US Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday expressed concern before the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee with respect to the proliferation of virtual currencies , which, he asserts, have created new avenues for money laundering, drug trafficking and other illegal activity. Holder noted that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) is working continually with [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday published a letter to US President Barack Obama , urging the US to expedite the return of Yemeni detainees cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay . The letter notes that 55 of the 76 individuals recommended for transfer by the Obama administration are citizens of Yemen. HRW acknowledges the [...]
Amnesty International (AI) released a report Tuesday detailing the chronic prevalence of hate crimes and discrimination perpetrated against the Roma diaspora in Europe. The “briefing,” released on International Roma Day, urges European leaders to “commit, visibly and wholeheartedly, to eradicating the scourge of anti-Roma violence.” The report depicts the plight of Roma in the Czech [...]
The Supreme Court of the Philippines on Tuesday unanimously approved Republic Act 10354 expanding public access to family planning and reproductive health services. The bill, which was approved by both houses of parliament and signed by President Benigno Aquino over a year ago, requires government health centers to provide contraceptives and mandates sex education in [...]
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday struck down an EU-wide law that stipulates how private data must be collected and stored. The ECJ ruled the collection of traffic and location data via the Data Retention Directive by public electronic service companies “interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect [...]
UN experts on the rights and status of migrant workers on Monday renewed calls to states urging the signing and ratification of a treaty more than 10 years old. The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families has only been ratified by 47 countries. The [...]
Lawyers for Shaker Aamer , a Saudi citizen and former UK resident detained at Guantanamo Bay , asked a federal judge on Monday to release him on the grounds that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses. The motion for release claims that “Mr. Aamer’s mental and physical fitness is gravely diminished [...]
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia , Surya Subedi, issued a statement on Monday expressing concern that the Cambodian National Assembly went forward with its second session without the representative MPs of the opposition taking up their seats. Subedi urged the legislature to uphold what was referred to as [...]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday made a statement in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, expressing regret for the UN’s silence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide that resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people. Ban urged the international community to prevent such atrocities from occurring again and noted that progress in this direction has been made, [...]
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris announced on Monday that Sri Lanka would not cooperate with a UN investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the country’s civil war. Last month, the UN Human Rights Council voted to launch an investigation into alleged violations committed by Government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil [...]
