Amnesty International (AI) called upon the European Union (EU) on Thursday to end discrimination against Roma communities throughout Europe. There are roughly six million Roma throughout the EU, many of whom face abject poverty, substandard education, violent attacks and other forms of discrimination. In a press release , AI said that the EU is not [...]
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed a comprehensive gun control bill into law Thursday, placing new limits on the sale of firearms. One of the most far-reaching gun control laws in the country, the Gun Violence Prevention and Children’s Safety Act adds 100 firearms to the state’s assault weapons ban, prohibits the sale or purchase of [...]
The Ivory Coast government continues impartial justice for 2010-2011 post-election crimes committed by supporters of President Alassane Ouattara , Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Thursday. The report details the five-month long post-election crisis, which resulted in at least 3,000 civilian deaths and erupted when former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada (ACLU-NV) on Thursday filed a lawsuit challenging a state law criminalizing consensual sex between same-sex teenagers. The state law characterizes same-sex intercourse as a “crime against nature,” and violation of the law carries a possible five-year prison sentence. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for [...]
An Egyptian court on Wednesday rejected the extradition of Ahmed Qaddaf al-Dam, cousin and former close aide of ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi , to Libya. The country’s administrative court held that Qaddaf al-Dam should be tried in Egypt. It reasoned that because Qaddaf al-Dam was an asylum seeker and was subject to possible risk of [...]
A Ukrainian court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by opposition leader Yuriy Lutsenko, who is currently serving a four-year sentence. Lutsenko, the former interior minister and ally of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko , was appealing his conviction on embezzlement and abuse of office charges. The court did not allow the appeal but slightly reduced [...]
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed a bill Tuesday allowing undocumented immigrants to attend public universities at the same tuition rate as in-state residents. The law requires that in order to qualify for these lowered rates, students must have attended high school in Oregon for at least three years, must have attended school in the US [...]
A group of US policymakers and advocates on Wednesday alleged in a new report that Sudan’s government has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture near the border of South Sudan since June 2011. Titled Architects of Atrocity , the report was released by the Enough Project, a group committed to ending genocide and [...]
French law enforcement officials on Wednesday arrested Tite Barahira, a former Rwandan leader, for conspiracy to commit genocide committed during the 1994 genocide in that country. Barahira was arrested pursuant to an arrest warrant issued in Rwanda, in the French city of Toulouse. Barahira was leader of Commune Kabarondo, and is alleged to be connected [...]
Two UN human rights experts were critical of the Hungarian Parliament on Wednesday for passing an amendment to the Hungarian Fundamental Law that criminalizes homelessness. Hungary is estimated to currently have 30,000 homeless individuals. The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Magdalena Sepulveda and the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Raquel [...]
