A panel of three judges from the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Congoloese rebel commander Bosco Ntaganda on Thursday to 30 years in prison for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Rome Statute governs the ICC’s sentencing for crimes regarding children and sexual violence, crimes of which the ICC found Ntganda guilty. Under the Rome [...]

Israel’s highest court on Tuesday upheld the deportation of Omar Shakir, a US Citizen and local director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Israel. Shakir is being removed under a 2017 law allowing the government to block entry to supporters of Israel boycott movements such as boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). Israel used the law [...]

A UN representative reported to the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee on Wednesday that Iran executed seven children in 2018 and two so far this year. Javaid Rehman stated to the committee that he remained “concerned about the continued use of the death penalty” in Iran. While the execution rate has dropped in Iran [...]

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, aimed at protecting the civil rights of Hong Kong residents. The bill would end Hong Kong’s special trading status with the US unless the State Department conducted an annual review ensuring that the authorities were respecting human rights and [...]

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria issued its latest report Wednesday, finding that despite the military advances made by pro-government forces in 2018 that led to the demilitarized zone, violence continues with a high number of civilian casualties. The report uncovered many instances of arbitrary detention, disappearances and obstacles to access vital services. The [...]

The US Department of Justice on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay an injunction blocking a July 15 Trump administration asylum rule requiring most asylum-seekers to ask for protection in another country before reaching the US-Mexico border. Under the new rule, people from countries like Honduras and El Salvador, where one would have to [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday dismissed Tennessee’s suit against the federal government over financing refugee resettlement within the state. Tennessee contended that the federal government should foot the bill on all costs associated with refugee resettlement. In passing these expenses on to the states, Tennessee argued, the federal government [...]

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera signed a bill into law on Thursday that will lift the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases involving minors. Originally introduced in 2010, the bill was reintroduced at Piñera’s urging after a surge in reports that former Santiago Cardinals Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa and Ricardo Ezzati had covered up allegations of [...]

In a report released Thursday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet urged Venezuela to take immediate steps to address “grave violations of economic, social, civil, political and cultural rights” in the country. The report warns that if the situation does not improve, an unprecedented outflow of Venezuelan migrants and refugees will continue [...]

The US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) withdrew its plans to construct a US Penitentiary and Federal Prison Camp in Letcher County, Kentucky, on Thursday. A group of federal prisoners and advocacy groups, including the Abolitionist Law Center and Green Justice, challenged the construction of the new prison in a federal lawsuit. The complaint outlined [...]