The Supreme Court of Guinea confirmed Saturday that Alpha Condé won a third term as president. Condé’s rivals had raised allegations of voter fraud, which the court rejected. Condé’s victory comes after a highly contested election. According to official results, he received 59.5 percent of the vote, with an estimated 78.88 percent voter turnout. Cellou Dalein [...]

Scotland’s law banning the smacking of children came into effect on Saturday, making it the first UK nation to do so. The law provides children with the same protection from assault as adults receive. “This law sets out in clear terms that physical punishment should no longer be part of childhood in Scotland and it [...]

The UAE government on Saturday announced that it will cancel lenient penalties for honor killings and will introduce other progressive policies. In a statement released by his government, President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan approved amendments to personal status, civil transactions, the penal code and criminal procedural laws. “Based on the UAE solid commitment [...]

Paul Gicheru, a Kenyan lawyer accused of witness tampering, made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a hearing Friday. Gicheru and his partner Philip Kipkoech Bett were both indicted on charges of witness tampering. The ICC described Gicheru’s charges: Paul Gicheru is suspected of offenses against the administration of justice consisting [...]

A report by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) alleged Thursday human rights violations during and after the August 9 Belarus presidential election of Aleksander Lukashenko. The allegations of human rights abuses “were found to be massive and systematic and proven beyond doubt.” The report alleges well-documented cases of ill-treatment and torture by [...]

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci stepped down Thursday to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1990s armed conflict against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) for Kosovo’s independence. Thaci was indicted in June on crimes of persecution, imprisonment, illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, other inhumane acts, cruel treatment, [...]

Italy’s lower house of parliament passed a bill Wednesday that extends anti-discrimination protection to women, disabled people and members of the LGBTQ+ community, making violence against these groups a hate crime. Existing hate crime legislation only protects people from racial, religious and ethnic discrimination. Under this law, people convicted of hate crimes against these newly [...]

Puerto Rico went to the polls and voted for statehood Tuesday. Puerto Ricans were asked, “Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted into the union as a state?”. With over 97 percent of the results in, over 52.27 percent of voters voted affirmatively.  This is the sixth time that Puerto Rico has voted on the question [...]

The Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled Wednesday that the US may extradite German-Finnish internet entrepreneur and political activist Kim Dotcom to face criminal copyright-related charges. In 2005, Dotcom founded a business comprised of various companies providing cloud storage and file-sharing capability for internet users. The US alleges that one of those companies, Megaupload, “encouraged third parties [...]

Seventy-one parties to the Rome Statute on Monday joined a statement to voice opposition to US sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) officials that were implemented in September. The nations stated, “any attempt to undermine the independence of the court should not be tolerated.” On September 2, the US State Department took action against the [...]