World leaders adopted a “Pact for the Future” at the 2024 UN Summit for the Future on Sunday, affirming their renewed commitments to a number of key international goals. The president of the General Assembly, Philémon Yang of Cameroon, described the summit as “a call to action” that recommits states to “the principles of international [...]

Council of Europe (COE) Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty on Monday criticized Poland’s current border enforcement practices, stating that it fails to meet the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). O’Flaherty especially highlighted that the practice of returning migrants to Belarus without an individual assessment violates several human rights protected by [...]

The French government deployed the special anti-riot police, the Republican Security Companies (CRS), to Martinique on Sunday in response to ongoing protests over the rising cost of living on the French-ruled Caribbean island. The deployment marks the first time CRS units have been sent to Martinique since they were banned from the territory in December [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) renewed its call for governments to address racial discrimination and inequalities in healthcare, in a statement issued on Monday.  In the statement, HRW cited General Recommendation No. 37 of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), concerning racial discrimination and the right to health. The NGO had [...]

The Supreme Court of India ruled on Monday that individuals can face criminal liability for viewing, downloading, storing, or distributing child pornography. This landmark decision — based on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 and the Information Technology Act (IT), 2000 — strengthens protections for vulnerable minors. The court’s judgment stated [...]

The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) on Saturday condemned a proposed change in the country’s electoral laws submitted 15 days before the presidential elections. In a letter published by Echaabnews, the organization’s media outlet, UGTT’s Secretary General Noureddine Taboubi rejected the amendment as unacceptable and demanded it be stopped. The president of Tunisia’s Bar Association, [...]

Around 5,000 Moroccan lawyers in Rabat on Saturday protested a series of judicial reforms proposed by the government, which they say would significantly diminish the role of defense lawyers and harm the integrity of the justice system. The lawyers argue that the proposed reforms to Morocco’s Civil Procedure Code and Criminal Procedure Code violate key [...]

In a report last week, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) stated that attacks by Russian armed forces on energy facilities in Ukraine may have violated international humanitarian law. Such attacks raise the possibility that Russia is creating conditions in which it is extremely difficult for Ukrainians to fully exercise their basic rights [...]

The justice minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Constant Mutamba, announced the conditional release of 648 inmates from the country’s largest prison on Saturday amid efforts to ease overcrowding. The 648 prisoners released with parole conditions included 73 adults and eight juveniles. Makala Central Prison, built in 1957, is designed to accommodate [...]

Israeli troops raided Al Jazeera’s offices in the West Bank on Sunday and ordered the bureau to shut down for 45 days amid a widening crackdown on Al Jazeera that began in May. According to Al Jazeera, heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered the network’s building in Ramallah and handed a 45-day closure [...]