The Hanoi People’s Court sentenced 54 government officials and business people on Friday for charges related to bribery, as reported by the state-run Vietnam Plus. Former government officials, diplomats, and business owners were found guilty of soliciting, offering, and being complicit in the taking of bribes, along with fraud and abuse of power for the [...]

The UK High Court of Justice held Thursday that the Cabinet Office must hand over all documents Covid-19 Inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett requests, including former prime minister Boris Johnson’s diaries and WhatsApp messages. The Cabinet Office launched a judicial review case against Hallett’s request last week. While Hallett argued she should determine which documents [...]

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Thursday that Hungary’s restrictive asylum laws passed during the COVID-19 pandemic violated European Union (EU) law. The law requires that foreign nationals seeking international protection in Hungary first submit declarations of intent at the Hungarian embassies in Belgrade, Serbia or Kyiv, Ukraine. The Court found that the condition [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday that former government employees can sue the city of San Francisco, California for infringing on their religious freedom after they were denied exemptions from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The court found that the vaccines are remotely “derived” from aborted fetal stem cells and that [...]

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Wednesday that will provide disability benefits to first responders who contracted COVID-19 before vaccines were available. House Bill (HB) 3162, known as the Act-of-Duty Bill, previously only provided disability pay for various physical and mental conditions, including heart attacks. Specifically, the law provides benefits for those [...]

4,017,208 dead; 11,727,541 battling death. The above figures only begin to demonstrate the horrific reality and intolerable burden posed to the world at present due to Covid-19. The pandemic is more than just a health crisis, it is also a test of how effective international courts are when it comes to dealing with such unprecedented [...]

After three days of Generation Equality Forum meetings in Paris (hosted by the French Government from 30 June to 2 July), the international community launched a Global Acceleration Plan (GAP) for gender equality, driven by six Action Coalitions, the Compact on Women, Peace and Security, and Humanitarian Action. The GAP aims to accelerate gender equality in the [...]

On June 23, 2021, the Meghalaya High Court (HC) ruled in the case of Registrar General, HC of Meghalaya v. State of Meghalaya that “The mandatory or forced vaccinations violate the individuals’ fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21.” The court elucidated that a coercive policy of vaccination has no force in law and should be declared [...]

While the entire world is in the grips of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 62 co-sponsor countries including India, South Africa, and Indonesia have recently given a revised draft proposal for waiving the Intellectual Property (“IP”) rights of COVID vaccines to the TRIPS Council of the World Trade Organisation (“WTO”), seeking a patent waiver for manufacturing [...]

After successfully flattening the curve in late 2020, India witnessed a horrific resurgence of cases. Many attributed this to the “policy casualness” of the government of India, and the lack of effective measures taken by it to ensure social distancing and the wearing of masks. As restrictions were lifted, sights of holiday-goers reaching jam-packed airports [...]