The Superior Court of Justice of Ontario ruled Monday that the Better Local Government Act, 2018 , which decreased the number of city wards and councilors in Toronto from 47 to 25, was unconstitutional. The law was enacted on August 14 and took effect immediately. The election period for the city had begun on May 1, [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Sunday criticized the confirmation of 75 deaths sentences by the Cairo Criminal Court in Egypt, deeming the cdecision “a gross and irreversible miscarriage of justice.” According to rights groups, the sentences are part of an unprecedented crackdown by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi‘s government, who promised during his [...]
A Russian rights group on Monday reported that more than 1,000 people were detained at anti-government protests across the nation. The OVD-Info group , which tracks police detentions, said that 1,018 people were detained during multiple Sunday demonstrations against Russian pension reform that plans to increase the ages at which citizens can collect their state [...]
The White House announced on Monday that the US will consider imposing sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges and prosecutors if the ICC opens an investigation into the actions of United States service members and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan. The Chief Prosecutor of the ICC requested an investigation in November 2017 into alleged [...]
The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet Jeria voiced concern Monday about abuses worldwide, specifically addressing the US’ separation of migrant families. In an opening statement to the 39th session of the Human Rights Council , Bachelet stated that while the US has halted its “unconscionable practice” of separating immigrant children from their [...]
The Chinese government has been engaging in a systematic campaign of human rights violations against Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang province, Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleged in a report Monday. The report presents evidence of these violations, and is “primarily based on interviews with 58 former residents of Xinjiang, including 5 former detainees and 38 relatives of [...]
A jury failed to reach a verdict Wednesday in the retrial of former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten, ending weeks of deliberation in a mistrial. “We have reexamined our views and continued our discussions about the evidence and determined that individually we cannot ‘surrender honest conviction as to the weight or effect of evidence solely [...]
A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern Friday over the “violent suppression of peaceful protests” by opposing political parties and the police in anticipation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s upcoming election. The spokesperson, Ravina Shamdasani, cited two incidents within the past week of the police arresting political [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) found Thursday that it has jurisdiction to investigate officials of the Myanmar government for violence towards the Rohingya minority. The violence against the Rohingya minority has drawn human rights groups to call for the arrest of government officials. The Chamber found that it has the power to entertain the Prosecutor’s request [...]
The European Commission on Thursday approved Apple’s purchase of Shazam, after their six-month long investigation proved the acquisition would not give the tech company an unfair advantage in the music streaming industry. Shazam is a UK-based music recognition app that listens to a song and relates information about the song and where to listen to it [...]