A new UN report released Thursday urged states to avoid unjustifiably labeling drug cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations, warning that a renewed “war on narco-terrorism” could violate human rights. The report was authored by Ben Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. [...]

Non-profit organization Liberty Justice Center, on behalf of US food importer Gellert Global Group, initiated a lawsuit on Tuesday against US President Donald Trump’s administration’s latest tariffs on imports from Canada. The lawsuit argues the duties represent another attempt to use a Depression-era trade statute, Section 338, to exceed his power as president and claim [...]

UN experts on Wednesday welcomed a recent ruling by Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) relating to Macro-Case 08, recognizing the responsibility of an Ecopetrol director and several state agents for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious human rights violations. The ruling concerns abuses committed during the armed conflict in Barrancabermeja in the late [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted in a press release on Monday that Burundi is set to win re-election to the UN Human Rights Council in a vote on October 13, with no competition. Addressing the effects of the lack of competition on the council’s initiatives to improve human rights conditions worldwide, Louis Charbonneau, UN Director [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday condemned the Salvadoran courts, saying that since the beginning of 2026 they have been holding trials that have convicted hundreds of defendants at a time, relying on uncorroborated evidence and giving defendants no chance to prepare a defense. Commenting on the mass trials, Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday unsealed four arrest warrants against senior Taliban figures, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan, acts that the Court’s prosecutors say constitute crimes against humanity. The four warrants against Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education [...]

Amnesty International on Thursday reported that a whistleblower inside Morocco’s intelligence service helped reveal a vast surveillance apparatus targeting journalists, activists and dissidents. Commenting on the increasingly hostile environment for freedom of expression in the country, Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general, stated: Morocco has wholly embraced techno-authoritarian practices, acquiring a wide range of surveillance [...]

The Council of the European Union on Monday imposed restrictive measures against 10 Russian officials for their role in the exclusion of Yabloko, also known as the Russian United Democratic Party, from the 2026 Russian legislative elections, saying the move undermines both the rule of law and democracy in Russia. In an EU statement regarding [...]

United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk said Thursday he was appalled by the increasing impact that the intensifying conflict in Yemen between the Ansar Allah (Houthi) armed group, the government of Yemen and various affiliated forces is having on civilians. Turk strongly condemned the civilians’ increased suffering and fear caused by the violence. “Civilians [...]

In a joint statement published Monday, 21 civil society organizations including Amnesty International, called for the renewal of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM).  Noting the FFM’s recent findings, the organizations stated: The FFM concluded that gross human rights violations and international crimes continue committed in Venezuela under a veil of persisting impunity. They [...]