Amnesty International India called Thursday for an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of seven people in a blast in Kulgam on Sunday. Kulgam, a district of Kashmir and Jammu, is the site of ongoing conflict between Lashkar-e-Taiba, which translates to “Army of the Pure,” and the Indian government. According to a Stanford report, [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran on Wednesday urged Iran to respond to social challenges in the country by putting international human rights law at the center of a government response. Javaid Rehman was appointed Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran in July. He recently presented his report to the General Assembly [...]
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, said Wednesday that although there has not been any improvement in the human rights situation in the country, these rights should continue to be an “essential” part of any strategy aimed at building a lasting peace [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar presented a report to the UN General Assembly Wednesday criticizing Myanmar’s languishing path to a democratic transition. Special Rapporteur Lee Yanghee’s report criticized the government’s record and ongoing efforts to restrict freedom of the press, freedom of speech, the right to assemble and religious [...]
Michael Lynk, UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory called Wednesday for the international community to enforce annexation provisions of international law against Israel to halt their occupation of the West Bank. Lynk expressed concern about the continuing economic and social collapse of Gaza, stating: The United Nations stated in 2012 [...]
Members of the EU Parliament approved a draft bill Wednesday to ban single use plastics by 2021. According to the European Commission, single use plastics make up 70 percent of marine litter and include items like plastic cutlery, straws and take out containers. Overall, 80 percent of Marine litter is plastics. While single-use plastic is [...]
Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, expressed grave concern on Tuesday regarding the treatment of human rights defenders, as more than 1,000 have been killed between 2015 and 2017. In the latest report on the situation of human rights defenders issued earlier this year, Forst praised the work that has been done [...]
Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Madagascar of an “unjustified, excessive, prolonged and otherwise abusive use of pre-trial detention.” The law in Madagascar allows pre-trial detentions to last as long as 5.5 years for adults and 2.75 years for children. In the second quarter of 2017, 45 percent of minors that were released from pre-trial detention [...]
US Department State Secretary Mike Pompeo on Tuesday announced that 21 Saudi Arabians suspected in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi will have their visas revoked or deemed ineligible for a visa to gain admittance into the US. During a briefing, Pompeo said that the suspect list includes officials from the intelligence services, the royal [...]
The US Court of Appeals for Ninth Circuit on Tuesday reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit against Nestle, Cargill Cocoa and other companies accusing them of aiding and abetting child slave labor in the Ivory Coast. The lawsuit was brought by former child slaves who worked on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. Nestle and [...]
