The Italian Constitutional Court held Friday that the law barring single parents from adopting foreign children is unconstitutional. The matter was referred to the top court following the 2019 request from an unmarried woman, Raffaella Brogi, who approached the juvenile court to seek a declaration of eligibility for international adoption of a minor. The Court’s [...]

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Friday reported that the prolonged hostilities and occupation of parts of Ukraine by the Russian Federation forces have caused large-scale human rights violations against children. Between February 24, 2022 and December 31, 2024, the OHCHR documented 669 killings of children and 1,883 injuries. [...]

UN experts urged the Colombian government on Thursday to protect its civilians and called on the non-state armed groups to cease their attacks against the civilians, after the escalation of the conflict in the Catatumbo region of the Department of Norte de Santander. The experts noted that the conflict, which began on 16th January, has [...]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday welcomed announcements by the presidents of the US and Ukraine of an extension of the ceasefire to Black Sea trade routes as an important move that saves lives, while emphasizing the importance of ensuring that the ceasefire brings about just peace. Guterres stated: Obviously, any ceasefire is welcome because [...]

A member of Russia’s Presidential Council for Human Rights shared her outrage on Thursday over the arrest and beating of a Russian comedian in Belarus, and urged Russia’s authorities to protect the rights of Russian citizens in foreign states. Council member Eva Merkacheva called on Russian authorities to provide the necessary medical attention to the [...]

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) condemned Thursday the rising civilian death toll in Sudan. The statement follows the intensified fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum and beyond. The statement indicated that both parties disregarded international humanitarian law in and around Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. [...]

Part one of this series can be found here: Return of the Torture Monsters: Here We Go Again. Part three of this series can be found here: Return of the Torture Monsters Part III: Force Drift Across Administrations. Recently, the ACLU highlighted one of the torture architects of our past. In early 2002, then National Security [...]

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 [...]

Amnesty International condemned the EU on Thursday for refusing to condemn Israel’s recent airstrikes in Gaza, calling it “another shameful attempt to justify Israel’s genocide and war crimes against Palestinians.” In response to a statement from the European Council, the director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office, Eve Geddie, observed that the EU refused to [...]

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded on Wednesday that widespread enforced disappearances and torture committed by Russia during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine constitute crimes against humanity. The announcement marks a significant development, as crimes against humanity constitute one of the most serious classifications of international crimes. Central to the commission’s [...]