Human Rights Watch on Monday called on world leaders attending the UN General Assembly in New York this week to defend international human rights institutions and uphold accountability for serious international crimes. On September 21, a statement ahead of the General Assembly’s September 22-28 meeting urged governments to resist efforts to weaken the UN, international [...]

The UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries warned Tuesday that rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are making it harder to determine who is responsible for human rights abuses linked to mercenary and private military and security operations. In a report presented during the 63rd session of the UN Human [...]

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran on Monday called on all parties to the conflict to immediately cease hostilities and comply with international humanitarian law following reported US airstrikes that killed and injured civilians in southern Iran. The Mission said that recent strikes in Hormozgan province raise serious questions about whether the United [...]

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry on Friday confirmed that two Nigerian nationals have been killed in South Africa, as tensions intensify between the two countries over anti-immigrant protests.  Bishop Taiwo Michael Fakunle and James Uchechukwu Nwankwo were killed in two separate incidents. Fakunle was reportedly murdered at his home in Kensington, Johannesburg, on September 4. The following [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk on Monday warned that AI could become impossible for humans to control without proper protective measures, suggesting that the technology may become so powerful on its own that developers would gradually lose control over it. In his opening statement to a global update delivered at the 63rd session [...]

The UN on Tuesday released a report detailing how decades of war in Afghanistan have left civilians dealing with lasting psychological, physical and economic harm, which has been compounded by a lack of access to justice, compensation and other forms of redress.  The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) interviewed 195 victims of armed conflict [...]

Amnesty International on Wednesday accused Argentina of putting in place a “techno-authoritarian” surveillance infrastructure without adequate legal safeguards, as the government’s newly created AI security unit expands state monitoring powers over citizens’ online communications and physical movements.  In a new report, the rights group stated that Argentina‘s Ministry of Security spent at least USD$1.2 million [...]

Myanmar announced on Saturday that it had undertaken steps to receive Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh and will continue working with the country to support the return of those it verifies as former residents of Rakhine State, maintaining that the repatriation process should be handled primarily as a bilateral matter between Myanmar and Bangladesh, and not [...]

Türkiye’s parliament on Monday announced that it has passed a new law creating conditional legal mechanisms for certain members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The shift signifies an advance for the government’s “Terror-Free Türkiye” initiative and a potential de-escalation in the country’s decades-long conflict with Kurdish militants. The Law on Strengthening National Solidarity and Social [...]

A coalition of 78 civil rights, labor, consumer protection, technology accountability and community organizations on Monday urged the US Senate to remove existing artificial intelligence (AI) sandbox provisions from the proposed Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act), warning that the measure could allow financial institutions to test AI systems without legal protections for consumers, [...]