The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan (UN Commission) reported Thursday that a rise in violence and atrocity crimes is disrupting South Sudan’s conflict resolution trajectory as the country is set to hold its first elections since independence in 2011. Under the authority of President Salva Kiir and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement [...]

Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) on Wednesday unanimously expanded the scope of the landmark Maria da Penha Law (Law 11.340/2006), ensuring women are protected from gender-based violence not only in domestic settings but also in public, professional, political and community spaces. The STF ruled that protective measures under the law apply to all forms of [...]

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk raised concerns Wednesday about arrests and detentions of opposition members surrounding Zambia’s elections on August 13. Türk stated that “arrests and resulting court proceedings…must be fully consistent with international human rights standards, as well as Zambian domestic law.” He continued: “All detainees must be notified…of the reasons for their [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday condemned the US for its latest sanctions against Tomoko Akane, the president of the court, and Abdoulaye Seye, senior trial lawyer at the Office of the Prosecutor. The court reiterated its steadfast commitment to upholding accountability and protecting victims of international crimes. The court’s statement described the sanctions [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday unsealed a 14-count indictment charging 17 Iranians connected to the Mabna Institute, a private company based in Iran, for conducting cyberattacks against the US. The DOJ’s press release stated that many of these attacks were done on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard [...]

The human rights watchdog Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) released a report on Tuesday finding that forced labor persists on sugarcane plantations in the Dominican Republic (DR). CAL called for the US to impose an import ban in response to the findings. The alleged labor abuses include issues concerning both working and living conditions. Workers reported [...]

On Tuesday, August 11, after 22 years without an execution in Lebanon, the country’s parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first Arab country to formally scrap capital punishment. The new law replaces death sentences with life imprisonment with hard labor. And what was the only party on record in that country to [...]

A New York judge issued an order Monday postponing Luigi Mangione’s state murder trial indefinitely as his attorneys push to dismiss the case on double jeopardy concerns. After Mangione pleaded guilty to two federal stalking counts last Friday and admitted he shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, DOJ prosecutors signaled that they would pursue the maximum [...]

Law does not exist only in statutes, regulations, and court decisions. Before law reaches courts, it already exists in society through the decisions people make every day. Legal scholars have long recognized this social dimension of law. Law is not experienced only through courts and legal institutions; it is also shaped by how ordinary people [...]

On July 29, the Malaysian government announced that around 5,000 Rohingya refugees will be repatriated to Myanmar, where they face an obvious risk of persecution or torture. The government later clarified that the refugees will not be repatriated if such risks are deemed to be real. But in June, a petition calling for the removal [...]