UN Human Rights Council Says to the United States: "Get Your Knee off Black Necks"
On Juneteenth, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution requesting the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the assistance of relevant Special Mandate Holders, to prepare a report on systemic racism and violations of international human rights law against Africans and people of African descent by law enforcement agencies, especially those incidents that [...]
US activist sues former Egypt PM for torture and assassination attempt
US human rights activist and former political prisoner Mohamed Soltan sued former Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Abdel Aziz el–Beblawi Monday for conspiring with government officials to arrest, torture and assassinate him for his high–profile activism during Egypt’s 2013 Revolution. Soltan filed the complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia under the [...]
From the beginnings of his crudely acrimonious presidency, Donald Trump has actively undermined US foreign policy relationships. On urgently key matters of world politics and international law, Mr. Trump’s typically invalid conclusions have generally been drawn from narrowly belligerent premises. Truly, the main problem with such faulty presidential arguments, however, has not been Trump’s gratuitously [...]
Germany Constitutional Court overturns ban on professionally-assisted suicide
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that individuals have a right to a self-determined death. This ruling overturns a previous ban on professionally-assisted suicide. Section 217 of the German Criminal Code previously provided punishments of up to three years of imprisonment or a fine to anyone who, with the intention to help another individual [...]
UK court denies application of terminally ill man challenging assisted dying law
A terminally ill man lost his challenge to the assisted dying law in the UK on Tuesday. The case was brought by Philippe Newby, who suffers from motor neurone disease, a terminal disease. His claim centered around Section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961, which makes it illegal for people to assist or encourage others [...]
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a midyear report Tuesday detailing the 3,812 civilian casualties in Afghanistan since January 1, 2019. According to this report, Afghan forces and their allies killed 717 civilians, while the Taliban and other militant groups have killed 531 civilians. The report noted a 27 percent decrease in civilian [...]
Afghanistan civilian casualties up 11% in past year: UN report
More civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2018 than in any other year on record, according to a report published Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). UNAMA reported 3,804 deaths—an 11 percent increase from 2017. According to the report, the greatest cause of civilian casualties is suicide bombers, coupled with additional attacks [...]
A panel of the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday declined an emergency application submitted by Noel Conway, who suffers from a terminal motor neurone disease, challenging the Suicide Act of 1961, which makes assisted dying illegal. The panel, although finding that this case present “an arguable point of law of general public important which ought [...]
The New York Times ran a front-page story on October 21, 2018 with the headline: “‘Transgender’ Could be Defined out of Existence under Trump Administration.” The story reported that “the Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.” Other than Caitlyn Jenner, who had maintained a [...]
People like me, who believe we should have tighter regulation of firearms, like to use the word “reasonable.” We support reasonable gun control measures, steps that would preserve gun rights but keep guns out of the wrong hands and reduce the risk of harm from improper use of firearms. Those who support reasonable gun control must be willing to acknowledge [...]
