A former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo was found guilty of bribing witnesses in his International Criminal Court (ICC) trial for war crimes. On Wednesday The Hague-based court found Jean-Pierre Bemba guilty of bribery during the trial in March when he was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Bemba was convicted of [...]
A federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Obama administration’s request to narrow an injunction banning the enforcement of an Education Department policy requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the student’s gender. Judge Reed O’Connor of the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas [...]
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report Tuesday finding that the July attack on a peaceful demonstration in the nation’s capital directly targeted civilians. The report focuses on the “planning and preparedness” of security forces facing the attack. It also touches on response by such forces directly following the event. The report [...]
Iraqi government and paramilitary forces are committing serious human rights abuses and war crimes, according to an Amnesty International (AI) report Tuesday. AI claims that both the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are perpetrating acts of arbitrary detainment against internally displaced persons (IDP), particularly Sunni Arabs. In Iraqi-controlled territories, IDPs reportedly face [...]
Burundi’s vote last week to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) elicited concern from The Hague on Tuesday. President of the ICC’s governing body Sidiki Kaba stated that such a withdrawal “represent a setback in the fight against impunity and the efforts towards the objective of universality of the Statute.” The Burundi parliament’s vote to [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 50 other interest groups, sent a letter on Tuesday urging the US Department of Justice to investigate the increasing use of facial recognition technology. This letter is a part of the advocacy groups’ greater concern that certain police [...]
The Venezuela Supreme Tribunal of Justice ruled on Monday that a referendum to unseat President Nicolas Maduro will require his opponents to collect signatures from 20 percent of voters in each of Venezuela’s 24 states. The court interpreted Articles 15 and 29 of the Rules Regulating the Procedure for the Referendums , denying the opponents’ [...]
A Croatian prosecutor on Tuesday charged eight ex-Yugoslav military officers, including commander Borislav Djukic, with war crimes perpetrated during the Croatian War of Independence . Croatia split from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, and the nations fought until peace was found in 1995. During this time, the prosecutor alleges, the suspects ordered attacks on civilian [...]
An administrative court in Lille, France, on Tuesday rejected requests from almost a dozen aid groups and permitted the closure process of the “Jungle” migrant camp near Calais to continue. President François Hollande has promised closure of the camp as pressure for such a result grows while the April election approaches, and Interior Minister Bernard [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia on Monday filed a lawsuit against two officials in Georgia seeking an extension of the voting registration deadline . The lawsuit comes after Hurricane Matthew affected many coastal states days before registration deadlines, creating mandatory evacuations, power outages, and other situations that hindered citizens’ ability to register. [...]
