Rights Protests Continue Across the U.S. as Immigration Ban Implemented

Protesters in the United States and around the world demonstrated last week and over the weekend, calling for the protection of the rights of migrants and refugees, women, and other vulnerable groups, as a new administration assumed power in the United States following a bitterly divisive campaign in which now-President Trump denied sexual assault allegations and promised to enact a

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UNODC Publishes First Handbook on Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a Handbook on the Management of Violent Extremist Prisoners and the Prevention of Radicalization to Violence in Prisons on January 16 aimed at strengthening prison management of violent extremist prisoners while upholding prisoners’ human rights. [UN News Centre] The handbook, one in a series of UNODC resources meant to help

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ECtHR: U.K. “Whole Life Sentences” Now Compatible with ECHR

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held on January 17 that a United Kingdom prisoner’s “whole life” sentence does not violate Article 3 (the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) where the Secretary of State’s discretion to reduce the sentence is bound by domestic law that recognizes

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ECtHR: Mandatory Co-ed Swim Class Does Not Violate Religious Freedom

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) unanimously held last week that requiring two Muslim girls below the age of puberty to participate in a school’s compulsory mixed gender swim class did not violate their parents’ right to religious freedom under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). See ECtHR, Osmanoǧlu and Kocabaş v. Switzerland, no.

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António Guterres Assumes UN Secretary General Office, Calls for Peace

The new United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, recently appealed to Member States to join him in committing to ensuring and sustaining peace and has further called for a holistic approach to the UN’s work through close coordination between the UN’s three pillars: peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights policies. Guterres, who assumed office on January 1, 2017,

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