Icem4k, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Amnesty International on Friday accused Zambian authorities of using administrative powers to silence government critics after the passports of six opposition figures, academics and commentators were cancelled on national security grounds. The cancellations immediately rendered the documents invalid for travel and identification, while the government has not publicly detailed the specific security allegations against each [...]

Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC)  on Friday ordered the removal of an Afghan woman in its first-ever use, after she had reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Nazira Haji Zada had been accused of assisting her son and son-in-law in planning a foiled 2024 terror plot and had conceded that [...]

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Amnesty International announced Saturday that Guatemala’s judiciary had closed criminal proceedings against four Indigenous leaders who had been charged over their role in nationwide protests during Guatemala’s October 2023 national strike, hailing it as a victory for the right to freedom of assembly. The group, which has represented the men since their arrests, welcomed the [...]

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Ingmar Runge, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) administrator Alexander De Croo on Thursday warned in an interview that frequent drone attacks on the Chernobyl site in Ukraine are “really gambling with the safety of millions of people,” calling for urgent international action to prevent a nuclear catastrophe. Upon visiting the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station, and witnessing firsthand [...]

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Stephan Sprinz, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Human Rights Watch and the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran issued a joint report Thursday charging that Iranian authorities are unlawfully executing protesters and political dissidents on a weekly basis. In what is characterized as a “relentless attack on the right to life,” Iranian authorities have arbitrarily executed at least 59 men [...]

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Amnesty International on Thursday condemned Russia’s recruitment of foreign nationals from socio-economically disadvantaged countries to fight in Ukraine as human trafficking, stating that they were primarily recruited via deceptive job offers, had their immigration status exploited, and were handed over to Russian military forces by third-party actors.  Commenting on the issue, Agnès Callamard, secretary general [...]

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Jason Patinkin (VOA), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan on Thursday issued a stark warning about escalating violence, entrenched impunity, and grave violations of human rights that pose a threat to the country’s fragile democratic transition. The Commission emphasized that impunity remains a defining feature of South Sudan’s conflict. Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández stated: [...]

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Hanay, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Smoke fills the air, making it thick and palpable. The pollution creates an acrid stench that burns and is impossible to escape. Strikes on oil depots and energy plants cause black rain to fall from the sky, depleting the soil of the vital nutrients necessary to grow food and turning drinkable water sources acidic.  This [...]

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The Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Simon Stiell, warned on Thursday that political divisions and treating climate change as a partisan issue risk worsening the current environmental situation as well as the economic toll of climate change on Europe. In a statement to the European Parliament, Stiell asserted that [...]

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