UN rights chief: Georgia 'foreign agents' law undermines freedom of expression
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk stated on Wednesday that Georgia’s newly passed foreign agents bill “undermines the freedoms of expression and association.” Türk mentioned his concern regarding the possible effects of this bill being signed by the President of Georgia: “The ability of associations to seek, secure and use resources is essential to their [...]
South Africa’s main opposition party announced it would go all the way to the Constitutional Court to fight the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill, aimed at providing universal health coverage, on Tuesday. Just two weeks out from the general election on May, 29 2024, the Bill would see free healthcare provided at the point for care [...]
Pitasanna Shanmugathas is a law student at Vermont Law & Graduate School and a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs. On Saturday May 11 Pitasanna participated in Day 10 of the student-led encampment calling for the University of Toronto to divest from funding Israeli institutions allegedly involved in sustaining the [...]
Appeals court upholds Trump gag order in New York hush money trial
The New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division upheld a gag order Tuesday against former president Donald Trump in a criminal case centering on allegations he falsified the Trump Organization’s business records to conceal hush money payments to influence the 2016 presidential election. The appeals court was unpersuaded by Trump’s arguments that the gag order violates [...]
UK Judges Serving in Hong Kong Face Human Rights Balancing Act
A report released this week before the UK Parliament details how the Hong Kong authorities are using the reputations and prestige of overseas common law judges to draw a veil over their country’s deteriorating legal system. The report, issued by the Committee for the Freedom of Hong Kong presents a damning indictment on how the Chinese [...]
A protest in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir left one police officer dead and over 90 people injured on Saturday, local officials told Pakistani media. The region has been experiencing clashes since Thursday, as well as a major strike on Friday. Kashmir is a disputed region divided between India and Pakistan, and is known in Pakistan as “Azad [...]
The Philippines on Saturday deployed ships to a disputed area in the South China Sea, where it accused the People’s Republic of China (PRC) of building an “artificial island” amid the two Asian countries’s ongoing conflict over the territory, the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement. “The Philippine Coast Guard (PGC) [...]
Madagascar president's former chief of staff sentenced to jail for bribery
Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina’s former chief of staff was sentenced to three years and six months in jail by a London court on Friday for requesting substantial sums of money in exchange for exclusive mining rights from Gemfields, a UK-based company that specializes in mining rubies and emeralds. Romy Andrianarisoa, 47, was arrested and charged [...]
The United Nationals Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) closed its East Jerusalem office on Friday amidst two arson attacks from Israeli extremists. The closure follows scrutiny of the UNRWA due to its investigations into Israeli allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks. In [...]
Thousands of people marched in Tel Aviv on Thursday to demand a ceasefire and hostage deal, as well as a revived Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The march was led by Standing Together, a joint Jewish-Palestinian peace movement in Israel. Alon Lee-Green, the group’s Jewish co-director, said the march, composed of both Jewish and Palestinian protestors, was [...]
