The High Court in Belfast on Monday ruled that Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, which only allow abortion when the mother faces the risk of death or serious injury, is a violation of human rights. The court said that by failing to provide exceptions for women who have been victims of sexual abuse and cases in [...]

A federal judge has dismissed a discrimination lawsuit filed against a gun store owner that deemed his store a “Muslim Free Zone.” Judge Beth Bloom of the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida said in her order that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) , the organization that brought the lawsuit, “insufficiently [...]

A UN humans rights expert on Friday urged the government of Honduras to increase its efforts to put a stop to an “internal displacement epidemic” caused by organized and gang violence throughout the country, as well as a failing criminal justice system. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Chaloka Beyani said [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday called for the protection of political oppositions associated with the assassinated Venezuelan opposition leader, Luis Diaz. Diaz was shot while on stage with jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez’s wife Lilian Tintori. Zeid stated that it was unclear whether the shot was meant for [...]

Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico said Sunday that his country plans to file a lawsuit by December 18 challenging the EU’s plan to distribute 120,000 refugees to each of its member states. Along with Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania also opposed the new measure, but the four were outvoted by the other member states. [...]

Brazil’s Minster of Natural Environment said Friday that the country’s government plans to sue BHP Billiton Ltd., Vale SA, and Samarco Mineração SA for USD $5.24 billion for damages caused by a dam collapse at an iron ore site the two co-own. The iron ore site, Samarco Mineração SA, is a joint mining venture between [...]

US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Friday issued an order blocking the Native Hawaiian Role Commission (NHRC) from counting the ballots and certifying the winner of a wholly native-Hawaiian election now taking place in the US state of Hawaii. In 2011 Hawaii enacted Act 195 , which authorized the creation of a race-based voter [...]

A prominent human rights lawyer was fatally shot Saturday while delivering a press statement in Diyarbakir, Turkey. Tahir Elci was an influential figure in the largely Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, and he was the head of the Diyarbakir Bar Association . Elci was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the shooting. Elci claimed he [...]

Refugees who were released from a detention center in Ankara, Turkey still face deportation , despite the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) approving an application to indefinitely prevent their deportation back to Syria, Amnesty International (AI) reported Friday. The three refugees were detained in Turkey in September after allegedly participating in demonstrations and attempting [...]

Algeria’s former counter-terrorism chief Abdelkader Ait-Ouarabi, also known as General Hassan, was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for allegedly breaching orders and destroying documents. In 2013 he was forced to retire by a military judge, a move thought by many to be an attempt by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to control the intelligence [...]