Five organizations working for migrant rights Thursday asked Qatar to reveal the location of Malcolm Bidali, a security guard from Kenya who wrote about the issues faced by migrant workers in the country and was arrested by the police on May 4. Prior to his arrest, Bidali had discussions with trade unions and civil society organizations [...]
A special five-judge bench at the High Court of Kenya on Thursday declared the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI)-driven Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill 2020 unconstitutional. The main case was filed by five activists, namely David Ndii, Jerotich Seii, James Ngondi, Wanjiku Gikonyo, and Ikal Angelei. The judgment deals with 17 issues that had been raised in eight [...]
On Thursday, the UK government imposed new sanctions on Libya’s al-Kaniyat militia and its leaders for violations of international law. The militia is reportedly responsible for 27 mass graves containing hundreds of residents reported missing in the Libyan town of Tarhuna. The group has allegedly committed atrocities such as torture, murder, arbitrary detention, and enforced [...]
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Greek state to end its pushback of asylum seekers at the border. Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic expressed her concerns following the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment indicating reception of “consistent and credible allegations” of pushbacks which appeared to [...]
The US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Wednesday removed Jesús “El Rey” Zambada, who had testified against Sinaloa drug cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Sanctions had been placed on Zambada for his involvement in the drug cartel. A department official stated that [...]
An Australian think tank released a report on the declining birth rates among the Uyghur population in China’s western Xinjiang province, concluding that China’s birth-control policies imposed on the Uyghurs may constitute genocide. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analyzed the publicly-available data on birthrates in China from 2011 to 2019, and found that birth rates [...]
The French National Assembly passed Bill 609 Wednesday, “relating to the management of the exit from the health crisis.” The bill provides that, beginning on June 9, France’s Prime Minister may “ake the access of people to certain places, establishments or events involving large gatherings of people for leisure activities or trade fairs or exhibitions subject [...]
A Myanmar journalist has been sentenced to jail for three years after reporting on the anti-junta protests currently engulfing the country. Min Nyo, a journalist for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), was convicted under the recently revised Penal Code in military court on Wednesday. Section 505 makes it an offence to publish or circulate [...]
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday that it would repeal a Trump-era rule that controlled how the EPA could conduct benefit-cost analyses (BCAs) before enacting rules related to the Clean Air Act, which allows the EPA to monitor and control air emissions that can harm public health. Under administrator Andrew Wheeler, a [...]
The US Department of Justice announced the arrest of Marine Corps major Christopher Warnagiris on Thursday for crimes related to his involvement in the January 6 siege on the US Capitol. Warnagiris is the first active-duty military member that has been arrested for crimes perpetrated during that attack. An FBI Special Agent filed the criminal complaint [...]