Hungary’s parliament voted to ratify Sweden’s membership bid to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Monday, officially becoming the final NATO nation to approve of Sweden’s accession. As a result, Sweden is poised to become the thiry-second NATO member state upon formal invitation of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Article 10 of the NATO Treaty [...]
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Finland extends closure of Russia border until mid-April amid migrant crisis
Finland announced on Thursday the extension of the closure of its border crossing points with Russia until April 14, 2024, citing concerns over weaponized migration and threats to national security from Russia. The decision comes after the initial closure, which was scheduled to end on February 11, was extended once again. The decision, approved by [...]
Global fight against corruption weakens as rule of law declines: report
Governments around the world are struggling to fight corruption, according to a Transparency International (TI) report published Tuesday. The report, known as the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The scores range from zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). In 2023, the CPI global [...]
Türkiye dispatch: Turkish parliament ratifies Sweden’s bid to join NATO
Mehmet Hasan Yacı is a Staff Correspondent for JURIST and a senior law student at Türkiye’ s Galatasaray University. He files this dispatch from Istanbul. Today, Tuesday, the Turkish National Assembly accepted Sweden’s bid to join the NATO alliance by a vote of 287 in favor, 55 against, and 4 abstaining. During the final negotiations [...]
EU concerned over recent raids and detentions of journalists in Kyrgyzstan
The EU Delegation to Kyrgyzstan expressed concern Thursday over Kyrgyz authorities’ recent clampdown on journalists and media offices operating in the country. The delegation specifically mentioned the recent spike in detentions of journalists and the searching and confiscation of property belonging to independent media offices. The statement by the EU delegation, along with the embassies [...]
Norway arrests 20 Indigenous activists following protests against wind turbine operation
Norwegian authorities criminally charged 20 Indigenous Saami activists and supporters on Friday for blocking access to multiple government buildings in protest over the continued operation of wind turbines in the Fosen region. The operation occupies the same land as traditional reindeer herding grounds, despite a 2021 Norwegian Supreme Court ruling calling for an end to [...]
The Interior Minister of Finland Mari Rantanen announced in a press briefing on Thursday that Finland has decided to prolong the closure of its border crossing points with Russia until February 11, beyond the initially scheduled end date of January 15. The briefing states that Russia facilitated “instrumentalized migration”, which refers to intentionally creating cross-border [...]
The Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee approved Sweden’s NATO membership on Tuesday. This is the first step in Türkiye’s process to full approval, which entails submission to the General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament, followed by ratification from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Upon successful ratification, Hungary will be the final NATO member to approve Sweden’s [...]
Finland closes all land borders with Russia amid surge of illegal immigration
The Finnish Ministry of the Interior announced on Thursday that all of its land borders with Russia would be closed from December 15 to January 14 due to the surge of illegal immigration, just a few hours after reopening two of the eight border crossings. Due to the surge of illegal immigration at the southeastern border [...]
Finland closes all but one border crossing to asylum applicants entering from Russia
The Finnish government announced a comprehensive border closure policy on Wednesday for its border with Russia, closing a number of land border crossings. The policy is aimed at addressing an escalating influx of migrants and ensuring national security as Finnish officials have accused Russia of allowing persons with insufficient documentation to cross. Only one border [...]