THE RAPPORT – 27 April to 10 May 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 repeated attacks, arbitrary arrest, and torture of Ms. Alliance Mukunde, an advocate for lesbian women in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, “constitute extreme forms of gender-based violence” and “form part of a pattern of structural discrimination against women and LGBT persons,” says the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. (COD 3/2026)

• The reported approval by the African Development Bank of a USD 150 million loan to support the development of the Coral North Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) Project in Mozambique — which has previously been the subject of Special Rapporteur communications in 2019 and 2021 — “predictably undermines the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment,” say the Working Group on business and human rights and the Special Rapporteurs on climate change, environment, and internally displaced persons. (MOZ 1/2026, OTH 26/2026)

• Violence involving certain herder and farming communities in the “Middle Belt” region of Nigeria — which have included civilian fatalities; damage to and destruction of housing and property; damage to and destruction of other civilian objects, including churches, clinics and schools; and incidents affecting food security, including damage to or destruction of agricultural land, crops, food reserves and food storage structures — constitute a range of violations of human rights obligations enshrined in the ICCPR and the ICESCR, say the Special Rapporteurs on executions, food, housing, internally displaced persons, and violence against women and girls. (ZAF 1/2026)

• A proposed constitutional amendment to dissolve of the Zimbabwe Gender Commission and absorb its functions into the country’s Human Rights Commission “could potentially risk deprioritising gender equality issues and affect compliance with obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,” says the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. (ZWE 2/2026)

Americas

• The detention of Mr. Versaín Velasco García, a Maya Tzotzil human rights defender who has advocated against organised crime and abusive local authorities in his community, and his sentencing to 58 years in prison, “appear to be based on fabricated accusations” and is emblematic of the broader situation of Indigenous human rights defenders in Mexico, say the Working Group on arbitrary detention and the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders and Indigenous Peoples. (MEX 1/2026)

• The possible eviction of the Andrea Jiménez Foundation, which provides essential educational and specialized care services to children and adults with disabilities in Costa Rica, without relocation alternatives or adequate protective measures, “could seriously affect the rights to education and health — including mental health — and to an adequate standard of living, including housing, for persons with disabilities,” say the Special Rapporteurs on education, health, and housing. (CRI 1/2026)

• The proposed Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act before the United States Congress, which aims to designate the Polisario Front a separatist group seeking independence for Western Sahara from Moroccan “sovereignty”, appears to aim at coercing the Sahrawi people to accept Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, in violation of their international legal right to freely and genuinely choose their political future, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism and international order. (USA 10/2026)

Asia

• Restrictions in Australia on the right to protest under recent amendments to the laws of New South Wales following the Bondi terrorist attack of 14 December 2025 — which, inter alia, justifies a “public assembly restriction declaration” based on imprecisely-defined “risks of hate speech” — appear to be inconsistent with the right to peaceful assembly, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly, human rights defenders, and Palestine. (AUS 2/2026)

• Allegations of serious labour exploitation at PT Huadi Nickel Alloy Indonesia (PT HNAI) — including excessive working hours, compulsory overtime imposed without consent, restrictions on workers’ freedom of movement during shifts, threats and intimidation for refusal to work overtime, and severe economic pressure arising from wage practices — may amount to forced labour based on the International Labour Organisation’s Indicators of Forced Labour, say the Working Groups on business and human rights and discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteurs on slavery and peaceful assembly. (OTH 12/2026, IDN 3/2026, CHN 2/2026)

• The arrest, detention, and criminal prosecution of activists affiliated with the Atajurt political movement, following a protest near Kazakhstan’s border with China in November 2025, “may amount to disproportionate interferences with the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, as protected under international human rights law,” say the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly. (KAZ 2/2026)

• Recent amendments to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act — which, inter alia, abrogates the right to self-determination of gender identity — run counter to the national and international human rights legal obligations of India not to discriminate in the protection of human rights based on any status, say the Special Rapporteurs on SOGI, peaceful assembly, health, human rights defenders, independence of judges and lawyers, racism, slavery, and trafficking of persons. (IND 7/2026)

Europe

• The failure by both Great Britain and Romania to conduct a prompt, effective, impartial, and victim-centered investigation into an aggravated sexual assault perpetrated by Andrew and Tristan Tate, is a violation of the obligation to punish and provide redress for acts of sex-based violence against women, whether perpetrated by state or non-state actors, says the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls. (GBR 6/2026, ROU 2/2026)

• The withdrawal of both Greek and Turkish Cypriot authorities from the Imagine peace and cultural education programme is uncompliant with the duty to adopt guarantees of non-recurrence of past serious human rights violations and may regress progress made towards peace in the country, say the Special Rapporteurs on transitional justice, cultural rights, and education. (CYP 1/2026, OTH 11/2026)

• “Parenting competency tests” used in Denmark to justify the forced removal and continued separation of three children from their mother, an Inuk Indigenous woman from Greenland, constitute a pattern of discrimination and violence rooted in both ethnic and gender discrimination, say the Special Rapporteurs on violence against women, Indigenous Peoples, and racism. (DNK 1/2026)

Middle East

• Israel’s Law on the Prevention of Harm to State Security by a Foreign Broadcasting Body (Temporary Provision) — which, inter alia, allows the Prime Minister of Israel to determine that the content broadcast on a foreign channel broadcasting in Israel or “the Judea and Samaria region” is “materially detrimental to the security of the state”, on the basis of a professional opinion from the security agencies — is vague, overbroad, unspecific, and counter to basic freedom of opinion norms, say the Special Rapporteurs on terrorism, freedom of opinion, human rights defenders, and Palestine. (ISR 5/2026)

Other

• Abuses against Starbucks employees since 2021, in the context of workers’ efforts to unionize, “may amount to violations of workers’ rights to freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, as stipulated inter alia by articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),” say the Working Group on business and human rights and the Special Rapporteurs on peaceful assembly, freedom of opinion, and international solidarity. (OTH 27/2026, USA 6/2026)