A group of UN experts urged Poland to address entrenched discrimination and violence against the LGBT community through swift legislative and social reforms on Friday. The expert’s statement follows a comprehensive country visit, between November 18 and 29, that revealed both promising progress and persistent challenges. The UN expert’s report highlights the enduring effects of [...]

New Zealand police on Thursday made their first arrest under the newly enacted Gangs Act 2024, just three minutes after the legislation prohibiting the public display of gang insignia came into effect. Assistant Commissioner Paul Basham said a court issued a warrant following a CCTV video of five patched Head Hunters West gang members on [...]

A community landcare group in Victoria’s northwest has initiated legal action against what it claims is an “unlawful” environmental project in Australia’s southeastern Murray-Darling Basin. The Friends of Nyah Vinifera Park, chaired by Dr. Jacquie Kelly, filed the proceedings challenging the approval of the Nyah floodplain restoration project, part of the Victorian Murray Floodplain Restoration [...]

Japan’s Shizuoka District Court aquitted 88-year-old Iwao Hakamata on Thursday in a retrial, overturning his conviction after spending 48 years on death row. Presiding judge Kunii Koshi held that evidence against Hakamata had been manipulated by the investigative authorities at the time. In 1966, Hakamada was convicted of murdering four individuals—a senior manager at his [...]

The Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Teresa Magbanua has left Escoda Shoal, a disputed area in the South China Sea, following a five-month deployment, according to a Sunday announcement from the Philippine government. This mission, described as successful by National Maritime Council (NMC) chair Lucas Bersamin, marks the conclusion of an extensive operation. The purpose [...]

South Korea’s truth commission announced further findings this Monday on human rights violations in the country’s adult homeless detention facilities, including the Seoul Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center in the 1980s. During its 86th Committee on September 6, the Second Truth and Reconciliation Commission undertook a full-scale investigation into the experiences of 13 applicants who had been [...]

New Zealand’s government announced Monday its intention to reverse its ban on offshore oil and gas exploration by passing legislation this year. The proposal aims to enhance investor confidence and strengthen New Zealand’s oil and gas sector. Accordingly, one key effect of the 2024 proposed amendments to the Crown Minerals Act (CMA) 1991 will be reversing [...]

A UN Special Rapporteur released final findings Monday pressing for an international accountability mechanism to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in the mass arrest and killing of thousands during the 1980s. In the findings, Javaid Rehman, the Special Rapporteur for the Islamic Republic of Iran, set out how the violations of human rights committed during [...]

The EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Josep Borrell characterized Hungarian President Viktor Orbán as being disloyal to the EU during a press conference Monday, after which he switched the locations of informal EU Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers meetings to Brussels rather than Budapest. Borrell negated Orbán’s characterization of the EU as “pro-war,” stating that [...]

The Trial Panel at the Kosovo tribunal in The Hague sentenced the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) member Pjeter Shala to 18 years in prison on Tuesday for war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War. The court found Shala guilty of arbitrary detention, cruel treatment, torture and murder. The court stated that Shala had [...]