Brazil’s Senate Social Affairs Committee approved a draft bill on Wednesday to legalize marijuana cultivation for personal medical use. Though selling and trafficking marijuana carry criminal penalties in Brazil, cultivating cannabis has been decriminalized since 2006. The new bill would lift the penalties currently imposed for marijuana cultivation and allow Brazilians to grow cannabis for personal, therapeutic [...]

Sri Lanka Defense Chief of Ravindra Wijeguneratne has appeared in Colombo Magistrate Court after his arrest on Wednesday for aiding in the kidnapping of 11 teenagers during the final stages of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war in early 2009. When the targeted group, the Tamil Tigers, could not pay the ransom, he is alleged to [...]

A group of UN human rights experts on Thursday criticized the actions of the Iranian government in jailing human rights defenders and lawyers. “We urge the Government to immediately release all those who have been imprisoned for promoting and protecting the rights of women.” The experts called for the government of Iran to guarantee the [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Leilani Farha urged world leaders Thursday to address the global housing crisis at the next annual G20 summit. Farha’s statement indicated that the new global order has treated housing as a commodity and that “the G20 leaders must ensure that financial actors and their governments are prevented from selling-off [...]

A UN human rights expert on Thursday called on the government of Ecuador to “protect the rights of indigenous peoples as a surge in demand for extractive resources and new development projects puts additional pressure on the indigenous population.” The expert “urged the Government to take action to build the plurinational and multicultural society that [...]

The New York Court of Appeals on Wednesday held that a non citizen charge with a crime that, if convicted, could mean deportation, is entitled to a jury trial under the Sixth Amendment. The defendant was charged with several felony crimes, but was able to plead down the charges to misdemeanors. As such, he was [...]

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic on Wednesday stressed the need for greater information and accountability to be provided to the families of missing persons and detainees. The report begins by noting that the Syrian government is still carrying out mass public arrests and detentions. These detentions have led [...]

The US Department of Justice said on Tuesday that it plans to appeal a decision by a federal judge in California blocking the Trump administration’s rule denying asylum to migrants illegally crossing the southern border of the US. In addition to its notice of appeal, the Justice Department asked the court to respond within one [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday that it has dismantled two international cybercriminal rings, while unsealing charges for eight defendants indicted in federal court. The 13-count indictment includes charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. United States Attorney Richard Donoghue, who is involved with the case stated that, These individuals [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that Russian courts violated LGBT individuals’ freedom of assembly rights by consistently rejecting gay pride event applications. In its judgment, the ECHR stated that 14 applicants sought to gain approval to hold public LGBT events, such as PRIDE, but were systemically denied by local Russian authorities. These [...]