Amnesty International on Friday urged Belarusian authorities to end their cycle of repression in light of the upcoming presidential election on January 26. The human rights organization claims President Alexander Lukashenko’s government is denying the Belarusian population the right to free speech by applying repressive measures such as arbitrary detentions, torture and criminalization of free [...]

The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) said Thursday that Meta’s current pay-or-consent strategy in the EU may violate consumer and data protection laws, urging relevant EU agencies to protect consumers immediately. The statement accused Meta of using ambiguous terms and confusing interfaces that do not allow users to consent freely to data collection. The organization also [...]

Pakistan’s National Assembly passed an amendment to the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act on Thursday, giving the government the power to regulate social media usage in the country. The amendment includes a punishment for false and fake information presented as follows: “Whoever intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, [...]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a controversial bill into law Thursday that authorizes the government to expropriate private land without compensation in certain cases. The law, the product of a five-year project, repeals the pre-democractic-era Expropriation Act of 1975. In a presidential press release, Ramaphosa argued that Expropriation Act, 2020 aligns the law with [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada announced on Thursday that it will hear a landmark challenge to Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21. The law was passed in 2019 and prohibits certain public sector employees in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols while on duty. Central to the case are Sections 2(a) and 15 of the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that France violated Ms. H.W’s right to respect for private and family life, her right to sexual freedom, and right to bodily autonomy by granting a divorce on the grounds that she failed to perform her “marital duty” to have sexual relations with her husband. [...]

Human Rights Watch urged Egyptian authorities on Wednesday to drop terrorism-related charges against Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). Bahgat was briefly detained before being released on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$398). He faces three charges which include participating in the activities of a terrorist group, financing a terrorist [...]

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim AA Khan announced on Thursday that his office has filed applications for arrest warrants before the Pre-trial Chamber against two leading Taliban officials accused of committing crimes against humanity. These applications stem from thorough investigations conducted by the Prosecutor’s Office and are part of a broader inquiry into the situation [...]

Amnesty International reported severe systematic human rights violations in Azerbaijan on Thursday. The report reflects the lack of improvement and the systemic nature of the abuses, including unjustified restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, as well as the abuse of the criminal justice system for political purposes. Some independent civil society organizations in [...]

An Alberta judge on Tuesday certified a class-action lawsuit alleging that a local school abused Indigenous children in the 1960s and 1970s. Court of King’s Bench Justice James Neilson certified the lawsuit brought by representative plaintiff Cynthia Youngchief, who is the face of the survivor class of all Aboriginal persons who attended the school. The [...]