Volker Türk

Rule Changes

Under pressure from rights groups to brief on the U.S. situation

On November 10, 2026, the United States left its seat empty at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review in Geneva for the second year in a row. No other of the 193 member states has skipped the review twice. The Human Rights Council responded by postponing the U.S. review to January 2027.

Updated Yesterday

Force in Play

Warned in May that armed drones had become the leading cause of civilian deaths in Sudan, with at least 880 people killed from January to April

Drone strikes killed civilians in West Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the first days of November, adding to a toll that includes at least 153 dead at Amiet Market in Abyei on October 19. The October 26 strike on Tanqong Market in Nyala is now put at 188 killed and 356 wounded by the Sudan Founding Alliance's Government of Peace and Unity, figures not independently verified.

Updated 3 days ago

Force in Play

Said Israel's Hebron crackdown raises 'serious concerns of ethnic cleansing'

Hebron's governor said Israeli forces withdrew from the city on November 2 after a 10-day siege, and that families forced from their homes could return, Al Jazeera reported. The withdrawal came after Israel blew up the homes of the two gunmen who killed two soldiers at a checkpoint and displaced almost 5,000 Palestinians.

Updated Nov 2

Force in Play

Warning of grave civilian risk in Taiz

The UN says more than 290,000 people have been forced from their homes by fighting in Yemen since August. On Oct. 28 it put the figure at 281,000, up more than 20,000 in under a week, and said more than half are sheltering in Taiz governorate. Houthi fighters have encircled Taiz since early October and cut the road to Aden, the main supply route.

Updated Oct 31

Force in Play

Warned that the Houthi siege of Taiz puts civilians at 'grave risk'

Houthi rebels fired three ballistic missiles at a government training camp in Yemen's Shabwa province on Oct. 19, killing 73 new recruits aged 18 to 20. It is the deadliest single attack since fighting resumed in July.

Updated Oct 21

Force in Play

As of October 2026: Deplored the strike and warned against forced refugee returns

A Myanmar military fighter jet dropped two 500-pound bombs on a crowded wholesale market in Kyauktaw on Sept 28, killing at least 50 people and wounding 58. The UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar has issued an urgent appeal for evidence, saying the attack may amount to a war crime.

Updated Oct 11

Rule Changes

As of May 2026: Called for UK to rescind proscription

On February 13, 2026, Britain's High Court ruled the government acted illegally when it banned Palestine Action as a terrorist organization—the first to overturn a UK terrorism proscription. The three-judge panel said the group's tactics of breaking into factories and damaging military aircraft were criminal but did not meet the terrorism threshold, calling into question more than 2,700 arrests and 250 charges under the Terrorism Act.

Updated May 29

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Leading international condemnation of crackdown

Iran's 2022 uprising killed roughly 500 people over several months. The current one has killed at least 6,842 people (possibly more than 30,000) in just over five weeks; leaked documents reveal Supreme Leader Khamenei approved a premeditated crackdown blueprint months in advance.[1][2]

Updated May 23

Force in Play

As of May 2026: Leading international critic of U.S. drug‑boat strikes

On December 5, 2025, the Trump administration released a 33-page National Security Strategy declaring a Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The document formally revives the 19th-century idea of the Western Hemisphere as a U.S. sphere of influence and promises to reassert American preeminence across the Americas.

Updated May 10