The EU ratified the UN Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) on Wednesday, joining a global effort to protect the ocean, curb environmental damage, tackle climate change, and preserve biodiversity. Cyprus, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Portugal, and Slovenia are among the 29 Member States to ratify BBNJ, making it the largest ratification by a group of countries [...]
In a landmark moment for South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate decades-long allegations that successive post-apartheid governments obstructed the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes. This move, prompted by a civil suit filed by survivors and relatives of apartheid victims, marks an inflection point in the country’s democratic journey. [...]
The US Supreme Court granted an application for stay made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday, allowing for the revocation of status for around 500,000 migrants who came through the parole program for Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan nationals. Justice Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson and Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented on several grounds, [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to continue imposing sweeping tariffs on Thursday, granting an emergency motion to stay a lower court decision. The US Court of International Trade had granted a motion to block the Trump administration’s global tariffs on Wednesday. The trade court held that [...]
Pope Leo XIV called Wednesday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel and Hamas to fully respect international humanitarian law. Speaking during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff decried the ongoing violence and the suffering of civilians, particularly children. “In the Gaza Strip, the intense cries are reaching Heaven [...]
Elon Musk announced on Wednesday that his tenure as a US special government employee at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is over, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter). Musk stated in his post: “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President [...]
The first day of June marks the centennial of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, a landmark civil liberties decision in which the US Supreme Court struck down an amendment to the Oregon constitution mandating compulsory public education for all children between the ages of 8 and 16 who had not yet completed the eighth grade. [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday called on separatist insurgents in Thailand’s southern border provinces to end all attacks on civilians and comply with international humanitarian law. This comes after reports of renewed attacks and escalating violence by separatist groups in the region. Reports show that separatist groups in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and parts of [...]
In August 2021, the world watched as the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, sweeping away two decades of progress toward democracy, human rights and gender equality. While international headlines have since moved on to other crises, millions of Afghan women and girls continue to live under increasingly restrictive policies that have systematically stripped away their [...]
The interim United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday that Gaza’s population is being “starved and denied the very basics,” with the region at a dangerous crossroads. Sigrid Kaag called the crisis “man-made,” accusing Israel of devastating strikes on civilians and obstructing aid. With nearly the [...]
