directly linked to her fight against racial discrimination and her work defending the rights of migrants in Tunisia, including through the exercise of her right to freedom of expression,” say the Working Group on African descent and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, health, migrants, and racism. (TUN 3/2026)

• The arrest, detention, prosecution, and conviction of journalist and columnist Mourad Zeghidi in Tunisia, on charges of defamation and moral harm, “appear to be directly related to his journalistic work and the exercise of his right to freedom of opinion and expression,” say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion. (TUN 4/2026)

• The arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Prince Tommy Williams and Mohamed Turay “appear to be directly linked” to their peaceful human rights work on behalf of persons with disabilities in Sierra Leone, say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and freedom of assembly. (SLE 2/2026)

• The arrest, detention, torture, harassment, and assassination attempts against human rights defenders Ms. Dorcas Asibu and Ms. Thérèse Mariana, in the areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where M23 presently operates, engages both international human rights law obligations of the state and international humanitarian law obligations on the part of all parties to the current conflict, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, health, and torture. (COD 4/2026)

• Direct funding of mercenaries by the United Arab Emirates in the current armed conflict in Sudan is a material contribution “to escalating the humanitarian crises and human rights violations in Sudan,” say the Working Groups on mercenaries and arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on education, freedom of opinion, minorities, and violence against women and girls. (SDN 1/2026, ARE 1/2026, OTH 6/2026)

• Eswatini’s failure to bring to justice the murderers of human rights defender Thulani Maseko, who has repeatedly challenged the rule of absolute monarch King Mswati III, undermine the state’s duty to investigate, prosecute, and punish all violations of the right to life, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, executions, and freedom of assembly. (SWZ 1/2026)

• Arbitrary and incommunicado detention and intimidation of several members of the Collective of Families of the Disappeared in Algeria “form part of a broader context of restrictions targeting … the families of the disappeared, preventing them from carrying out their legitimate work on behalf of victims of enforced disappearances and human rights,” say the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and transitional justice. (DZA 2/2026)

• The serious deterioration of fundamental freedoms and civic space in Togo in recent years — as evidenced by reports of systematic enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture, and use of excessive force and chemical agents in the context of demonstrations — “could constitute disproportionate and unjustified restrictions on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of expression, privacy, liberty and security of person, as well as the right to participate in public affairs,” as guaranteed by the ICCPR and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly, freedom of opinion, human rights defenders, and terrorism. (TGO 1/2026)

• A physical attack against youth human rights defender Mr. Jonathan M.D. Yanzee in Liberia in March 2026 engages the state’s obligation “to act with due diligence under international human rights law to investigate the incidents and hold perpetrators to account,” say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and torture. (LBR 1/2026)

• The desecration of the grave and theft of the remains of a 34-year-old woman with albinism in Zambia is indicative of a pattern of serious human rights violations in the country which have yet to be remedied through “meaningful progress to hold the perpetrators of these violations to account as demanded by the family of the victims and as possible deterrence,” says the Special Rapporteur on albinism. (ZMB 1/2026)

Americas

• A January 2026 executive order issued by the President of the United States, imposing a fuel blockade on Cuba, “is a serious violation of international law, including the principles of sovereign equality, non-intervention and self-determination,” say the Special Rapporteurs on development, education, food, health, unilateral coercive measures, and water and sanitation. (USA 12/2026)

• The excessive, indiscriminate, and prolonged use of force by military personnel against the civilian population in Sinaloa and Oaxaca, Mexico, appears to contravene the principle that use of force by law enforcement authorities should only be exerted in situations of absolute necessity, say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on executions, freedom of assembly, Indigenous Peoples, and violence against women and girls. (MEX 7/2026)

• Threats, surveillance, and harassment of human rights defender Carmen Estela Chinchilla Mora, recognised for her independent work in promoting a culture of peace and human rights in Costa Rica via her social media, “could have a chilling effect on the defense of human rights, freedom of expression, and public participation,” say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and freedom of opinion. (CRI 2/2026)

