The Venezuelan Supreme Court on Monday annulled Parliament’s decision to begin impeachment proceedings against President Nicolás Maduro , ruling that the action went beyond Parliament’s constitutional power . The High Court reaffirmed a decision they had issued last November, in which it ordered the country’s parliament to “refrain from continuing the procedure of declaring ‘political [...]
A new report released Monday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) shows that children in Afghanistan are bearing the brunt of the nutritional crisis, despite attempts at administering food aid. OCHA has concluded that currently there are 9.3 million people in the country in need of aid, an increase of [...]
The US Treasury Department announced on Monday that five Russian officials have been sanctioned for human rights abuses. The officials include Aleksandr Bastrykin, who serves as both chief public investigator and close aide to President Vladimir Putin. The Treasury Department had been investigating the officials for their connection to the 2009 matter of a deceased [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Stephen Cooper discusses the story of Benny King and the criminalization of addiction… Benny King is a gregarious, good-hearted, God-fearing 53-year-old black man from Alabama who shouldn’t be in prison. But he is. Mr. King is serving 14-months at the federal correctional institution in Jesup, Georgia, for violating conditions of his supervised [...]
The conditions on Greek Islands for asylum seekers has been labeled as “untenable” by the European Commission due to heavy snowfall in the region, said a spokesperson on Monday. The islands have seen a steady flow of refugees seeking asylum in the EU, the numbers nearing 16,000 people. The commission stated that they are aware [...]
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell warned on Monday that a move to repeal the Affordable Care Act without simultaneously implementing a replacement plan would create a dangerous situation in American healthcare. Burwell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, did not address the intention of Congress to replace the ACA before appealing [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in Nelson v. Colorado . The court granted certiorari in September to decide whether Colorado’s requirement that defendants must prove their innocence by clear and convincing evidence to get their money back, after reversal of conviction of a crime entailing monetary penalties, is consistent with due [...]
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a controversial law Monday that may impact the August elections. The law enables a paper recount of votes in the event that the electronic systems fail. Though a victory for the majority Jubilee party, who claim it will add stability to the voting process, members of the opposition Cord party [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky Monday challenging new abortion requirements. The filing challenges House Bill 2 , a law requiring an ultrasound be performed before an abortion may be undertaken, which passed early in the legislative session . HB 2 [...]
A UN Independent Expert has warned that increasing austerity measures to the American territory will threaten residents’ human rights. Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky , the Independent Expert, stated that “ensuring financial stability, controlling public debt and reducing budget deficits are important goals, but should not be achieved at the expense of human rights.” Puerto Rican austerity [...]
