Amnesty International published a report on Tuesday exposing Russia’s mistreatment of both Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian captives currently held in detention within Ukrainian territory and in Russia. The report determined that Russia’s treatment of detained Ukrainians amounted to war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity. Amnesty researchers interviewed 104 people living in [...]

Amnesty International called on Wednesday for an international investigation into Israeli military attacks on healthcare facilities during the Lebanon war, and labeled them as war crimes. Amnesty International’s own investigation focused on four Israeli attacks in Beirut between October 3 and 9, 2024, which killed 19 healthcare workers, wounded 11 more, and destroyed multiple ambulances [...]

Serbia’s opposition lawmakers on Tuesday threw smoke grenades and tear gas inside the National Assembly to support demonstrating students. One legislator suffered a stroke during the chaos and three MPs were injured, and politicians were seen clashing with security on live footage. The opposition members defended their actions, stating that the government had refused to [...]

The Law Commission of Ontario (LSO) and the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Monday released a background report on the ongoing Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) on the development of AI. The report serves as a follow-up review of the LSO and OHRC’s initial 2024 HRIA framework which was created as a tool to [...]

India on Monday strongly rebuked UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk for his remarks on Kashmir and Manipur, calling them “unfounded and baseless.” The sharp response came after Turk, in his global update at the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, raised concerns over violence and displacement in Manipur [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders called Wednesday for urgent support for rights defenders in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor recognized the deteriorating situation in the DRC, stating: “Human rights defenders in the eastern DRC are currently at extreme risk of reprisals for their human rights [...]

UN experts on Tuesday urged Poland to acquit Justyna Wydrzyńska, a human rights defender and abortion rights activist previously sentenced to eight months of community service. Advocating for the protection of human rights defenders such as Wydrzyńska, the experts noted the work of individuals like her “remains one of the few avenues for safe abortion [...]

A Nigerian government official on Sunday addressed the Supreme Court’s annulment of local elections, after months of silence, with the view that while he disagreed with the decision, he would respect the court’s ruling. The Supreme Court of Nigeria nullified the local government elections in the Rivers State on October 5, 2024. A government party appealed [...]

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that Bulgaria violated the European Convention on Human Rights by denying a journalist access to the acquittal judgment of a former Minister of Internal Affairs in a high-profile criminal case. The court found that Bulgaria’s refusal to provide access to the judgment violated Article 10 of [...]

The EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA) reported on Monday that asylum applications across the EU+ (the EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland) decreased by 11 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year. The decline interrupted a three-year trend of applications exceeding one million annually. The report attributed the drop primarily to a shift [...]