It was autumn 1774. In British North America and on the island of Great Britain an intellectual, political and legal revolution that was intended to recognize America’s unique status within the realm would become the sword of American independence. The First Continental Congress drafted a document not for the purpose of securing liberty, but for the purpose [...]
“Ddddddd… rrrrrrr… ttttttttt!” My brother stares at me in complete bewilderment just as I hold a baby corn in front of my face, waving it with the solemnity of someone confronting a geopolitical enemy rather than a vegetable. “Ah, America… don’t hit me with your corn… I’ll eat your corn, and then you’ll see who [...]
International criminal law has no crime that squarely covers the deliberate, large-scale destruction of civilian infrastructure—a gap a recent white paper proposes to close by recognizing ‘Mass Destruction’ as a new crime against humanity. Its author, Professor David M. Crane, is the founding Chief Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone and an internationally [...]
Amnesty International on Wednesday released a new report concluding that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing during their siege and capture of El Fasher in North Darfur state in Sudan. The report titled, City Under Siege, Children Under Fire: Rapid Support Forces’ Crimes Against Humanity in North Darfur, documents [...]
Samridh Chaturvedi is a JURIST correspondent and a third-year law student at the School of Law, Christ (Deemed to be University) where he covers legal, policy, and human rights developments in India. On June 11, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court delivered a bail order that extends quite a bit further than its [...]
A UN expert panel condemned the latest murder of a Mexican human rights activist on Wednesday, and called for a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation by state authorities. Sael Silva Cisneros, a prominent lawyer and advocate for Afro-Mexican and LGBTQ rights, was killed in an attack outside the town of Cuajinicuilapa on June 5, shortly [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits Wednesday against Virginia and California, alleging that newly enacted firearm restrictions in both states violate the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. The complaint filed against Virginia in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia challenges Senate Bill 749, which Governor Abigail Spanberger signed [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday granted certiorari to two consolidated cases challenging “assault weapon” bans, setting the stage to potentially reshape firearm regulations across the country. The court agreed to hear Viramontes v. Cook County out of the Seventh Circuit and Grant v. Higgins out of the Second Circuit, consolidating the cases for a [...]
Rights in Belarus are still threatened despite a recent release of political prisoners, Special Rapporteur Nils Muižnieks said on Monday. Muižnieks welcomed the release of over 400 individuals, but said that the human rights situation has not improved, stating that “sustainable progress requires an end to politically motivated repression and accountability for past violations”. In [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday that authorities in the Philippines continue to conduct extrajudicial killings without any accountability as part of the government’s anti-drug campaign, which has resulted in serious human rights violations against the victims and their families. The organization stated that police officers in the Philippines continued to commit extrajudicial killings and [...]
