Zeid Ra'ad Al

The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday criticized proposals in Indonesia's parliament to criminalize gay sex and extramarital sex, saying such laws could hurt the country's beleaguered LGBT community and other minorities, writes Reuters.

The European Union's policy of helping the Libyan authorities intercept migrants in the Mediterranean and return them to "horrific" prisons in Libya is "inhuman", the United Nations said Tuesday.

Russian state agents have committed serious abuses, including torture, in Crimea, the U.N. said Sept. 25, warning that the rights situation in the annexed peninsula had "significantly deteriorated" under Moscow's occupation.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not attend the United Nations General Assembly later this month, her spokesman said Wednesday, as the Nobel laureate faces a barrage of criticism over her failure to speak up for Rohingya Muslims fleeing Rakhine state in huge numbers.

More than 5,000 civilians have been killed in Yemen since March 2015, including 1,184 children, the U.N. human rights office said on Sept. 5, renewing its calls for an international probe into the conflict.

The U.N. decried on Aug. 8 "widespread and systematic use of excessive force" against demonstrators in Venezuela, saying security forces and pro-government groups were responsible for at least 73 protester deaths.

China lashed out July 14 at international criticism after it denied Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo's dying wish to leave the country and faced pressure to set the democracy champion's widow free.

The United Nations on March 18 decried the "carnage" caused by recent air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, saying the alliance was responsible for the vast majority of civilian deaths in the conflict, while Washington welcomed talk of an end to the Saudi-led coalition's major combat in the country.

Croatia closed most of its border with Serbia on Sept.17 as it became the latest hotspot in Europe's migrant crisis, with thousands of new arrivals overwhelming local authorities ahead of an emergency summit next week.

European governments came under increasing pressure April 21 to tackle the Mediterranean's migrant crisis ahead of an emergency summit, as harrowing details emerged of the fate of hundreds who died in the latest tragedy.