The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday dismissed a suit for compensation brought by South Korean women forced to work in “comfort stations”—brothels operated by the Japanese military before and during World War II—and families of the deceased victims. The 20 plaintiffs filed the suit in 2016 and sought about USD 2.7 million from the [...]

France’s lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, on Thursday unanimously adopted a bill to protect minors from sexual crimes and incest. The bill primarily sets the age of sexual consent at 15 and outlaws incestual relations—understood in France as sexual abuse by relatives—with a minor as rape. The provision outlawing incest as rape will [...]

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal on Thursday ruled that the country’s human rights commissioner, or ombudsman, may not continue holding their position after the end of their term until a successor is elected. As a result of the ruling, Adam Bodnar, whose term ended in September, will be removed. He had been appointed with the backing of the [...]

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday confirmed by majority Trial Chamber I’s acquittal of Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé of all four counts of crimes against humanity. Gbagbo, Ivory Coast’s former president, and former minister Blé Goudé, had faced the charges for their alleged role in post-election violence in the [...]

The Research Commission on the French Archives relating to Rwanda and the Tutsi genocide (Duclert Commission) on Friday submitted its report to French President Emmanuel Macron finding that the country bears responsibility due to its inaction, but was not complicit with the regime that perpetrated the genocide. Between April and July 1994, at least 800,000 [...]

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights agreed Thursday to conduct a joint investigation into human rights violations and abuses allegedly committed by all parties involved in the ongoing conflict in Tigray, the northernmost region of Ethiopia. The conflict in Tigray started on November 4 [...]

Turkey withdrew from the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, popularly known as the Istanbul Convention, by a presidential decree announced in the official gazette early Saturday. The Istanbul Convention seeks to “protect women against all forms of violence, and prevent, prosecute and eliminate violence against women and domestic violence.” It [...]

The High Court of Kenya dismissed a challenge Wednesday to the constitutionality of the country’s Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act. The petitioner sought to allow female genital mutilation (FGM) for consenting adults. Dr. Tatu Kamau, a medical practitioner, brought the petition in 2017. Kamau’s petition asserted that practitioners and women in communities practicing FGM [...]

The European Parliament on Thursday declared the EU an “LGBTIQ freedom zone.” The resolution was adopted by a vote of 492 to 141, with 46 members abstaining from the vote. The move is in direct response to Poland and Hungary’s growing repression of LGBTIQ rights. Same-sex relationships do not enjoy legal recognition in Poland. In March 2019, [...]

Germany’s cabinet on Wednesday launched the bill for the Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains (or Supply Chain Act) aimed at strengthening the protection of human rights, health and the environment in German companies’ global supply chains. The bill mandates German companies with at least 3,000 employees to comply with supply chain standards throughout the [...]