Italy’s Chamber of Deputies approved a bill on Wednesday to outlaw certain forms of torture. The new law defines torture as “acts, single or repeated, causing suffering and trauma such as to harm the dignity of a person, already deprived of their liberty” by a public official or anyone else responsible for the victim’s well-being. [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief Thursday urging a judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas to dismiss a challenge to changes to Texas’ 2011 voter ID law , which was found to be discriminatory against minority voters . The DOJ argued that Texas’ Senate Bill 5 [...]

The Constitutional Court of Spain ruled Wednesday that provisions of the Catallan budget that allocated funds to the upcoming independence referendum are illegal. The court held that any funds allocated to financing the October 1 referendum are unconstitutional and therefore void. The ruling aligned with the Madrid government’s strong opposition to Catalian independence. The Spanish [...]

The EU and Japan formally agreed upon an outline on Thursday for a free-trade deal between two of the world’s largest economic powers. Although the deal still requires further negotiations, it is expected that 99 percent of trade deals between Japan and the EU will be liberalized. Additionally, the outline calls for the two entities [...]

The New Zealand Parliament on Thursday formally apologized to the hundreds of men who were criminally convicted under antiquated anti-homosexuality laws. The country’s House of Representatives stated that it apologizes “to those homosexual New Zealanders who were convicted for consensual adult activity, and recognize the tremendous hurt and suffering those men and their families have [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Thursday that South Africa violated its obligation by failing to arrest Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir when he visited the country in 2015. Two arrest warrants have been issued for Al-Bashir involving numerous charges including “crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of genocide.” South Africa contended that because Al-Bashir [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Montana issued an injunction on Wednesday to stop the construction of a $59 million dam that threatened the habitat of an ancient fish species in Montana’s Yellowstone River, three months after he lifted a similar injunction on the order. A wood-and-rock irrigation dam currently [...]

A Chinese court has ordered a mental hospital to issue a public apology and pay compensation to a 38-year-old man after forcing him to undergo conversion therapy. The man was committed to the institution by his wife in 2015. He was subjected to forced medication and injections for 19 days after being diagnosed with “sexual [...]

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed suit Wednesday and has sought temporary injunctive relief against the Trump administration’s request for voter information. EPIC alleges that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (PACEI) failed to preform a Privacy Impact Assessment prior to the commencement of its conduct. EPIC also claims that the request has [...]

French judge Catherine Marchi-Uhel was appointed as Head of the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism on Monday to collect evidence concerning persons involved in Syrian war crimes over the last six years. Marchi-Uhel has experience in criminal law, transitional justice and human rights, and worked for the UN concerning various international affairs. Marchi-Uhel will gather [...]