Search Results for: transparency

The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission released an opinion Tuesday criticizing Hungary’s recent sovereignty protection law as a potential threat to free discourse. In light of its analysis, the Venice Commission ultimately recommended that the law be repealed. The opinion centers around Hungary’s Act LXXXVIII on the Protection of National Sovereignty, adopted in December 2023. [...]

Seven EU institutions are in agreement on the creation of a new ethics body following a press conference with representatives and negotiators. The agreement marks significant progress in the establishment of the body, initially proposed by Parliament in 2021 and deemed “unsatisfactory” in 2023. The call for a regulatory ethics body aims to protect EU [...]

The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan passed a bill modeled after Russia’s “foreign agents” law on Thursday, increasing the government’s oversight of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The law will require anyone receiving foreign donations to label themselves a “foreign representative” and follow tighter guidelines when documenting their activities. The bill specifically targets NGOs receiving foreign funding, and it requires [...]

The European Parliament of the EU passed on Wednesday the first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act. The act passed with a majority of 85 percent of lawmakers in favor. It aims to mitigate the risks associated with AI, while ensuring that AI systems uphold privacy, human dignity and fundamental rights. The act is also part of [...]

An AP and CNHI News report published Sunday found that less than a third of US states have agencies to resolve citizen disputes regarding access to public records or open meetings. The only recourse for resolving transparency-related disputes in these states is for citizens to engage in expensive litigation. While some states like Arizona do [...]

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado claimed Saturday that the regime of President Nicolás Maduro has kidnapped her campaign manager Emill Brandt in the State of Barinas and that another of her campaign managers has been kidnapped and is currently being held in El Helicoide, calling the prison “the largest torture center in Latin America.” Members [...]

“Stakeknife,” the highest-ranking British military spy placed within the Irish Republican Army, who has been linked to at least 14 murders and 15 abductions, may have cost more lives than he saved during the Northern Ireland Troubles, an interim report released Friday by a group of independent investigators found. It is widely believed that Stakeknife’s [...]

At least 126 human rights defenders were murdered in the Americas in 2023, according to a statement published Tuesday by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR). The IACHR stated that this high violence rate was directed toward land and environment defenders, leaders of indigenous communities and leaders of communities of African descent. In the [...]

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) published its first gender pay gap report Tuesday, releasing data on nearly 5,000 private sector employers in Australia. WGEA, an Australian government agency responsible for improving gender equality in the workplace, published the base salary and total renumeration median gender pay gaps for employers with at least 100 employees. According [...]

The recent Australian High Court ruling in NZYQ v. Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs has prompted significant developments in Australia’s immigration detention policies. This commentary examines the legal implications of the ruling, the subsequent legislative response, and the ongoing concerns raised by human rights and refugee advocates. A History of Mandatory Detention for [...]