The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission (officially European Commission for Democracy through Law) has published an urgent report on the conditions and legal standards whereby constitutional courts can invalidate elections following a controversial ruling of the Romanian Constitutional Court. The report, published Monday, was in response to a request from Theodoros Rousopoulos, president of the [...]

A Delhi court directed the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) against journalist Rana Ayyub following a complaint accusing her of insulting Hindu deities and spreading “anti-India sentiment” through her posts on X. The court’s order came in response to a petition filed by advocate Amita Sachdeva, who alleged that Ayyub’s tweets, some [...]

The Supreme Court of India granted a final opportunity on Tuesday for states and union territories to comply with its directives to eradicate caste discrimination within prisons. This development marks a significant step in addressing systemic inequalities in the Indian criminal justice system. The court initiated these proceedings suo moto (on its own accord) after [...]

An Ontario judge ruled on Tuesday that the two teenage girls charged in the “swarming” death of Kenneth Lee in Toronto in 2022 had their charter rights violated and called the provincial government’s strip-search policy “troubling.” The judge opted to give the accused girls a reduced sentence. Justice David Stewart Rose found that routine searches violated the [...]

Serbia’s Prime Minister Milos Vucevic announced his resignation on Tuesday amid ongoing protests that have erupted since the deadly collapse of a railway station roof last November. Vucevic and his government will remain in office until a new prime minister is elected and a new government is formed. Milos Vucevic explained during a press conference [...]

Yevheniia Khoroshun contributed to this report.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday that pregnant women in Gaza face disproportionate harm from the Israel-Gaza conflict. The report said that women in Palestine face “extraordinary challenges” in finding safe places to give birth even when they face a high-risk delivery due to food insecurity. HRW traces complications [...]

Uttarakhand became the first Indian state to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on Monday. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami launched the UCC alongside an official online portal, marking a significant milestone in India’s legal landscape. Speaking at the launch, CM Dhami described the UCC as a “new era of equality and harmony,” and credited [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Monday that Libyan authorities have used a “litany of overbroad and draconian legacy laws” to suppress civil rights activists and organizations. The group said the threats, harassment and arbitrary detention under these laws amount to an infringement of freedom of assembly and association under international law. HRW found that [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced Monday the establishment of an Ethics Council tasked with providing advisory guidance to the President of the court on matters pertaining to judicial ethics. The decision to formally constitute the Ethics Council was adopted by the Plenary Court during its session on 16 December 2024. This development [...]

Egyptian officials have arbitrarily investigated and detained human rights activists over peaceful dissent ahead of Tuesday’s UN Universal Period Review (UPR), Amnesty International said Monday. Activists that are under investigation include politician Hisham Kassem and activist Hossam Bahgat. Detained activists include Nada Mogheeth (spouse to cartoonist Ashraf Omar), journalist Ahmed Serag, and TikToker Mohamed Allam. [...]