Vivian Kwok

UN, Geneva
Views here are my own.

[Agnes Callamard @AgnesCallamard]

Navi Pillay impromptu press conference in Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

[Agnes Callamard @AgnesCallamard]

Amazing moment.

Navi Pillay has received the Nobel Peace Prize ! https://t.co/HL3r1PJzLO

We are at the Nuremberg Court; I cannot think of a stronger symbol for her Nobel prize.

We are all so thrilled!

This is her first reactions upon hearing the news:

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Intl' Covenants on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, and Civil and Political Rights, former CESCR Chair and former SR on Extreme Poverty, Philip Alston, reiterates the importance of social and economic rights and the indivisibility of rights.

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

As we mark 60 years of the Intl Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, Preeti Saran, Chair of the UN Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, reminds us that economic, social and cultural rights must move beyond aspiration and become a lived reality for everyone.

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

60 years on, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (#ICCPR) remains as relevant as ever.

Changrok Soh, Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee, stresses how the Covenant continues to be an essential normative foundation amid a time of instability.

[Vivian Kwok @VivKwok]

How Finland’s Sámi defended their culture through international law https://t.co/1vF7IfepZG

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

📢Don't miss the high-level panel on the 60th anniversary of the Int'l Covenants on Human Rights tomorrow at @UN_HRC's #HR63! #ICCPR #ICESCR
📆 17 Sep 2026
⏱️ 10am-12pm
📍 Assembly Hall, Palais des Nations, Geneva
📺 Broadcast live at https://t.co/aOmBfXmtTx

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

Gay McDougall, former Vice Chair of the UN #CERD Committee and main drafter of the General Comment 40, explains the scope of reparatory justice for the harms and continuing consequences of colonialism, the trafficking in enslaved Africans.

GR40➡️https://t.co/8Bfu6Ses2F

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

Today the #CERD Committee released General Recommendation 40, providing guidance for States to provide reparatory justice for colonialism, trafficking in enslaved Africans, and chattel slavery that have continuing harms on people of African descent.

GR40➡️https://t.co/8Bfu6Ses2F

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (#CERD) begins its 118th session on 10 August!
It will review:
🇰🇼 Kuwait
🇮🇳 India
🇭🇳 Honduras
🇫🇮 Finland
🗓️ 10–25 August 2026
📺 Public dialogues live on @UNWebTV
🔗 More info: https://t.co/tXK7I9nKzC

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

Women and girls deprived of liberty face specific, often overlooked risks of torture and ill-treatment. On #VictimsOfTorture Day, UN anti-torture mechanisms call for gender-sensitive prevention, accountability, and redress.#SPT #CAT #TortureFund #SRTorture
https://t.co/9DVtB1hkuT

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

20 years ago today, #OPCAT entered into force. With 96 States Parties and around 80 national preventive mechanisms, prevention of torture—through independent monitoring and constructive dialogue—helps reduce the risk of torture and ill-treatment around the globe.

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

#Afghanistan: Silence is not consent to child marriage, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child #CRC condemns, deploring new decree legitimising child marriage & treating a girl’s silence as consent, calling it grave & fundamental violation of their rights
https://t.co/wM0C2GO2Y0

[UN Special Procedures @UN_SPExperts]

.@UN_SPExperts mourn the passing of Theo van Boven: eminent jurist, tireless #humanrights defender, & advocate for victims.

He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the @WGEID & shaping the independent experts system that defines Special Procedures today.

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

Ecuador: #CED is dismayed at the murder of Adriana Arroyo Ayoví, 21, on 1st of May, a year and a half after her brother Steven’s enforced disappearance, together with his three friends (Las Malvinas children case, Dec 2024).

Truth, justice & reparation are immediately required.

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

#Mexico: under art.34 of the Convention, UN committee on Enforced Disappearances #CED requests UN General Assembly to consider measures to support the State Party in preventing, investigating, punishing & eradicating enforced disappearances in the country.
https://t.co/uLzY0SOaoe

[Christiane Amanpour @amanpour]

“Diplomacy is not reality TV. The world is not a casino. Statecraft is not a real estate deal.”

@UNReliefChief @TFletcher tells me that as the war with Iran continues to escalate, “We’ll be paying for this war for years to come…

“We’re deeply frustrated… that’s diplomatic speak for saying we’re furious. Because rich people are winning out of this. The arms dealers are winning… And the people I serve are losing.”

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

The UN General Assembly has adopted a Ghana-led resolution recognising transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity,” passing despite opposition from the US, Israel, Argentina, and European countries.

[UN Treaty Bodies @UNTreatyBodies]

#USA: Racial profiling and racist hate speech by political leaders heightened human rights violations against migrants and asylum seekers, warns the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination #CERD.

https://t.co/r5feQ17FMl

[United Nations Geneva @UNGeneva]

Hundreds of thousands have vanished around the world as victims of enforced disappearance. For families of victims, the uncertainty is devastating.

In less than 3 minutes, find out how @UN works to prevent & eradicate this horrendous crime, and support victims & their families.