Search Results for: hate crimes

Polish President Andrzej Duda sent a bill to the Constitutional Tribunal Thursday for review, seeking to expand on hate crimes provisions by adding sexual orientation, gender and other categories to the list of protected groups. The tribunal will consider whether the bill violates the constitutional right to free speech. The current Polish Penal Code includes [...]

The United Nation’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan deplored the increasing violence in Darfur region on Monday, as the war enters its third year. The Fact-Finding Mission called for an immediate ceasefire between both parties under respect for International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, Mohamed Chande, stated: The world has witnessed [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to place local populations’ human rights at the center of the deal settling their long-standing border dispute. The group also urged the states to ensure victims of war crimes from the 2022 conflict receive justice. The group urged the two neighboring states to support investigations [...]

A pro-Palestine activist organization filed a legal challenge on Monday against the passage of controversial laws permitting police to restrict protest near places of worship in New South Wales, Australia. The Sydney-based Palestine Action Group announced in a media release that it is filing a constitutional challenge in the Supreme Court of New South Wales against [...]

UN Secretary General António Guterres warned of a “disturbing rise” in anti-Muslim bigotry in a speech Friday commemorating the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. In his statement, Guterres urged the world to reject xenophobia and discrimination amid a troubling surge in anti-Muslim sentiments. He warned that governments are employing racial profiling and discriminatory policies that [...]

The UN Human Rights spokesperson on Syria confirmed the deaths of 111 Syrian civilians in recent mass killings, in a Geneva press briefing on Tuesday. The spokesperson remarked that the true number is believed to be “significantly higher.” The spokesperson, Thameen Al Kheetan, said that the office is currently working on verifying and documenting civilian [...]

Human beings rarely participate in world politics directly, but they do get involved as individual members of separate sovereign states. Normally, the expected costs and benefits of such indirect participation remain tangible expressions of secular considerations. Though far less decipherable and recognizable, these expressions may also include implicit promises of personal immortality. There is meaningful [...]

The recent decision by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to dismiss the Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) of the Army, Navy, and Air Force marks a troubling departure from the decades-long commitment of the US military to uphold the laws of armed conflict. This decision raises urgent concerns about the future of military engagement, the preservation of [...]

Pitasanna Shanmugathas is a law student at the University of Windsor and a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.  Montreal-based author and activist Yves Engler turned himself in to Montreal police for arrest at 9:30 am Thursday on multiple charges, initially for social media posts about the Israel-Gaza conflict and subsequently [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday urged South African authorities to thoroughly investigate the assassination of an openly gay imam last week, demanding the country determine whether the killing was a hate crime and uphold its commitment to protecting all residents, including the LGBTQ+ community. HRW stated: South African authorities should intensify efforts to bridge [...]