Eight ethnic Albanians were arrested on Friday, five on charges of war crimes committed during the conflicts in southern Serbia in 2001. Interior Minister Iva Dacic assured the public, at a press conference , that the arrests were not politically motivated even though some of those arrested are involved in politics. The five men charged [...]

Russia must reform its laws and practices in order to prevent discrimination and unfair treatment of disabled persons in the country, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) official said Friday. President Dmitry Medvedev signed a federal law ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) on Thursday. Shantha Rau Barriga, an HRW [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Peaceful Assembly and Association Maina Kiai said on Friday that Algeria should use its upcoming legislative elections to address concerns about inadequate freedoms of expression and association. Kiai expressed concern over a law, which passed in January to give the government broad power in registering groups as [...]

A group of UN human rights experts on Friday criticized the government of Iran for the detentions and harsh sentences of human rights defenders. The Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, the situation of human rights in Iran, and the independence of judges and lawyers urged the Iranian government to ensure that human rights defenders [...]

Prominent Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekeyev became the first to be convicted Friday under a St. Petersburg city ordinance that prohibits the spreading “homosexual propaganda” to minors. Alekeyev was arrested last month for picketing in front of city hall with a sign that said “homosexuality is not perversion.” As a result of his conviction [...]

Media magnate Conrad Black was released from federal prison in Florida Friday but remains in US custody pending removal proceedings. It remains unclear how long Black will be held by US officials or where he will be deported. He is a UK citizen, but he has been granted at a temporary resident permit by the [...]

The Austrian Constitutional Court ruled Friday that the country’s laws must not only conform to its own constitution but also to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in order to be upheld as constitutional. The only areas where legislation will not be held to the charter’s standards are ones in which the EU does not [...]

More than 90 women filed suit Thursday against Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna alleging that his opposition to the federal health care law is preventing women from having full access to medical care. The complaint claims McKenna’s participation in a lawsuit against the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA) that is pending before the [...]

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa on Thursday approved amendments to the country’s constitution that give more power the the parliament by allowing it to have more control over government ministers. While the reforms come as an attempt to settle unrest in the country that has been taking place for over a year, reports indicate [...]

The chief prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) recommended Thursday that former Liberian president Charles Taylor be sentenced to 80 years for war crimes. Taylor was convicted last week on all 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for [...]