UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Guinean authorities on Friday to lift restrictions on political participation and to halt the intimidation of political actors and activists in the run-up to the presidential election scheduled for December 28. In his statement, Türk noted that Guinean authorities imposed severe restrictions on civil and [...]
The Indian government on Friday denounced the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh amid protests in New Delhi. Randhir Jaiswal, the official spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, stated: The unremitting hostility against minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, Christians, and Buddhists at the hands of extremists, is a matter of grave concern. [...]
South Korea’s liberal-led legislature passed a bill barring traditional and online news outlets from publishing “false or fabricated information.” The bill authorizes substantial punitive damages targeting the news media and raises concerns about increased censorship. The Conservative Party launched a filibuster, but the Democratic Party ended it 24 hours later and passed the bill with [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders on Tuesday urged Togo authorities to release Togolese-Irish citizen and human rights defender Abdoul Aziz Goma from prison on the seventh anniversary of his arrest. Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor noted that the Togolese Criminal Procedure Code allows for conditional release of prisoners who have [...]
A US federal court on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of a Texas law that requires users to verify their age before downloading mobile apps and accessing paid content online. Judge Robert Pitman of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction blocking AG Paxton from [...]
A transgender employee at the US National Security Agency (NSA) sued the Trump administration on Monday, alleging discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Sarah O’Neill, a data scientist at the agency, filed a complaint in the District Court for the District of Maryland against William Hartman, acting director of the NSA. The complaint asserts [...]
United Nations experts on Tuesday urged Iran to immediately stop the execution of Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a 67-year-old electrical engineer detained at Lakan Prison in Rasht. In their statement, the UN experts detailed severe procedural violations, including arrest without a warrant, prolonged solitary confinement, a trial lasting less than ten minutes via video conference, and [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on torture raised concerns on Wednesday about the detention conditions of Bushra Bibi Khan, the wife of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan. The statement urged Pakistani authorities to take immediate measures to improve Bushra Khan’s situation and to comply with international human rights standards. Special Rapporteur Alice Jill Edwards noted [...]
Belgium filed Tuesday a declaration of intervention to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case against Israel in relation to the situation in the Gaza Strip. In the declaration, Belgium expressed its understanding of the term “genocidal intent” contained in the Genocide Convention. Citing a previous ICJ provisional measure order in the case [...]
UN experts and rights organizations on Tuesday raised alarm over coordinated attacks on journalists, media outlets and cultural institutions in Bangladesh following the assassination of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi, describing the violence as a serious threat to freedom of expression and democratic participation ahead of the February 2026 parliamentary elections. Hadi, 32, a key [...]
