Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed concern Tuesday over recent reports of human rights abuses in Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s takeover. According to Colville, the UN is receiving “chilling reports of human rights abuses, and of restrictions on the rights of individuals, especially women and girls, [...]

Myanmar’s armed forces (the Tatmadaw) has carried out 252 attacks on healthcare workers since the Tatmadaw illegally seized control of the country in a coup d’état in February, according to a report published on Tuesday. Violence Against or Obstruction of Health Care in Myanmar, published by Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, identified 252 reported incidents involving [...]

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave a formal apology Sunday to Pacific peoples over historic racist policing. The apology concerned the Dawn Raids, a government initiative to deport persons for immigration offenses during the 1970s. Ardern drew attention to how the Dawn Raids involved physical removal of persons targeted by the raids and verbal [...]

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) warned in a report published Monday that documented casualties of Afghanistan civilians are poised to reach the highest number recorded in one year since 2009. The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict 2021 Midyear Report analyzed documented civilian casualties between January 1 and June 30 of this year. [...]

Russian human rights organization Team 29 (Komada 29) whose members include journalists and lawyers announced Sunday it is liquidating. The move comes amidst fears about the country’s foreign agents law. Russian authorities have recently taken a number of actions targeting Team 29. On July 16, the organization’s website was blocked by authorities after the Prosecutor-General’s [...]

Human rights activist and lawyer Semyon Simonov was convicted under Russia’s foreign agents law in a controversial criminal trial on Sunday. In December 2016, Russia designated the Southern Human Rights Center (SHRC) as a foreign agent, considering it to be engaging in political activity. The SHRC is an organization providing pro bono legal services on [...]

The Vatican charged 10 persons with financial crimes on Saturday, including an Italian cardinal. The charges follow an inquiry by the Vatican Gendarmerie. The charges center around the Vatican Secretariat of State’s investment in Raffaele Mincione’s Athena Capital Global Opportunities Fund. Mincione, who allegedly used fund money for personal investments, received charges of “embezzlement, fraud, [...]

Ethiopia’s federal government announced a ceasefire in Tigray on Friday. The Ethiopian National Defense Force and the Provisional Tigray Administration left Tigray’s capital as part of the ceasefire, pausing eight months of war. The Tigray Defense Force, a guerrilla warfare group, has not agreed to the government’s ceasefire. Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political [...]

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, urged states to dismantle law enforcement’s systematic racism against African peoples on Monday in a report entitled “Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent against excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law [...]

The citizenry of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, has voted to partially legalize abortion in a referendum on Friday. The results revealed 62 percent of voters supported partially legalizing abortion. The legalization will occur when the Crimes (Amendment) Act 2019 comes into force to amend the Crimes Act 2011. This will take place within 28 [...]