Amid the recent renewed conflict between Israel and Hamas, Human Rights Watch (HRC) Thursday claimed that the Israeli armed forces had used a substance known as white phosphorous in munitions fired at populated urban locations. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) appeared to rebut this allegation in subsequent statements. White phosphorus is a toxic material that [...]

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia by one year on Thursday. Mariana Katzarova is the first and present mandate holder. She was appointed in May 2023 and will continue monitoring and reporting on the human rights crisis in Russia. [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona have declined to charge Border Patrol (BP) agents for the fatal shooting of Raymond Mattia, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, according to tribal leadership. The statement from the Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon M. Jose and the [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled by a 5-2 majority Friday that the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act (IAA) and its accompanying regulations are partially unconstitutional, as they empower the federal government to create environmental regulations that should have been within provincial jurisdictions. The majority found that the IAA’s method of designating projects for an [...]

An Israeli airstrike on Friday resulted in the death of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six others, prompting a UN spokesperson to call for an investigation into the strike. Abdallah, a videographer for Reuters, was covering Israeli activity in southern Lebanon when an Israeli anti-tank shell landed near where Abdallah was. Two other Reuters journalists, [...]

The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) issued a statement Friday urging Russia to retract arrest warrants the country issued against senior International Criminal Court (ICC) judges. Senior ICC judges investigate and try persons charged with the gravest crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. In March, ICC prosecutor Khan [...]

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted five new resolutions and submitted one to the General Assembly on Thursday. According to a press release from the UNHRC, one of the new resolutions extended the UN’s mandate in Burundi, just days after the UN’s mandate in Ethiopia expired. The resolution on the “Situation of human rights [...]

The Wisconsin State Assembly passed three bills on Thursday that ban gender-affirming care for minors and limit transgender participation in sports. In order for the new bills to become state law, they must pass through the other chamber of Wisconsin’s legislature, the State Senate, and be signed by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. However, Evers stated [...]

Armenia made submissions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday. requesting provisional measures against Azerbaijan for what Armenia calls “ethnic cleansing” in the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia requested that Azerbaijan refrain from any actions which might breach Azerbaijan’s obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial [...]

A Colorado jury convicted on Thursday one of the two former Aurora, Colorado police officers charged in the death of Elijah McClain, a young Black man who died upon being restrained and injected with ketamine. In a split decision, the jury found officer Randy Roedema guilty of criminally negligent homicide but acquitted officer Jason Rosenblatt. [...]