Serbian authorities installed spyware on the phones of dozens of journalists and activists, Amnesty International said in a report on Monday. In the document entitled “A Digital Prison: Surveillance and the suppression of civil society in Serbia,” the human rights organization cited digital forensic evidence and testimonies from activists who said they were hacked in recent [...]

Germany suspended processing asylum claims for Syrian refugees on Monday following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with the UK, Greece and Sweden quickly adopting similar measures amid the rapidly evolving situation in Damascus. According to Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge; BAMF), the currently unclear situation in Syria [...]

The Khatai District Court in Azerbaijan held a trial on Sunday of the six journalists detained the previous day in Baku on smuggling charges. Five of the six reporters, Natig Javadli, Khayala Aghayeva, Aytaj Tapdig, Aynur Elgunesh and Aysel Umudova, work with the Berlin-based independent media outlet Meydan TV. The sixth, Ramin Jabrayilzade, is an independent [...]

WhatsApp Ireland Ltd appealed a €225 million ($236 million) fine to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on Tuesday, the European Union’s highest court of appeal. The company, owned by Meta, is challenging a binding decision issued by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) regarding alleged violations of its data privacy obligations. [...]

Thousands of opposition supporters were joined by EU officials at a rally on Monday in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, protesting against the ruling party’s victory. The protesters allege that the elections were rigged in favor of Georgian Dream (GD) with support from Russia and demand new elections under international observation. European observers have challenged the election as [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday that Bosnia violated the European Convention on Human Rights due to insufficient data protection laws with regard to legal professional privilege. The decision followed a lawyer’s complaint that his phone data had been indiscriminately collected and used in a criminal trial against him. The applicant, [...]

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) set out on Wednesday to work directly with Indonesia’s Palm Oil Industry in order to combat corruption in the country. This comes after the UNODC organized a workshop to bring together different private and public actors, such as the Indonesian Palm Oil Association and the national Corruption [...]

Last Thursday, October 17, the 142nd session of the UN Human Rights Committee was held in Geneva, to review the human rights record of Pakistan. A handful of students at the Geneva Academy, including myself, had the opportunity to attend the event at the invitation of our professor of human rights law, Hélène Tigroudja, one [...]

Over 40 human rights groups warned Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk against implementing his plan to temporarily suspend the right to claim asylum in an open letter on Monday. Among the groups are Amnesty International, several asylum law organizations, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The organizations stressed that the fundamental right to asylum is binding on [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on Tuesday that attempts to bar two Syrian migrants from reaching Cyprian territory and their subsequent expulsion violated multiple provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judges unanimously found violations of Article 3 prohibiting torture and degrading treatment; Article 4 of the additional Protocol 4, [...]