Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday accused members of the Iraqi police force of torturing and unlawfully killing villagers during an operation to liberate Mosul from Islamic State (IS) forces. AI found that “men in Federal Police uniform carried out multiple unlawful killings, apprehending and then deliberately killing in cold blood residents in villages south of [...]

The Taiwanese Parliament has begun work on passing three bills in support of same-sex marriage. Mei-nu Yu , a ruling Democratic Progressive Party MP, is sponsoring the same-sex marriage bill now in line for parliamentary debate . Same-sex marriage a was also supported by President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female head of state, just this [...]

The UK Court of Appeal on Thursday approved the National Health Services (NHS) to fund research into the HIV drug PReP. The ruling has established that NHS England has the ability, but not the obligation, to fund PReP and would not be subject to legal challenges for funding. Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP) has been under [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled Wednesday that a New Mexico city’s Ten Commandments monument placed on the City Hall lawn is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2012 against the city of Bloomfield by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of two residents who are members of [...]

The president of the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, Theodor Meron , demanded the release of Turkish judge Aydin Sefa Akay in an address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. The General Assembly had elected Akay as a judge to the MICT in 2011. Turkish officials detained Akay in September after a failed [...]

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) informed the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the ICC wants to significantly expand investigations in Libya in 2017. The ICC began work in Libya in 2011 to investigate crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution. According to Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, Libya is being made a [...]

Amnesty International (AI) on Thursday urged Myanmar’s Parliament to align its draft prisons law with international human rights laws and standards. The draft prisons law, designed to repeal the 1894 Prisons Act, the 1900 Prisoners Act and the 1920 Identification of Prisoners Act, was introduced in July 2015, but rights activists claim it remains deficient [...]

The constitutional court of Italy overturned a mandate that went back to ancient Roman law, when it granted mothers the right to name their children with their own surnames on Tuesday. In its decision, the court declared that the practice of automatically naming a child with the father’s last name was “unlawful.” The case was [...]

Voters in Washington, DC, on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of DC becoming the fifty-first US state. Advisory Referendum B asked voters if the DC Council should petition the US Congress to admit the state of “New Columbia” to the Union. The plan, which will be submitted to Congress, seeks admission to the Union, approval [...]

California voters on Tuesday supported a mandate to eliminate the usage of plastic bags while simultaneously voting down a measure which required fees collected from the bag usage to better the environment. California Plastic Bag Ban Veto Referendum (Proposition 67) and the Dedication of Revenue from Disposable Bag Sales to Wildlife Conservation Fund Initiative (Proposition [...]