The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) Tuesday urged Sri Lankan authorities to find a solution to the country’s economic and political challenges in a press release following Sri Lanka’s state of emergency declaration. Sri Lanka, which is enduring its most painful economic downturn since its independence from Britain in 1948, declared a state of emergency [...]

Palestinian-French lawyer and human rights defender Salah Hammouri Tuesday filed a criminal complaint against the Israeli tech surveillance company NSO Group, claiming it had illegally infiltrated his phone using controversial Pegasus spyware. He filed the complaint jointly with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Ligue des droits de l’homme (LDH). The infiltration [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday issued a decree restricting visas for citizens of countries deemed unfriendly by the Kremlin. Under the decree, expedited visa procedures for citizens of the European Union, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein will cease. Additionally, Russian state-affiliated news agency TASS reported that the decree suspends payment waivers for government officials [...]

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Monday called on Canada to end its practice of incarcerating immigration detainees in provincial jails. “Canada’s practice . . . is inconsistent with international human rights standards, and jail conditions potentially breach federal-provincial immigration detention contracts,” HRW said. In a legal memorandum released on its website, HRW said that [...]

The Delhi High Court Monday set aside a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) preventing noted journalist Rana Ayyub from traveling abroad. The LOC was issued over allegations of misappropriated money raised through crowdfunding for COVID-19 relief work. Ayyub was detained by the Bureau of Immigration at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday urged the European Union (EU) to press Vietnam to improve human rights record. HRW called upon the EU “to insist of clear, concrete, and measurable human rights benchmarks for Vietnam” ahead of a bilateral human rights dialogue between the Union and the countryset to take place in Brussels on Wednesday. [...]

Spanish and US authorities Monday seized a 254-foot yacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg from a Spanish marina. Vekselberg operates the Renova Group, an energy conglomerate with operations in metals, mining, tech and other assets. Vekselberg was first sanctioned in 2014 for his role in the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. Vekselberg [...]

Former Colombian soldier Mario Palacios Monday pleaded not guilty to charges by US prosecutors that he conspired to commit murder or kidnapping in connection with the assassination of former Haitian President Jovenel Moise, according to Reuters. Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021. The case is currently before United States District Court for the Southern [...]

Canada Monday announced new sanctions against nine Russian and nine Belarusian individuals for facilitating and enabling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The new sanctions were announced after the world saw images from the city of Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv, Ukraine, this weekend. Russia has conducted bombing campaigns and ground offensives across Ukraine since its invasion [...]

The US Senate Monday voted to move Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination to the Senate Floor after the Judiciary Committee deadlocked along party lines. The deadlock is the first time the committee has split on a Supreme Court nominee since Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated by President George H. W. Bush over 30 [...]