A UN expert panel condemned the murder of a Mexican human rights activist on Wednesday, and called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation by state authorities. Sael Silva Cisneros, a prominent lawyer and advocate for Afro-Mexican and LGBTQ rights, was killed in an attack outside the town of Cuajinicuilapa on June 5, shortly after [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits Wednesday against Virginia and California, alleging that newly enacted firearm restrictions in both states violate the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. The complaint filed against Virginia in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenges Senate Bill 749, which Governor Abigail Spanberger signed [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday granted certiorari to two consolidated cases challenging “assault weapon” bans, setting the stage to potentially reshape firearm regulations across the country. The court agreed to hear Viramontes v. Cook County out of the Seventh Circuit and Grant v. Higgins out of the Second Circuit, consolidating the cases for a [...]
Rights in Belarus are still threatened despite a recent release of political prisoners, Special Rapporteur Nils Muižnieks said on Monday. Muižnieks welcomed the release of over 400 individuals, but said that the human rights situation has not improved, stating that “sustainable progress requires an end to politically motivated repression and accountability for past violations”. In [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday that authorities in the Philippines continue to conduct extrajudicial killings without any accountability as part of the government’s anti-drug campaign, which has resulted in serious human rights violations against the victims and their families. The organization stated that police officers in the Philippines continued to commit extrajudicial killings and [...]
Australia has ignored its responsibility to implement UN-recommended changes to its human rights policies in areas such as the criminal justice system, indigenous rights and climate change, Human Rights Watch reported Monday. The recommendations come from the country’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN Human Rights Council, a peer-based review of UN member [...]
President Donald Trump repeatedly missed legal deadlines and omitted business deals required under federal ethics laws designed to expose conflicts of interest, his latest financial disclosure reveals—lapses that fall to his own appointees to police. The 927-page annual report, filed with the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and released Tuesday, states that Trump paid [...]
The San Francisco Catholic archdiocese announced on Monday that it reached a $395 million settlement with over 500 survivors of childhood sexual abuse by church clergy. The terms of the agreement, which must still be approved by a judge, also require the church to comply with transparency and child protection demands, including maintaining an up-to-date [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down federal limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their candidates, ruling 6-3 that the restrictions violate the First Amendment‘s free speech protections. The decision in National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission overrules the court’s 2001 decision in FEC v. Colorado Republican [...]
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states may bar transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams, upholding bans in West Virginia and Idaho, and holding that neither Title IX nor the Equal Protection Clause requires schools to allow participation based on gender identity rather than biological sex. The court issued a 6-3 [...]
