The UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) , a body of independent experts, released closing remarks to its fifty-seventh session Friday, expressing concern about the use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinians. Last week the CAT engaged in dialogue with Israeli officials about the use of excessive force, especially against minors. The CAT also [...]

Armed opposition groups in Syria are committing war crimes around the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo city, Amnesty International (AI) said Friday. The human rights group found that these armed opposition groups are routinely carrying out attacks that indiscriminately target civilians and civilian sites, resulting in murder and destruction in the area. AI has greatly [...]

The US Supreme Court upheld a stay of execution for Alabama inmate Vernon Madison on Thursday. In a 4-4 order, the court upheld the stay issued by the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit . Madison had argued that he was mentally incompetent due to several strokes and vascular dementia. Based upon precedent [...]

The UK Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected claims by approximately 600 Iraqi civilians that they were extrajudicially detained and physically abused by British forces. The suit, brought by 14 “lead claimants” representing approximately 600 civilians against the Ministry of Defence , alleged that between 2003 and 2009, British forces abused and unlawfully detained Iraqi [...]

The Florida American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Marion County school district on Thursday, challenging their bathroom policy as anti-transgender. The complaint was filed after a school suspended a student for using a different restroom than that required under the policy. The school district’s policy, adopted as Resolution No. 16-001 , [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Thursday in favor of House Republicans in a challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) . Judge Rosemary Collyer found that the Obama administration is illegally spending money to fund subsidies under the act without congressional approval: This case [...]

The senate of Brazil voted on Thursday to suspend and initiate an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff for allegedly borrowing from state banks to cover a deficit and pay for social programs to secure her re-election in 2014. The senate debated throughout the night and voted on Thursday morning 55 to 22 to suspend [...]

Italian members of parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of a law recognizing civil unions of same-sex couples. The Italian Parliament voted 372 to 51 with 99 abstentions in favor of the law. The vote makes Italy the last major Western country and last nation in the 28-nation EU to grant legal recognition to civil [...]

Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit against Ohio’s health department on Wednesday over a law designed to reduce funding to the organization. Planned Parenthood claims that thousands of patients will be denied access to HIV tests, cancer screenings, health education and prevention programs without the funding. The Ohio law is to take effect May 23, but [...]

Nearly 150 individuals, including 11 children, have died this year in Nigeria’s military detention barracks, Amnesty International (AI) reported Wednesday. According to the report, the Giwa detention barracks detains around 1,200 people, many of whom were arbitrarily detained and are being held without evidence. The detainees are allegedly housed in dirty, overcrowded cells and struggle [...]