The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Thursday affirmed a decision to freeze assets of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s cousin, Rami Makhlouf. The ECJ referred to Council Decision (CFSP) 2015/1836 of 12 October 2015 that amended Decision 2013/255/CFSP discussing restrictive measures against Syria. Relying heavily on Article 27 and 28, a travel ban and asset [...]
Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill on Thursday to decriminalize abortion for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. As of right now, abortion is only decriminalized in Argentina in cases of rape or risk to the health of the mother. The deputies proposed the decriminalization bill in March. The debate lasted for over 23 [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called for an investigation Tuesday into potential human rights abuses committed in both the Indian-administrated and Pakistan-administrated sections of the Kashmir region. According to the first UN report on Kashmir, in the Indian-administrated section, soldiers use excessive force against civilians, which led to approximately 145 [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday that Israel’s use of deadly force in Gaza Strip “may amount of war crimes.” HRW reports that between March 30 and June 8, the Israeli government used lethal force against Palestinian protesters, although the protesters provided “no imminent threat to life.” According to the report, 118 people were killed [...]
The Irish cabinet voted on Tuesday in favor of the Removal of Blasphemy Bill , which will “provide for a referendum on removing the crime of blasphemy from the Constitution.” Charlie Flanagan , the Minister for Justice and Equality, proposed the bill. Article 40.6.1(i) of the Irish Constitution says, “The publication or utterance of blasphemous, [...]
The National Assembly of Vietnam on Tuesday passed a cybersecurity law that will affect the operations of global tech companies, such as Facebook and Google. The law will require global tech companies to store important personal data on Vietnamese users locally, as well as requiring them to maintain offices in Vietnam. The law further requires [...]
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday decided to release Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo , the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While Bemba’s conviction of crimes against the administration of justice still stands, the court found it improper to detain him when he already served most of the maximum sentence. The court [...]
US President Donald Trump signed an agreement with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Singapore on Tuesday. The agreement is supposed to establish relations between the two countries, “build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” and repatriate prisoners of war. The statement reads that the “DPRK commits to work [...]
Qatar filed an Application Instituting Proceedings against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, accusing the UAE of discriminating against Qataris in violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) . Qatar accuses the UAE of, among other things, “prohibit by [...]
Former Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli was extradited to Panama Monday to face four charges of illegally monitoring private communications, and for embezzling over $10 million in public funds. The extradition honored a 1905 treaty . Martinelli fled Panama in January 2015. The Supreme Court of Justice of the Republic of Panama issued an arrest warrant [...]
