ECtHR: States Must Recognize Equal Eligibility, Vulnerability of LGBT Migrants

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found violations of the rights to non-discrimination and liberty in two recent cases involving applicants who identify as homosexual. In Taddeucci and McCall v. Italy, the ECtHR held Italy’s rejection of a family-based residence permit for an Italian man’s same-sex partner amounted to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation because while same-sex

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ACHPR Finds Botswana’s Secret Hanging of Prisoner Was Cruel Treatment

A recent case involving capital punishment in Botswana required the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to consider the adequacy of appointed counsel and clemency procedures, hanging as a method of execution, the death row phenomenon, and whether notice is required prior to imposition of the death penalty. See ACommHPR, Interights & Ditshwanelo v. Botswana, Communication No. 319/06,

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International Law Commission Adopts New Articles on Crimes against Humanity

During its 68th session, the International Law Commission (ILC) adopted an additional five draft articles for a possible international convention on crimes against humanity. The new draft articles address criminalization under national law, establishment of national jurisdiction, investigations and inter-State cooperation, preliminary detention, the obligation to extradite or prosecute, and treatment of alleged offenders. See International Law Commission, Sixty-eighth Session

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AfCHPR: Gaddafi’s Son’s Rights Violated by Secret Detention in Libya

The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) has held that Libya violated the rights to liberty and fair trial by holding Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, in secret detention since 2011. See AfCHPR, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v. Libya, App. No. 002/2013, Judgment of 3 June 2016. These breaches, the Court

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Human Rights Bodies Address Homophobia, Gun Violence after Orlando Attack

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Security Council, and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have urged States to address homophobia, gun violence, and terrorism in the wake of the recent nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. [OHCHR Press Release; UN Press Release; IACHR Press Release] Early Sunday morning on June 12, 2016 Omar

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OHCHR: Restricted Movement, Torture, Disappearances Ongoing in Ukraine Conflict

A recent report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shows that human rights conditions in eastern Ukraine remain precarious two years after the outbreak of conflict there, in view of recent violence in the Donetsk region, increasing militarization near the front line, and continuing rights abuses by both sides in the battle between

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