Nineteen international civil society organizations issued a statement Friday demanding due process guarantees at a key hearing for Guatemalan journalist Jose Rubén Zamora. The hearing is scheduled for October 18. The organizations, including Amnesty International, Article 19 and the Committee to Protect Journalists, expressed deep concern over reports of human rights violations and threats to [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada, in a 5-4 majority, ruled on Friday that judges do not have the discretion to impose a driving prohibition order when an offender is convicted of criminal negligence causing death or bodily harm under section 220 or 221 of the Criminal Code. Writing for the majority, Justice Sheilah Martin contended [...]

Three tobacco companies proposed on Thursday to pay $32.5 billion to settle legal claims in Canada, stemming from decades of disputes. The proposal remains subject to further negotiation and court approval. A mediator, appointed by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to coordinate the tobacco-related claims and facilitate the negotiations, filed the proposed settlement arrangement. [...]

The Polish government introduced a draft law aiming to allow civil unions under Polish law on Friday. The law would reverse Poland’s current ban on civil partnerships and failure to recognize civil partnerships from other nations. The bill would recognize the civil partnership between two unmarried adults upon registration. Along with the legal recognition, civil [...]

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin has accused Russia of systematically torturing prisoners of war (POWs), with up to 90 percent of returned Ukrainian soldiers reporting abuse during their detention in Russian facilities. At a Tuesday event in Brussels organized by the Center for European Politics, Kostin noted that these findings come from Ukraine’s ongoing investigations into [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday in the case Central Unitaria de Traballadores/as v. Spain, upholding Spain’s decision to ban a May Day demonstration during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court determined that the restriction on the trade union’s right to assembly was justified due to the extreme public health [...]

The United Kingdom announced that it has joined with France and Algeria to call for an urgent meeting at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to discuss the humanitarian situation in Gaza, while the Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the UK was considering sanctions on Israeli cabinet ministers.  Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the [...]

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Thursday revealed that recent armed clashes between Ethiopian government forces and the Fano militia exposed thousands of Sudanese refugees in the Amhara region to major risks, including of forced deportation, in violation of international humanitarian law. HRW urged Ethiopian authorities and the international community to take all necessary [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday that Italy did not violate the European Convention on Human Rights by determining that an inmate’s life sentence should not be reduced to 30 years. The court found that the applicant, Ferdinando Cesarano, could not legitimately have expected to receive any other penalty than “life imprisonment [...]

The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, on Wednesday officially recognized the mass deportation of the Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union in 1944 as an act of genocide. The statement passed in the 101-seat body with 83 votes in favor and eight abstentions. The decision comes at a time of renewed focus on Russia’s ongoing policies [...]