The House Committee on Natural Resources sent the World Wide Fund’s US branch a demand letter on Monday requesting internal documents for an ongoing investigation that seeks to determine if the US government funded anti-poaching organizations that committed human rights violations. A BuzzFeed investigation revealed that the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the world’s [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday called for Venezuelan authorities to investigate the in-custody death of retired navy captain Rafael Acosta Arévalo, who was detained by unidentified armed men on June 21 and brought before a military tribunal June 28. Arévalo’s lawyers and relatives were not made aware of his arrest [...]

After years of back and forth, France’s Court of Cassation ruled on Friday that artificial life support for Vincent Lambert, a person who has been in a vegetative state since a road accident in 2008, can be terminated. The court’s ruling reverses a previous decision by a Paris Court of Appeal last month, which forced [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday called on the government of Sri Lanka to halt plans to resume executions and restore its 43-year moratorium on the use of the death penalty. “Sri Lanka’s plan to resume use of the death penalty is a major setback for human rights. Sri Lanka has been a bulwark against [...]

In a country visit report published Friday, Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, said the Polish government needs to do more to preserve judicial independence, citing “wide-ranging judicial reforms have met with serious concern” from stakeholders. The Commissioner’s report is the culmination of a five day visit in which “the Commissioner [...]

Ontario’s top court ruled Friday that Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is constitutional and has the critical purpose of fighting climate change. The Act，passed by Parliament in 2018，puts a price on carbon pollution in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to encourage innovation and the use of clean technologies. It places a fuel [...]

The European Commission’s High-Level Expert Group on AI (AI HLEG) on Wednesday released a second report about artificial intelligence (AI) development and deployment, specifically aimed at “maximising [] benefits whilst minimising and preventing [] risks.” The report includes 33 recommendations for the EU, focusing on four domains: AI helping in general society, in the private [...]

The Moldovan Constitutional Court announced on Wednesday that all six of its judges were stepping down, ending a deadlock around the legitimacy of a new government made up both of a pro-EU and pro-Russian representatives. The resignations were due to trouble caused be the court’s recent rulings. The court was found to have effectively reduced [...]

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday quashed former Chief Executive Donald Tsang’s conviction and sentence for misconduct in public office. This case arose when Tsang failed to declare certain dealings with a business tycoon. Tsang was arranging to live in a Shenzhen apartment owned by a company controlled by the business tycoon, but [...]

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled Wednesday regarding how member states should interpret air quality regulations set up by the Directive 2008/50/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 (Directive 2008/50) on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. The judgment is in regard to [...]