A new report published by Amnesty International on Thursday revealed that crime groups in Cambodian labor camps regularly subject individuals to human trafficking, slavery and forced labor, emphasizing a need for immediate intervention in reaction to the government’s lacking response. The 240-page report, titled “I was someone else’s property,” recounted testimony from trafficking survivors. Amnesty [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday on the grave impact of humanitarian aid cutbacks on the education crisis in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps. The group urged the country’s interim government to lift restrictions on refugees and intergovernmental agencies to include Rohingya educators in the decision-making process. In early June, the decline in foreign humanitarian assistance [...]

A new report by the UN Working Group on discrimination against women and girls released Tuesday has warned that the disproportionate care burden on women is a barrier to their advancement in society. The report calls for care work to be recognized, reallocated and remunerated through public investment and structural reform. Though highly valuable, care [...]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset on Wednesday agreed to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, following Europe’s endorsement of the proposal in May. The agreement, which will be supported by all 46 Council of Europe member states, will establish a tribunal [...]

Vietnam’s 15th National Assembly on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to abolish the death penalty for eight categories of criminal offenses: embezzlement, bribery, counterfeiting medicines, espionage, drug trafficking, vandalism of state property, sabotage, and acts aimed at overthrowing the government. Out of the 439 delegates present, 429 voted in favor, representing nearly 90 percent of the legislature. [...]

The UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) on Tuesday said that Serbia needs to take further action to “protect people deprived of their liberty from torture and ill-treatment.” During a week-long mission to Serbia, the SPT visited prisons, police cells, remand centers and homes for the elderly and children. The delegation also conducted interviews [...]

Hong Kong Deputy High Court Judge Frankie Yiu refused to grant leave for a constitutional challenge against a provision criminalizing the incitement of casting invalid votes. In the judgment issued Tuesday, Judge Yiu ruled that the challenge is not reasonably arguable because the provision is necessary to improve the electoral framework. The impugned provision is [...]

The Hong Kong Legislative Council passed a law on Wednesday that bans anyone convicted of a national security offense from forming or holding a leadership position within a union. The new law amends the Trade Union Ordinance, introducing a lifetime ban on union organizing for national security offenders. This includes both holding a leadership position [...]

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged the international community to address escalating violence and human rights abuses in Haiti, noting that conditions have been steadily deteriorating one year after the deployment of the first personnel under the UN-authorized Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission. In light of the inability of the Haitian National Police (HNP) to [...]

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) announced on Tuesday that the recent killing of Palestinians trying to receive food from aid hubs may constitute a war crime, warning of a policy of “weaponized hunger” in the Gaza Strip. Jonathan Whittall, the head of the United Nations Office for the [...]