Kazakhstan Takes Steps to Enhance Human Rights Standards Amid Global Scrutiny

Kazakhstan, a Central Asian nation with a history of criticism from Western human rights organizations, is taking significant steps to improve its human rights record. The government has introduced new legislation aimed at addressing concerns related to civil liberties, political freedoms, and social justice, in a bid to align with international human rights standards. Since […]

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Family of Hostage Featured in Latest Hamas Video Urges Netanyahu to Pursue Ceasefire

The family of a hostage shown in a recent video released by Hamas has appealed directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to seize the opportunity for a ceasefire deal. In a statement, they expressed that the footage of their loved one, released by the militant group, had “torn our hearts to pieces,” […]

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Taliban’s Midwifery Ban Deepens Afghanistan’s Healthcare Crisis: ‘We Saw Women Die at Home’

As Afghanistan enters its fourth year without training new female doctors, the Taliban’s recent ban on women studying midwifery has compounded an already dire healthcare crisis. This policy not only closes one of the last remaining educational opportunities for women but also poses a significant threat to the nation’s healthcare system, particularly in rural areas […]

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Court Trials vs. Military Tribunals: Pakistan’s Ongoing Legal Dilemma

In the wake of Pakistan’s May 9, 2023 riots, which followed the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a growing legal controversy has emerged over the military’s jurisdiction to try civilians. In December 2023, military courts sentenced 25 individuals, including Khan’s nephew, Hassan Khan Niazi, for alleged involvement in the attacks on military installations. […]

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UN Funding Uncertainty Threatens Rights Investigations

United Nations member countries should take urgent steps to end the UN’s financial troubles, which are hindering human rights investigations in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, Israel/Palestine, and elsewhere. This difficult situation will get even worse if the incoming US administration follows through on threats to stop funding key UN agencies that provide lifesaving aid and protection. […]

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Young Venezuelan refugees get a fresh start in Trinidad’s schools

When 11-year-old Venezuelan refugee Astrid Saavedra walked into her fourth-grade classroom in Trinidad and Tobago for her first day of school in September, she was eager to begin lessons in her favourite subject, mathematics. But the prospect of teaching fellow students about her homeland Venezuela was equally exciting. Astrid is one of the first refugee and […]

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Syria: Mass Grave in Damascus Should be Protected, Investigated

Play Video (Beirut) – The state of a mass grave in Damascus and statements by people living in the surrounding area suggest that the area is a mass crime scene and may have been the site of other summary executions, Human Rights Watch said today.  Human Rights Watch visited the site in the southern Damascus neighborhood […]

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Haiti gangs crisis: Top rights expert decries attacks on hospitals

William O’Neill, who reports to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, highlighted an attack on the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince on 17 December and the killing of several journalists and a police officer at the General Hospital on 24 December. The victims were attending the hospital’s official reopening. “Criminal gangs have murdered and […]

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World News in Brief: Deaths on the Mediterranean, rights in Venezuela, new Security Council members take their seats

Regina De Dominicis – who also heads the agency’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office – issued her plea for action after another small boat sank off the coast of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on New Year’s Eve. “Among the seven survivors is an eight-year-old child whose mother is among those unaccounted for. […]

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‘See you in Court’: Ramifications of Climate Change Litigation before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights – Harvard Law School

‘See you in Court’: Ramifications of Climate Change Litigation before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights Collage of the building of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, and its sitting members (top right). I had the pleasure to present my article, published in the Journal of Human Rights […]

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