UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warned in an interview with The Guardian on Monday that Trump’s attacks on the press are “very close to incitement to violence.” Zeid fears that the current President’s designation of the press as an “enemy of the people” could have dire consequences: We began to [...]

The Supreme Court of Costa Rica on Thursday found the country’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional and discriminatory. This decision follows opinion  given just seven months ago by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights  that same-sex couples have the same rights to marry as any opposite-sex couple.< The decision is a significant one for Costa [...]

UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced Wednesday that former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will succeed Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights . Bachelet completed her second four-year term as the Chilean president earlier this year. Upon her initial election in 2006, she became the first female to assume the Chilean [...]

UN human rights experts urged  the government of Nicaragua Thursday to stop repressing voices that are critical of the government after “100 days of unrest in which at least 317 people have been killed and 1,830 injured.” The experts stated that “eports indicate that there has been an increase in targeted repression, criminalisation and alleged arbitrary [...]

Venezuela’s pro-government National Constituent Assembly voted unanimously to strip two members of the opposition-controlled legislature of their immunity accusing them of playing a role in the attempted assassination of President Nicolás Maduro. The move comes after the Venezuela Supreme Court ordered the arrest of the two lawmakers, Julio Borges and Juan Reuesens, on Wednesday. The [...]

UN human rights experts expressed concern  Thursday about the increase in attacks against human rights defenders in Guatemala. The experts reported that 11 human rights defenders in Guatemala were killed between May 9 and July 27, 2018. The killings were “of an unusually violent nature—four suffered fatal cuts by bladed weapons, including cuts to their [...]

The Argentine Senate on Thursday rejected a bill that would have legalized abortion in a 38-31 vote after a debate  that lasted for more than 16 hours. The measure had passed in the Chamber of Deputies two months prior to the vote, making it the first abortion legislation to successfully  make it out of the lower house. [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday denied a Guantanamo detainee’s habeas petition for release. Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi has been detained at Guantanamo since 2002, following Congress giving the President power to detain those who are a threat to national security. He had ties to al Qaeda and [...]

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak pleaded not guilty to three counts of money laundering on Wednesday. On Tuesday the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Committee indicated that Razak would be charged under the country’s Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 on Wednesday. The charges arise from a scandal involving the the 1 Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB) , [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on Tuesday that Zimbabwean police forces, soldiers, and a number of unidentified armed men violently attacked and harassed dozens of supporters of the Movement for Democratic Chance Alliance (MDCA) in a crackdown on political opposition. Political unrest erupted in Zimbabwe following the election held in the country last week when [...]