A US federal court Wednesday blocked the Department of Education’s Final Rule prohibiting sex discrimination against LGBTQ+ students from taking effect in six states. The plaintiffs in the suit were Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The states sought to block revised regulations which expanded Title IX discrimination protection to LGBTQ+ students.   [...]

Amnesty International Kenya praised a High Court ruling Thursday which found that 11 police commanders and officers have a case to answer in connection with the death of baby Samantha Pendo and other victims of the 2017 post-election violence. The officers are facing 47 charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape. The [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled Thursday in Sweden’s favor that two cases of refusing to grant permanent residency to the families of an Eritrean and Ethiopian nationals respectively with refugee status did not constitute a violation of the right to family life and the right to be free from discrimination. The law [...]

The military authorities in Niger have committed numerous human rights violations in the year since the coup, according to the Thursday report released by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Violations include the suppression of opposition and peaceful dissent, arbitrary detention of ousted government officials, and restrictions on [...]

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, criticised a report by UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran Javaid Rehman on Wednesday asserting that the report is an attempt to damage the image of the country. Kanaani accused Rehman of relying on his international presence and of abusing [...]

US President Joe Biden signed into law the Federal Prison Oversight Act Thursday which established an inspection process and ombudsman in the Department of Justice. The act warrants that inspections conducted may be announced or unannounced, where each facility is assigned a risk score. Higher-risk facilities will receive more frequent inspections than other facilities. After [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that the Spanish courts’ decision to discontinue investigating Spanish journalist David Couso Permuy’s death in Iraq due to a lack of jurisdiction did not breach the right of access to a court under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECHR held that [...]

Justice Florence Ndepele Mwachande Mumba is a Supreme Court Judge in Zambia. Following eight years as Zambia’s first female High Court Judge, she became Investigator General (Ombudsman) in 1989, serving as International Ombudsman Institute Board Director and Vice-President until 1996. Justice Mumba served on the UN Commission on the Status of Women from 1992 to [...]

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israeli civilians, resulting in deaths and hostage-taking. Reports of various atrocities, including sexual abuse, emerged. The victims included not only Israelis but also citizens of other countries such as France and Germany. The attack shocked the international community and drew widespread condemnation from governments worldwide. However, [...]

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of the Sudanese freelance journalist Omar Mohamed Omar. The journalist was arrested on July 17 after criticizing the governor of Sudan’s North Kordofan state on Facebook. Omar criticized the governor over the lack of services and the worsening water crisis [...]