The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Monday that Jordan, as a party to the Rome Statute, was obligated to arrest Sudan’s former leader Omar al-Bashir during his 2017 visit to Amman for an Arab League Summit. The ICC declined, however, to refer Jordan to the Assembly of States Parties or the UN Security Council, reversing [...]
Uganda’s Supreme Court ruled 4-3 Thursday to uphold a constitutional amendment to remove an age limit that had previously barred anyone over 75 from seeking the nation’s highest office. Uganda’s Parliament voted to strike down the age limit in 2017, and President Yoweri Museveni, now 74, signed the amendment into law in January 2018. The petitioners, including [...]
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday that sexually explicit electronic communications sent to minors are not private and can be used in police investigations. In the case a police officer posed as a child and was sent explicit messages. A meeting was arranged with the defendant, a 32-year-old-man pretending to be 23. The defendant argued [...]
The South Korean Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the law making abortion a crime is unconstitutional. For now, the law still stands. But, if it is not amended by 2020, it “will become null and void.” The court called the current law “an unconstitutional restriction that violates a pregnant woman’s right to choose.” Currently, the [...]
New Zealand’s Parliament has on Wednesday passed a law banning semiautomatic weapons in response to the Christchurch massacre last month that killed 50 and injured scores of Muslim worshippers. The legislation has passed the final of three stages and will become law with the ceremonial approval of the Queen of England’s delegate expected Thursday. 119 [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that Russia violated the rights of opposition leader Alexei Navalny by placing him under house arrest in 2014. Navalny, a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, spent 10 months under house arrest in 2014 while Russian authorities investigated him for embezzlement charges. The court found that Navalny’s confinement violated [...]
The European Commission criticized Romania on Friday for “backsliding on the rule of law.” Margaritis Schinas, Chief Spokesperson of the European Commission, expressed the Commission’s concern over Romania’s treatment of Laura Codruța Kövesi. Kövesi served as Romania’s chief prosecutor from 2013 to 2018 and is currently in the running to head the new European Public Prosecutor’s [...]
On Thursday, the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland announced that there was enough evidence available to prosecute a soldier involved in Bloody Sunday. The soldier was identified as Soldier F and is being prosecuted for two murders and four attempted murders. For the other eighteen suspects, “it has been concluded that the available evidence [...]
The High Court struck down the UK’s “right to rent” policy on Friday as incompatible with human rights law. The “right to rent” policy required private landlords to verify the immigration status of prospective renters. Under this policy, landlords who rented to undocumented tenants could face unlimited fines or prison time. This policy was a key [...]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened the 40th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on Monday by denouncing an increase in threats to human rights worldwide. Guterres began his address by emphasizing the HRC’s role as “the epicentre for … the protection of all human rights” and highlighted areas of progress including a global reduction in poverty [...]
