Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Kyrgyzstan to drop unsubstantiated, politically motivated charges against independent journalists. Journalists from several independent local media outlets, including YouTube-based Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese, face up to six years in prison, with a final verdict of the Lenin District Court of Bishkek expected to be delivered on October 3. [...]

The European Commission sent a request on Wednesday for information to TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The three platforms must provide information regarding their recommender system’s design and functioning. Particularly, YouTube and Snapchat have to provide evidence of their parameters to recommend content and role in amplifying systemic risks such [...]

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws on Wednesday that provide exemptions from criminal liability for individuals in the Russian Federation who have contracted for military service or have been mobilized. The State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, approved the bills in September. With the implementation of two new amendments, defendants who enter into military [...]

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday refused to sign a highly controversial “Family Values and the Protection of Minors” bill to significantly curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. The bill, which passed with overwhelming parliamentary support, seeks to ban same-sex marriage, prohibit adoption by same-sex couples, restrict gender-affirming care, and limit public expressions of LGBTQ+ [...]

François Legault, premier of the largely French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, has called for the implementation of French-style “waiting zones” to address the growing number of asylum seekers entering Canada, according to local media reports. Legault appears to have taken inspiration from asylum waiting zones in France, which function as temporary hotel-style accommodations where asylum [...]

Amnesty International on Wednesday called on the Nigerian government to end its repression of protestors who participated in peaceful nationwide demonstrations against economic hardship and bad government. The #FearlessOctober protestors on October 1 faced inordinate use of tear gas and arrests by security forces, who barricaded usual protest areas in an attempt to pre-emptively shut [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report released Wednesday raised concerns over the forcible recruitment of children into a youth group associated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). HRW interviewed multiple families whose children were taken by the Revolutionary Youth Movement of Syria, or Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger. The report revealed that in the vast majority [...]

Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that multiple provisions of the country’s Federal Criminal Police Office Act (BKA Act) are unconstitutional because they infringe upon citizens’ privacy rights. The Society for Civil Rights e.V. (Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V. or “GFF”), a German donor-funded organization, challenged the act in court, asserting that the anti-terrorist surveillance and [...]

Several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists, have jointly called on Egypt’s parliament to reject a proposed draft of the criminal procedure code on Wednesday. They argue that if passed, the draft bill would further entrench systemic abuses in Egypt’s legal system. The Egyptian government introduced [...]

Kenya lawmakers launched a motion in parliament on Tuesday to impeach Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, accusing him of gross violation of the constitution, stirring ethnic hatred, and undermining the government. The motion, introduced by Enoch Wambua, who represents Kitui West, cites 11 grounds for impeachment under Articles 150(1)(b) and (2) and 145 of the Kenyan constitution. [...]