The Canadian Senate passed a bill Friday to legalize the recreational use of marijuana with a vote of 56 to 30 (with one abstaining). The bill, known as the Cannabis Act, outlines measures to control and regulate how cannabis is grown, distributed, and sold, while prohibiting any promotion, packaging, and labeling that could be “appealing [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber acquitted former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and military leader Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo Friday on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 2016, Bemba was found guilty and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for two counts of crimes against humanity (murder and [...]

The UK Supreme Court on Thursday indicated disapproval of Northern Ireland’s strict abortion law , though ultimately dismissed the appeal brought by challengers of the legislation. The legal proceedings were initiated by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) , who argue that the existing law—which lists having an abortion as a criminal offense punishable [...]

Amnesty International (AI) called on Mozambican authorities Thursday to take immediate steps to end what they called a “killing spree” in the Cabo Delgado Province of the country. According to the statement, at least 37 people in have been killed over the past two weeks. The killings are being carried out by a group known [...]

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , Tomás Ojea Quintana, urged North Korea Thursday to begin to release its political prisoners in anticipation of the proposed June 12 denuclearization talks with the US. “It might be a gradual process, it’s not that I’m saying you [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Development Programme signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Myanmar on Wednesday that will give the UN agencies access to the Rakhine state. UN officials state that the memorandum will lay the foundation for the safe return of the Rohingya refugees. [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) submitted an amicus brief to the Colombian Constitutional Court on Tuesday calling for changes to the Special Jurisdiction of Peace bill—a peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The Court is reviewing the bill, which was passed on November 30, 2017. HRW has identified three shortcomings in the [...]

A Bahrain court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who was sentenced to five years in February over Tweets critical of the Bahraini government. Rajab is the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights . He was convicted over Tweets about Bahraini prison torture and civilians casualties from [...]

There is evidence to suggest that coalition airstrikes in Syria are potential war crimes, according to an Amnesty International report released Tuesday detailing the effects on civilians of the US airstrike in Raqqa, Syria, which occurred from June to October of 2017. Amnesty referred to the airstrikes, by the US-led Coalition against Islamic State (IS) [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Monday in response to the sanctions the US imposed on Russia in April. The counter-sanctions give Putin the right to ban trade from countries found to be hostile to Russia and to cut ties with such countries. According to Reuters , the counter-sanctions are not as strong [...]