Search Results for: CIVIC

Spain’s Supreme Court summoned exiled Catalan separatists Carles Puigdemont and Rubén Wagensberg on Monday to provide voluntary statements in a terrorism investigation of protests related to the failed 2017 independence referendum. The court ordered the former president of the Catalan Generalitat and MEP, Carles Puigdemont, and the former deputy of the Catalan Parliament, Rubén Wagensberg, [...]

Shamima Begum, a young woman who left the UK as a schoolgirl to join ISIS in Syria, has recently lost an appeal to regain her British citizenship. This decision, leaving her effectively stateless and in a Syrian detention camp, has sparked renewed debate. In this interview, JURIST speaks with Professor Ben Saul, a UN expert [...]

Several advocacy groups on Thursday sued Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama’s 42 District Attorneys, and Alabama Secretary of Stae Wes Allen to block the state’s recently enacted Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), which would directly target, restrict, and severely penalize certain engagement measures that would enable broader access to the right to vote. SB [...]

A federal judge in California on Friday declined to dismiss a lawsuit brought by US Representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor-Greene against California cities Anaheim and Riverside. Gaetz and Greene, who are members of the Republican Party, claim that the cities violated their free-speech rights by cancelling their planned political rally because of their viewpoints. [...]

The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) published its Liberties Rule of Law Report 2024 on Monday, in which the organization raised concerns about the declining state of the rule of law and weakening democratic checks and balances across the EU. Liberties, headquartered in Berlin, is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes civil liberties for [...]

Civil society is facing unprecedented challenges globally due to escalating conflicts and crises. In 2023, groups that were pivotal in advocating for human rights, offering humanitarian aid and giving a voice to the marginalized encountered increasing difficulties. Their work has become more challenging due to growing repression and conflict, yet they remain beacons of hope [...]

The United States issued a statement on Friday condemning Zimbabwean authorities for their alleged attempts to intimidate US government officials and aid workers, subjecting them to unlawful overnight detention, prolonged interrogation and eventual forced deportation.  The US Agency for International Development (USAID) alleged that their aid workers, who were there to “support civic participation, democratic [...]

Human Rights Watch urged President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday to “unequivocally reject” The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 and refuse to sign it. The bill was passed last month by the parliament making it illegal to identify as LGBTQ+ in Ghana.  Under the passed bill, anyone identifying as LGBTQ+ [...]

The UN Human Rights Committee announced Thursday that it received a record-high number of individual complaints in 2023, with many raising issues of freedom of expression and the press, as well as concerns over the treatment of opposition leaders during elections. According to the announcement, there are currently 1,321 individual complaints under investigation by the [...]

Amnesty International called for an investigation into killings and police brutality against protestors in Senegal as the UN raised similar concerns over the use of force against protesters and restrictions on civic space in the wake of the Senegalese Parliament’s decision to postpone national elections. Three protesters were killed last week, including a 16-year-old boy [...]