The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported Friday that Sri Lanka has made slow progress towards establishing transitional justice. According to the report, while various ad hoc bodies of justice have been set up, these bodies have yet to present a sufficiently convincing or comprehensive transitional justice strategy to overcome [...]

Two UN rights experts called Friday for the Israeli government to discontinue policies that constrain human rights defenders. UN Special Rapporteurs Michael Lynk and Michel Forst say the increased restrictions, which primarily affect advocates in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, are related to three recent developments. First, they are concerned with the dispersal of a peaceful [...]

A UN cultural rights expert presented a report to the Human Rights Council on Friday expressing concern over the normalization of extreme rhetoric in politics, culture and media all over the globe. In presenting her report, special rapporteur Karima Bennoune argued that many of these movements focus their rhetoric on national “purity” and resentment of [...]

Ikponwosa Ero , the UN’s first Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism , called Friday for the “enhanced oversight” of traditional healers to ensure that they do not use the body parts of people with albinism in rituals. According to the report, 600 people with albinism have been attacked [...]

The Pakistani Cabinet on Thursday approved a five-year plan yesterday to bring political reforms to the tribal areas of the country. The cabinet accepted the recommendations of the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Reforms Committee to extend to the seven semi-autonomous tribal “agencies” the constitutional rights to vote representatives and access to fundamental rights. Currently [...]

A London high court judge ruled on Friday that all drivers applying for a minicab or private hire vehicle license must pass a English reading and writing test that includes a 120-word short essay. The case was taken to court by Uber Technologies , the ride-share app company, which protested the new language test rules [...]

The Arkansas Supreme Court issued an order on Thursday stating there is no stay in place preventing the execution of eight inmates schedule for next month. The order came after Attorney General Leslie Rutledge requested that the court clarify that there is in fact no stay on the inmates’ execution. Attorneys for the inmates argued [...]

The Mississippi Senate on Thursday voted in favor of adding more ways to carry out the death penalty. House Bill 638 , which passed in the Mississippi House of Representatives on February 8, would expand Mississippi’s methods of execution to include firing squad, gas chamber and electrocution in case the courts rule lethal injection unconstitutional. [...]

A judge for the US District Court of the Eastern District of Texas on Thursday granted a motion to dismiss the civil fraud complaint against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton . The Securities and Exchange Commission complaint alleged that Paxton, among other things, actively recruited investors for Servergy Inc., a computer hardware company, in exchange [...]

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself Thursday from probes into Russian interference during the 2016 election. Sessions was a high-ranking member of the Trump campaign before becoming attorney general and many suggested it would be appropriate for him to remove himself from the inquiry . Sessions stated in a press conference that he would [...]