• The gender-based discriminatory treatment and revictimization of Ms. Mariana Ferrer, a woman who was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted in December 2018 in Brazil and who was repeatedly gender-stereotyped and victim-blamed throughout the ensuing investigative and judicial processes, “reflect and perpetuate discriminatory stereotypes concerning women’s sexuality and credibility … and risk deterring other survivors from reporting abuse or seeking judicial protection, thereby reinforcing patterns of impunity,” say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on health, independence of judges and lawyers, and privacy. (BRA 3/2026)

• The Special Rapporteur on housing has offered his views on the possible human rights repercussions of the “Draft Law on the Inviolability of Private Property”, currently under consideration in the Argentinian Senate. (ARG 5/2026)

Asia

• The 2025 Cambodia-Thailand border conflict has had a deleterious effect on human rights for internally displaced persons in the region, notably through large-scale displacement of civilians, destruction of homes and livelihoods, and limited access to essential services such as food, health care, safe water and sanitation, and barriers to adequate education, say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on internally displaced persons, education, executions, food, health, housing, violence against women and girls, and water and sanitation. (THA 3/2026, KHM 1/2026)

• The killing of labour rights defender Mr. Jude Thaddeus Fernandez in the Philippines, and the failures and procedural irregularities in the investigation which followed, engages the state’s obligation to investigate, prosecute, and punish all violations of the right to life, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, executions, freedom of opinion, and freedom of assembly. (PHL 3/2026)

• The large-scale removal of millions of names from electoral rolls through a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process led by the Election Commission of India (ECI), particularly affecting members of Muslim and Bengali minority voters, occurs in the context of political rhetoric used by authorities which “may serve to construct Muslim citizens as presumptively foreign, criminal and undeserving of civic rights, without any individualized determination of their legal status, in a manner incompatible with the non-discrimination obligations of articles 2 and 26 of the ICCPR,” say the Special Rapporteurs on minorities, freedom of opinion, and freedom of religion. (IND 8/2026)

Europe

• The arrest, pre-trial detention, and prosecution of Ms. Esra Işık, and the judicial harassment and termination of the disability pension of Ms. Halime Şaman in Türkiye “are originated and directly linked with their role as women environmental human rights defenders and the exercise of their right to freedom of expression in that context,” in violation of international human rights law protections, say the Working Group on peasants and the Special Rapporteurs on climate change, development, environment, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and hazardous wastes. (TUR 6/2026)

• The intimidation, threats, and subsequent acts of reprisal against Ms. Elçin Başol, a Turkish academic and civil society representative who participated recently in the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, “appear[s] to constitute a pattern of transnational repression” by Georgia, “leading to a serious chilling effect among civil society actors and minority representatives engaging with international human rights processes,” say the Special Rapporteurs on minorities, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and privacy. (GEO 2/2026)

• The alleged physical and death threats against woman human rights defender and LGBTQ rights advocate Ms. Aleksandra Kazantseva, who has been exiled from Russia and currently resides in Lithuania, engage Lithuania’s obligation to conduct a prompt and effective investigation, say the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of opinion, and SOGI. (LTU 1/2026)

Middle East

• Violence against women and girls in northern Aleppo and North-East Syria — including allegations of killings, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, forced displacement, deprivation of food and medical care, and attacks on civilians and civilian objects — have also had an impact on the rights of affected children, “including against alleged deaths from cold and starvation, lack of medical treatment, exposure to repeated displacement, and the trauma of witnessing extreme violence,” say the Working Group on enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and girls, executions, housing, internally displaced persons, minorities, terrorism, and torture. (SYR 1/2026)

• The terrorist designation of 11 Emirati dissidents living abroad and individuals prosecuted in the UAE94 and UAE87 proceedings, pursuant to the United Arab Emirates’ Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2025, represents a misuse of counter-terrorism measures against legitimate political dissent and may constitute transnational repression, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, and the independence of judges and lawyers. (ARE 2/2026)

• The arrests and enforced disappearances of human rights defenders Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh and Mr. Ahmadreza Haeri in Iran engage the jus cogens prohibition on enforced disappearance and the state obligation to investigate such acts, say the Working Groups on arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, independence of judges and lawyers, and Iran. (IRN 5/2026)