United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon submitted a report issued together with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons yesterday detailing an in-depth investigation into chemical warfare used by ISIS and President Assad in Syria. While the report is still confidential, Ki-Moon stated that he is looking forward to the publication of the [...]
The UN High Commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein , on Thursday called on the international community to establish an independent international body for conducting comprehensive investigations of human rights violations in Yemen. This call comes in the wake of a report released earlier today which highlighted various allegations of serious human rights [...]
Vice President Joe Biden stated at a press conference in Sweden on Thursday that he hopes and expects that the Guantanamo Bay prison will be closed before President Barack Obama leaves office. The Vice President’s remarks come a day after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest reiterated the president’s intentions to shut down the Guantanamo [...]
The Brazilian Senate began the impeachment trial of President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday. The suspended president is scheduled to testify on Monday and has been reported to be increasingly isolated. Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer would become the country’s president through 2018 in the event that 54 senators vote to impeach Rousseff. The media, political [...]
The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People’s Army reached a peace agreement on Wednesday. The agreement in Havana, Cuba ends an over 50 year conflict between the FARC rebels (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia- Ejército del Pueblo, FARC-EP) and the government. The conflict claimed over 220,000 people and displaced countless others. [...]
The legal branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published a report yesterday that was the fifth in a series detailing the findings of investigations into the 2014 Gaza war. The report released the results of these investigations in regards to seven cases of violence during the war. The seventh case was the matter of [...]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) determined 3-1 Tuesday that student assistants working at private colleges are statutory employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act. The case was filed by graduate students at Columbia University representing graduate and undergraduate student assistants. The majority opinion reversed the holding in Brown University. The majority found no [...]
UN humans rights experts on Wednesday urged the government of Bangladesh to repeal the death sentence imposed upon Mir Quasem Ali, an opposition member of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. The experts stated that “Mr. Ali’s trial and appeal processes were reportedly marred with irregularities and failed to meet international standards on fair trial and due process [...]
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against Georgia on Tuesday alleging that the state discriminates against students with behavior-related disabilities. The DOJ argues that the state’s Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support Program (GNETS) violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibition on the “unnecessary segregation of persons with disabilities in state programs, [...]
Several state and religiously affiliated organizations filed suit in federal court Tuesday regarding the Affordable Care Act’s rule banning discrimination on the basis of sex, including gender identity. The plaintiffs include the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the Franciscan Alliance, the Christian Medical & Dental Association, and Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas and Wisconsin. The lawsuit [...]
