The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday reported an increase in civilian casualties from ground engagements in Afghanistan compared to the same time last year, with indications that the number will only continue to rise in the coming months. The report appeals to the Afghan National Security Forces and anti-government elements, the main [...]
A UN rights expert said Monday that the civilian refugees from Palestine and Syria trapped inside the Yarmouk refugee camp have suffered “untold indignities” . There are approximately 18,000 people within the Yarmouk refugee camp including 3,500 children. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been providing [...]
A Turkish court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Monday acquitted a Dutch journalist accused of producing propaganda materials on behalf of a Kurdish rebel group. Freelance journalist Frederike Geerdink was charged with disseminating “terrorist propaganda” after she made a series of social media posts allegedly in support of the government-banned Kurdistan Workers Party [...]
The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday rejected a petition to stop US drone attacks in the northwestern tribal region of the country. Justice Saqib Nisar presided over the petition and concluded that the it was not a legal issue but rather a security related matter. The decision comes after Pakistan’s Islamabad High Court last [...]
The Kenyan government announced on Sunday that it asked the UN Refugee Agency to repatriate hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees by July. The request comes in the wake of the Garissa University massacre, an attack by Shebab insurgents that left nearly 150 dead. A statement released by the Kenyan government included statements by Vice [...]
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressed the 13th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Doha, Qatar on Sunday and highlighted the crucial connection between the rule of law and sustainable development. The Congress also adopted the Doha Declaration which highlights important aspects of fighting global organized crime, how countries can prevent [...]
Islamist opposition leader Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was executed in Bangladesh on Saturday for war crimes committed in 1971 during the nation’s war of independence. Kamaruzzaman, who was one of the highest-ranking officials in the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party , was convicted of committing torture, abduction and mass murder, including the killing of 120 unarmed farmers in the [...]
The UN announced on Saturday that the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) will make an urgent trip to Yarmouk, a Syrian refugee camp that has fallen under control of the Islamic State (IS). According to UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness, the visit is prompted by the organization’s “deepening concerns for the [...]
An Egyptian criminal court on Saturday sentenced US citizen Mohamed Soltan to life in prison for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and for transmitting false news. Soltan, who was arrested in 2013 and staged a hunger strike while in prison, is a citizen of both the US and Egypt. Judge Mohamed Nagi Shehata, who handed down [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Friday ruled against portions of a Missouri law which required those providing health plan advice to obtain a license from the state, concluding that the licensing portions of the state law are pre-empted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) . The advocacy [...]
