A UN expert on Monday urged the participants of the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference in Myanmar to prioritize human rights in their discussions. Yanghee Lee , the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, noted that human rights are at the core of the conflicts in Myanmar and thus must be [...]
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy stated to the press on Monday that he would amend the constitution to ban full-body “burkini” swimsuits if re-elected next April. His comments came after a statement was made by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who said a ban on burkinis would be unconstitutional . In response, Sarkozy said: “Well, then [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Henok G. Gabisa of the Bekele Gerba et al International Legal Defense Project discusses the motivation behind Olympic marathoner Feyisa Lilesa’s arm-crossed protest at the finish line at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janiero, Brazil… The Underlying National Question in Ethiopia’s Marathoner Feyisa Lilesa’s Gesture Feyisa Lilesa caught the world’s [...]
UN experts on environment and indigenous peoples rights on Monday urged governments throughout the world to make human rights a priority in environmental conservation efforts, stating that protecting biodiversity is a human rights issue. The message comes days before the scheduled World Conservation Congress (WCC) in Honolulu, US, the largest global forum for adopting conservation [...]
Dilma Rousseff, the suspended president of Brazil, appeared before the Senate on Monday to make a final appeal to lawmakers before they vote on whether to remove her from office. In her speech , Dilma claimed she is innocent of the accusations against her and that the evidence against her is only a pretext to [...]
Australian officials on Monday said that a Hague-based international tribunal lacks jurisdiction to set a border between Australia and East Timor. East Timor invoked this “conciliation commission” in the hopes that it would put pressure on Australia to create a new, permanent maritime boundary between the two countries, giving more sea bed to East Timor [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday upheld the death sentences of 16 civilians convicted of terror-related offenses by military courts. The appellants contended that their constitutional rights had been violated, as they were tried in secret, without access to lawyers of their choice, and their confessions were recorded illegally. In addition, the appellants claimed [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) released statements Monday condemning Ukraine’s use of secret facilities to detain individuals. The two groups released a joint report earlier this summer detailing the use of torture in these secret detentions by both the Ukrainian government and the Russia-backed separatists. Since the release of the report, 13 [...]
Egyptian human rights lawyer Malek Adly was released from prison Sunday following a Saturday decision by an Egyptian court. Adly had been held in solitary confinement for more than 100 days without a formal charge, and his incarceration was pinned on various administrative detention orders. Adly supporters claim that the lawyer’s prosecution was due to [...]
Venezuelan authorities on Saturday arrested a major opposition leader, Daniel Ceballos, stating that the arrest was to prevent his efforts at destabilizing the country . Ceballos, the former mayor of San Cristobal, was arrested in March 2014, accused of inciting violence during a wave of protests against the government. However, Ceballos was released and placed [...]
