The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday called on new Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to investigate reports of both military abuses and crimes committed by the Islamist rebel group Boko Haram . The top human rights official, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein , in a statement said , “Civilians in northeast Nigeria have been [...]
The chief judge for the US District Court of Guam on Friday struck down the territory’s same-sex marriage ban. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in April by same-sex couple Kathleen Aguero and Loretta Pangelinan after they were denied a marriage license. Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood ruled from the bench after a hearing Friday [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Friday upheld a French court’s decision allowing Vincent Lambert the right to die, stating it did not violate article 2 of European Convention on Human Rights. Lambert was in a car accident seven years ago that caused him to become quadriplegic, and he has been in a [...]
The California Senate on Thursday voted 23-14 to approve a controversial right to die bill . The bill would protect doctors who aide individuals with terminal conditions in dying. The bill’s impact is limited to patients who pass a mental competency test are have less than six months to live. The patients would also be [...]
An appeals court in New York on Wednesday granted a law license to an immigrant who was brought to the US illegally as a child. Cesar Vargas was brought to the US from Mexico by his mother when he was 5 years old. He attended college and law school in New York City and passed [...]
The UN torture prevention body on Wednesday urged the Philippines to tackle urgent prison overcrowding issues and improve independent monitoring of detention facilities. During a visit by the six-member delegation, the Sub-Committee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) presented its confidential preliminary observations to the Filipino authorities. Their goal is to protect people deprived of [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Wednesday that in light of allegations of sexual abuse in the Central African Republic (CAR) by foreign troops not under UN control, an External Independent Review will be set up to examine the UN’s handling of such allegations. According to a statement issued by the Secretary-General’s office, the External Independent [...]
Colombia’s Congress voted on Wednesday to limit presidents to a single term, a measure backed by President Juan Manuel Santos . The presidential term limit undoes a law passed by Santos’ predecessor and rival, Alvaro Uribe, and reverts to the term limits that were in place before 2005. Santos ran against his former mentor in [...]
Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit on Thursday in federal court to block part of a new Arizona law that requires doctors to tell patients that it may be possible to reverse a drug-induced abortion. This advice is regarded by most medical experts as [...]
A top EU legal adviser stated on Thursday that unemployed EU migrants are not automatically entitled to social benefits during their first three months in a different EU country. The recommendation came from the advocate general of the Court of Justice . Germany had asked the court to review the case of a Spanish man [...]
