The UK government Monday introduced amendments to the pending Public Order Bill to change the definition of “serious disruption,” broadening the range of situations in which police in England and Wales may act to stop protests. Activists from groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain have drawn criticism for blocking roads [...]

The UK Government Monday decided to block the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, signed to make it easier for people to change their legally recognised gender. This action marks a constitutional first in UK history since this is the first time the UK government has used the Scotland Act 1998 to veto Scottish legislation. [...]

The Law Society of England and Wales Thursday announced that it issued a pre-action protocol letter calling on the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Dominic Raab to withdraw his decision not to increase criminal defense solicitors’ legal aid rates by the recommended minimum.  The letter comes over a year after Lord Christopher [...]

The Canadian government announced Tuesday that it had placed sanctions on four Sri Lankan officials, including former Presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa, in response to the Sri Lankan government’s crackdown on human rights during the Sri Lankan civil war between 1983 and 2009. The sanctions impose restrictions under Section 2 of the Special Economic [...]

The UK Government Tuesday revealed a new anti-strike bill to ensure public services maintain “basic function” during industrial actions. The government said the legislation will ensure that “transport services keep running during strike action.” The Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, introduced by Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, will set out the legal framework to allow [...]

James Joseph is a UK staff correspondent for JURIST. At the end of January a new All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) will hold a public launch to address ongoing atrocities being committed against the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan. The APPG chaired by the Member of Parliament for Peterborough, Paul Bristow and co-chaired by Lord [...]

The UN Security Council Monday unanimously adopted Resolution 2672, which authorized the renewal of the cross-border mechanism in Syria a day before it was set to expire. Resolution 2672  renewed the UN’s previous authorization of the Bab al-Hawa crossing point on Syria’s border with Türkiye. The UN Security Council first authorized the border crossing point [...]

James Joseph is a UK staff correspondent for JURIST. The state of the courts and tribunals in England and Wales has become critical. In previous dispatches about strike action taken by the Criminal Bar Association I have addressed the scale of the issue, and the dire needs of a justice system on the brink of [...]

The UK government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda does not breach the law, the High Court in London Monday ruled. The decision is based on UK human rights groups’ request for an injunction to prevent the removal of asylum seekers in June.  In the decision, two senior judges at the High Court of [...]

The European Parliament Thursday voted 507 to 12 to officially recognize the Holodomor famine as a genocide of Ukrainians “inflicted by Stalin”. The resolution states: Having regard to the 2003 Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada resolution declaring the deliberate famine as an act of genocide, to the Ukrainian Law of 28 November 2006 on the ‘Holodomor in [...]