A group of human rights organizations on Friday urged Bangladesh’s interim government to take decisive action to safeguard the freedoms of expression and opinion amid increasing attacks on journalists, authors and human rights defenders.  The rights groups, which included Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch (HRW), called on Chief Advisor [...]

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Saturday called on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to immediately lift the ongoing ban on girls’ secondary education, warning that the restriction threatens the future of millions of Afghan girls who have been deprived of their right to learn since the Taliban regained power in August 2021.  In a statement [...]

Amnesty International on Friday welcomed the acquittal of 45 Saturday Mothers members, ending their seven-year-long legal ordeal. The protesters had faced trial for participating in their 700th peaceful vigil, which was banned and violently dispersed by police in August 2018. Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for Europe, called the prosecution “baseless” and stated [...]

A court in Delhi, India, on Friday dismissed a challenge from local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cabinet minister Kapil Mishra to a summons in a case involving allegations that he made inflammatory statements during the 2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections.  Special Judge Jitendra Singh upheld the summons issued against Mishra, rejecting his argument that his [...]

A group of independent UN experts on Friday urged the Venezuelan government to account for victims of enforced disappearance in connection with protests around the country’s presidential election in July 2024 and the subsequent inauguration in January 2025. The Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances expressed concern over an increasing number of enforced disappearances, [...]

Romanian prosecutors opened a criminal case on Wednesday against ultranationalist politician Călin Georgescu, who won the first round of the country’s annulled 2024 presidential election. Georgescu was stopped by police in Bucharest traffic and taken to the Prosecutor General’s Office for questioning. Prosecutors announced they were carrying out 47 searches of people and associations, including [...]

Refugees International expressed concern Friday over the deteriorating conditions faced by Sudanese refugees in Egypt, urging immediate international intervention to safeguard their rights. The statement follows the publication of a report detailing the challenges Sudanese refugees face, particularly in light of Egypt’s new asylum law. Refugees International’s report, “No Model of Refuge,” notes the increasing [...]

An Argentinian court on Thursday issued international arrest warrants for 22 Burmese military officials and three civilians for their role in the genocide against the Rohingya community. The senior officials named in the court’s landmark order include Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Soe Win, and former Western Command head Maung Maung Soe. The accused face [...]

The Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) concluded in a report released Friday that Bosnia and Herzegovina has made limited progress in implementing key anti-corruption recommendations. The report underscores that Bosnia and Herzegovina has fully implemented just two of 25 recommendations from GRECO’s Fifth Evaluation Round, with 15 partially implemented and eight [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on countries Friday to urgently repatriate their nationals from Syrian detainment camps, where thousands remain trapped in life-threatening conditions. The organization urged governments to fulfil their international legal obligations by prosecuting those responsible for crimes and supporting reintegration efforts. It also criticized the US government’s recent suspension of foreign aid [...]