Germany suspended processing asylum claims for Syrian refugees on Monday following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with the UK, Greece and Sweden quickly adopting similar measures amid the rapidly evolving situation in Damascus. According to Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge; BAMF), the currently unclear situation in Syria [...]

Environmental organization Greenpeace announced Tuesday that it reached a settlement with British-Dutch oil and gas company Shell, which had sued the group over a protest. The legal dispute stemmed from an incident in 2023 when Greenpeace activists boarded a Shell oil production vessel to demonstrate against fossil fuel extraction and its environmental impact. Shell brought [...]

The UK and Germany agreed on Tuesday to a new joint action plan to tackle people-smuggling. The plan aims to “fight to save lives in the Channel and disrupt the migrant smuggling trade.” It will provide a joint framework between the two countries, which “strengthens operational capabilities of UK and German law enforcement” to tackle [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report on Tuesday detailing allegations of widespread human rights abuses committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan’s South Kordofan state. The report documents a pattern of violence in the towns of Habila and Fayu between December 2023 and March 2024, including the killing of scores of civilians, [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday criticized the inhumane treatment of migrants attempting to cross into Poland from Belarus, especially criticizing the actions to Polish border guards. According to the organization, Polish law enforcement “unlawfully” pushed migrants back into Belarus, sometimes using violence, while also denying them access to asylum procedures in violation of international [...]

Amnesty International on Monday called upon Chad authorities to “immediately release” the relatives of killed opposition party leader Yaya Dillo Djerou, who remain detained despite being acquitted. The statement urges Chadian authorities to release 10 detained relatives of the Parti Socialiste sans Frontières (PSF) leader. The relatives were acquitted in July following a military assault [...]

The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold an emergency meeting in New York on Monday afternoon to discuss the situation in Syria, as announced by Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, in a Telegram post. Russia requested an urgent closed consultation with the UNSC after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement on Monday calling on the Argentine government to refrain from appointing Supreme Court justices through presidential decree. HRW emphasized that judicial appointments should prioritize candidates’ qualifications, experience, diversity, and integrity to uphold the judiciary’s independence and impartiality. The organization’s appeal comes amidst heightened scrutiny of Argentina’s judicial system [...]

The Khatai District Court in Azerbaijan held a trial on Sunday of the six journalists detained the previous day in Baku on smuggling charges. Five of the six reporters, Natig Javadli, Khayala Aghayeva, Aytaj Tapdig, Aynur Elgunesh and Aysel Umudova, work with the Berlin-based independent media outlet Meydan TV. The sixth, Ramin Jabrayilzade, is an independent [...]

Syrian rebels declared on Sunday ousted President Bashar al-Assad after seizing control of the capital city of Damascus. Bashar al-Assad has reportedly fled Syria, putting an end to five decades of Ba’ath rule in this country. Rebels of the Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement entered Damascus on Sunday, a week after taking Syria’s second-largest city, [...]