UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi brought attention to the humanitarian crisis ongoing in Lebanon before the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday. Grandi alleged violations of international law including mass destruction caused by Israeli airstrikes that has resulted in the deaths of civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure. Israel’s [...]

Quebec Premier François Legault announced on Wednesday that his government is prepared to use the so-called “notwithstanding clause” to require doctors trained in that Canadian province to start their careers in the province’s healthcare system, aiming to tackle the ongoing shortage of medical professionals. The notwithstanding clause, found in Section 33 of the Canadian Chater [...]

Amnesty International on Thursday emphasized the importance of prioritizing climate justice and human rights at the upcoming UN COP29 climate change conference, which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22. The human rights organization’s pre-summit statement underscores the necessity for COP29 leaders to integrate human rights considerations into all decision-making processes [...]

The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office arrested eight people on Tuesday under suspected membership of a neo-Nazi militant group known as “Sächsische Separatisten” or “Saxon Separatists,” the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said in a press statement. The arrests were made under Section 129a of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the formation of terrorist organizations dedicated to the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday that Bosnia violated the European Convention on Human Rights due to insufficient data protection laws with regard to legal professional privilege. The decision followed a lawyer’s complaint that his phone data had been indiscriminately collected and used in a criminal trial against him. The applicant, [...]

Ten US states voted Tuesday on constitutional amendments to guarantee abortion rights. Voters from seven states approved, with three rejecting the amendments. New York, Missouri, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Maryland, and Montana, all passed amendments that will ensure the right to an abortion up to the point of fetal viability. In contrast, voters in Florida, Nebraska, [...]

Justice Federico of the US Tenth Circuit of Appeal overturned a lower-court injunction on Tuesday against a Colorado law that raises the minimum age for purchasing a gun from 18 to 21, concluding that the restriction aligns with common-law standards for possible limitations to the Second Amendment. The case was initiated by the Second Amendment [...]

The G7 Foreign Ministers issued a statement on Tuesday condemning North Korea’s launch on October 31 of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), which landed in the sea. The United Nations also expressed concern over the missile launch and the potential threat it poses to “regional stability.” The G7 statement condemned the missile launch “in the [...]

Amnesty International on Tuesday recognized Grigory Melkonyants, co-chair of the Russian election watchdog Golos (“Voice”), as a prisoner of conscience. Melkonyants was arrested on August 17, 2023, shortly before the start of federal and local elections and the 2024 presidential campaign. He was charged with “organizing the activities of an undesirable organization” and could face [...]

The UK House of Commons began its first reading on Tuesday of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill which aims to restrict the legal age to purchase tobacco each year to create the “first smoke-free generation”. The bill was proposed under former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s government, and advanced by Parliament in April 2024. The 2023 [...]