UN Secretary General António Guterres raised the alarm on Wednesday over the abuse of free speech and expression rights for promoting hatred online, that he said is leading to a “surge in real-world violence” against vulnerable groups. Speaking on the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, Guterres warned that such speech is a “tool for [...]

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday unanimously upheld a law prohibiting public advocacy for an election boycott. The court held that the law is a justified infringement on the right to free speech. Chief Justice Andrew Cheung found that the law serves a legitimate aim of protecting the legitimacy of elections by [...]

Amnesty International warned on Wednesday that the coastal community of Cedeño in the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras, is experiencing a human rights crisis resulting from climate change impacts that threaten the population’s livelihoods. Ana Piquer, Amnesty International’s Americas director, said: “The heartbreaking situation facing the people of Cedeño today is the result of years of [...]

A coalition of Canadian civil rights groups on Wednesday called for privacy legislation to regulate the collection of personal information by federal national parties. The appeal comes after Parliament repealed a related law in March. The statement said federal political parties remain left out in the current Canadian privacy framework, allowing them to collect voters’ [...]

The Dutch Parliament on Tuesday passed legislation criminalizing conversion therapy, making the Netherlands the latest country to impose criminal sanctions on actions aimed towards changing individuals’ sexual orientation and gender identity. Tuesday’s legislation, titled Wet strafbaarstelling conversiehandelingen (Act on the Criminalization of Conversion Acts), was approved by the Upper House (Eerste Kamer) with 57 out [...]

French police are using on-the-spot fixed-penalty fines as a new tool for racial profiling, trapping Black and Arab youth in debt reaching tens of thousands of euros, Human Rights Watch, (RE)CLAIM and Maison Communautaire pour un Développement Solidaire (MCDS) said in a joint statement Wednesday. The report documents police issuing criminal fines for alleged noise [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that sanctions against Francesca Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer and UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Palestine, will remain in place while her legal challenge continues. In July 2025, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions under Executive Order [...]

The Canadian Parliament adopted reform legislation on Tuesday to impose more stringent bail conditions and harsher sentencing guidelines on violent crimes. While supporters welcome the enactment, critics question the law’s effectiveness and warn of worsening pre-trial jail conditions. The Bail and Sentencing Reform Act made over 80 changes to the Criminal Code, the Youth Criminal [...]

The UK Court of Appeal held unanimously on Monday that the government’s designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organization is lawful. Following the ruling, the Metropolitan Police arrested 117 protesters from outside the court for supporting the advocacy group. The appellate court concluded that the designation passed the proportionality test—which requires a policy objective [...]

Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a constitutional initiative to cap the country’s permanent resident population at 10 million by 2050, with 54% opposing the measure in a national referendum, and with voter turnout exceeding 58%—evidence of strong democratic engagement, according to the Federal Council, the Swiss cabinet. The initiative aimed to constitutionally cap Switzerland’s permanent [...]