Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership, the Sri Lankan civil war reached a brutal conclusion on May 18, 2009, ending a 25-year-long conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist rebel group. Rooted in longstanding grievances, including discriminatory policies against Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, the conflict saw the [...]
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Dr. Asaf Lubin, an Associate Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law, brings extensive expertise in international law, cybersecurity, and information warfare. With affiliations at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Federmann Cyber Security Research Center, he [...]
DR Congo reinstates death penalty after 21 years amid escalating violence and militant attacks
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Friday revealed it was lifting a 21-year-moratorium on executions in response to escalating violence and militant attacks, to stop its citizens, as well as active duty military and police, from cooperating with M23 rebels in the country’s eastern regions. The decision to lift the moratorium and reinstate [...]
The UN Human Rights Council released a report on Friday on the human rights situation in Belarus during and after the country’s presidential election in 2020. It concludes that the crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed in Belarus. The report, which is the advance unedited version, presents evidence on a wide range [...]
The US Department of State imposed arms restrictions Thursday on the import or export of US-origin weapons and services from or to Nicaragua. In a statement to the press, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller cited “brutal repression” and “recent sham elections” as ongoing concerns for the Biden administration, vowing to continue to use “diplomatic and [...]
Bob Rae, Canada’s Ambassador to the United Nations, does not shy away from tough questions. Though many in a position such as his might shy away from argument, Rae seems to relish the opportunity to engage in some intellectual sparring. It was in this context that I requested an interview as Canada grapples with multiple [...]
UN report urges immediate action as Syria confronts escalating violence
The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry released a report Monday concerning the most severe escalation of violence in the country since 2020. Explosions during a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs triggered the escalation, which began in October, leading to a series of indiscriminate attacks by Syrian and Russian forces on opposition-held areas. The commission [...]
UN Security Council calls for immediate cessation of hostilities in Sudan during Ramadan
The UN Security Council (UNSC) adopted a resolution on Friday, calling on all parties involved in the conflict in Sudan to immediately cease hostilities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and negotiate for a sustainable resolution. The ongoing internal armed conflict between the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces [...]
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk released a statement Friday condemning Israel’s latest expansion of settlements in the West Bank as well as the marked increase in “illegal” Israeli settlements over the last year, along with increasing extremist settler violence against Palestinians residing in the area. Türk stated, “The West Bank is [...]
The UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi raised the issue last month of Hong Kong’s new Article 23 national security proposals, which have been a subject of considerable controversy and debate in recent years. The Article 23 law in Hong Kong’s Basic Law stipulates that the [...]