The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Tuesday that Russian courts violated LGBT individuals’ freedom of assembly rights by consistently rejecting gay pride event applications. In its judgment, the ECHR stated that 14 applicants sought to gain approval to hold public LGBT events, such as PRIDE, but were systemically denied by local Russian authorities. These [...]
The Egyptian Court of Cassation, the country’s highest appellate court, on Monday upheld the conviction of nine individuals for their involvement in the assassination of Hisham Barakat, the country’s chief prosecutor. Barakat was killed in 2015 after his vehicle convoy was struck by a car bomb in the streets of Cairo. Barakat remains the most senior [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Wednesday that the Hungarian state’s monopoly on mobile payment systems for public parking, road tolls and public transportation fees is contrary to EU laws. The mobile payment system, which is accessible through smartphones and computers, was made mandatory by the government. The mobile payments were processed by a company [...]
Voters in six states, including Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina and Oklahoma, voted on Marsy’s law amendments, a model amendment that typically provides a set of constitutional protections for crime victims. The model amendment includes provisions for the right to be notified about and present at proceedings against the perpetrator, the right to be involved [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Wyoming on Monday struck down Wyoming’s “ag-gag” laws—laws that criminalize the collection of research data on public and private land—as unconstitutional. The two laws, categorized as trespass laws, were originally passed in 2015. They prohibited an individual from entering onto land “for the purpose of [...]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has passed a law on Tuesday to curtail money laundering and terrorism financing. The development was reported by the government-run WAM news station. The law, known as Federal Decree No. 20 of 2018, seeks to strengthen the UAE’s legal framework by supporting the relevant agencies and better equipping them to detect [...]
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, said Wednesday that although there has not been any improvement in the human rights situation in the country, these rights should continue to be an “essential” part of any strategy aimed at building a lasting peace [...]
Melissa and Aaron Klein, the former owners of an Oregon bakery asked the US Supreme Court Tuesday whether the state of Oregon violated the couple’s First Amendment rights by compelling them to make a custom wedding cake to for a same-sex wedding, which they claim is against “their sincerely held religious beliefs.” The petition for writ [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of the Georgia Muslim Voter Project and the Asian-American Advancing Justice-Atlanta group challenging a Georgia law that allows the rejection of absentee ballots if signatures do not match other state records. The law makes the election official’s determination regarding the signature final, with no avenue for [...]
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill into law Tuesday that will allow individuals to elect a third gender category on birth certificates issued within city limits, removing a number of medical and administrative barriers to doing so. The bill was recently passed by the New York City Council, which worked closely [...]
