The US Department of the Treasury Friday sanctioned 15 people and 10 entities under new executive orders in a move denouncing human rights abuses. The Department also restricted investments in a Chinese company that uses surveillance technology. Leaders of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China have been sanctioned because of alleged human rights abuses. [...]

Australia’s Minister of Defence, Peter Dutton, was awarded AU $35,000 Wednesday for being defamed in a tweet that called him a “rape apologist.” The tweet which sparked the defamation lawsuit was published by refugee advocate Shane Bazzi in February. It read, “Peter Dutton is a rape apologist,” with a link to an article about Dutton [...]

Australia listed two organizations, the Base and Hezballah, as terrorist organizations Wednesday. The Base is a group that promotes white supremacy and adheres to neo-Nazi ideology. Hezbollah is a militant extremist group with religious ideology. The organizations are now listed as terrorist organizations under Division 102 of the Australian Criminal Code Act of 1995. Although Hezbollah’s [...]

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel Friday presented a proscription order to Parliament to enact a complete ban on Hamas, a terrorist movement, from the UK. Patel introduced the proscription order under the Terrorism Act 2000 as she is satisfied, on the advice of the Proscription Review Group, that Hamas is a terrorist organization and total proscription [...]

The UK Home Office Thursday announced that it would conduct a public inquiry on Dawn Sturgess’ 2018 death following her exposure to the military-grade nerve agent Novichok, which inhibits essential bodily functions. Sturgess, a UK citizen, was accidentally exposed to the chemical weapon. The Novichok poison is believed to have been part of an operation targeted at [...]

A report published by the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) Thursday revealed that New Zealand’s access to justice is at risk. In the past 12 months, more than 20,000 people were denied the representation of a legal aid lawyer. The report’s findings were informed by the largest survey ever undertaken on New Zealand’s legal profession. [...]

The UN Security Council issued a statement Wednesday urging for the immediate end of violence in Myanmar. Myanmar is currently under the control of the military junta, which overthrew the democratic government in February in a coup d’état. The Security Council supports the return to democracy and political independence in the country. The Security Council [...]

A report published by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday found that there are reasonable grounds to support a finding that the parties to the Tigray conflict committed crimes against humanity and war crimes. The report identified that the conduct giving rise to [...]

Pakistani journalists’ freedom of expression is under threat as criminal defamation charges are being brought against journalists, according to a report published by media rights watchdog Freedom Network on Tuesday. The report, entitled “Criminalizing Online Dissent through Legal Victimization,” analyzed case law and other legal actions taken against journalists between 2019 and 2021, focusing on [...]

San Francisco passed an ordinance on Tuesday to allow the city government to request information regarding the gender identity and sexual orientation of employees and candidates for job openings. The city government’s human resources department can request the information through anonymous surveys from job applicants and current employees through surveys that collect data on a [...]