Turkish state police on Sunday prevented members from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from holding a party congress in direct opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , by sealing off a hosting hotel. Police put up barricades and sealed the hotel to prevent party members from gaining access to the hotel where they had planned [...]

The Dominican Republic on Sunday will hold elections for over 4,000 positions, including the president, vice-president, members of congress and the municipal councilors. This is the first time in over two decades that elections will be held for all electoral positions in the country. The election cycle is even more complex because there are over [...]

Papua New Guinea Immigration authorities stated on Thursday that the 898 refugees at the processing center on Manus Island are no longer detained because they are allowed to leave the facility. The announcement is in response to recent international calls for the country to reform its asylum policies. The authorities are allowing the detainees to [...]

Uganda police announced on Saturday that opposition leader Kizza Besigye will be charged with treason after he was arrested Wednesday for declaring himself the president of the country despite losing the election to President Yoweri Museveni . Besigye was sworn in as president in a public ceremony where he accused Museveni of trying to overthrow [...]

The Massachusetts Senate advanced legislation on Thursday aimed at protecting transgender individuals from discrimination. Bill S.735 entitled An Act relative to transgender anti-discrimination , seeks to add the term “gender identity” to the protected classes afforded rights and protections under the law. The act further mandates that places of public accommodation with separate access based [...]

The Supreme Court of Texas upheld the state’s complicated public school funding system as constitutional Friday. The court noted that financial efficiency was not an issue with the state’s public school funding based upon prior precedent, while stating that there is no specific number at which funding becomes efficient or inefficient. Intervenors also argued that [...]

UN human rights experts expressed grave concern Friday over Belarus’ death penalty practices after reports surfaced that a man was executed while his case was before the UN Human Rights Committee . Belarus’ actions in killing the man, Sergei Khmelevsky, were in direct opposition with the committee’s order to not carry out the sentence while [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday urged authorities in the Gambian capital of Banjul to release detained protesters. The UN stated that it has received reports that the protesters, who were detained “for simply having exercised their rights to freedom of expression, opinion and assembly,” have been tortured, denied [...]

Government signatories to the Paris Agreement will meet in Bonn next week and are intent upon discussing human rights issues with the plan. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and environment, John H. Knox, stated Friday that this meeting will be, “he first test of States’ commitment to the principles of the Paris Agreement.” During [...]

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved a measure that would permit detainees at Guantanamo Bay to plead guilty for their crimes through video conferencing, and would also allow the transfer of detainees to third-world countries to reduce the population of the prison. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (NDAA) was approved on [...]