Tunisia formally agreed last week to allow individuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to directly access the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) with complaints of human rights violations against Tunisia. Tunisia joins seven other countries that also currently grant the Court the same jurisdiction. [AfCHPR Press Release] The government of Tunisia hosted a delegation of the AfCHPR in
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On April 6, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled that France’s requirement that two transgender applicants first undergo an irreversible identity change through an operation or sterilizing treatment in order to correct their “sex” designation on their birth certificates violated Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ECtHR
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Civil Society This week, authorities in Chechnya, Russia initiated an anti-gay campaign that resulted in more than 100 detentions and three deaths. [Guardian] On Friday, two women’s rights activists in China, who were originally detained in 2014 for supporting pro-democracy protests, were convicted of inciting subversion of state power. [Washington Post] Thousands participated in protests in Serbia this week to
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Civil Society On Thursday, a civil society organization called for an end to the targeting, prosecuting, and detention of journalists in Belarus. [Committee to Protect Journalists] On Wednesday, activists, politicians, and religious leaders protested unfair elections in Zimbabwe. [Fox News] This week in Macedonia, an estimated 50,000 individuals protested a potential coalition government, which includes Social Democrats and ethnic Albanians. [DW
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International Criminal Law The Colombian Senate voted to approve the establishment of a court with jurisdiction over war crimes, fulfilling one part of the recent peace deal with the FARC. [VOA] A court in Poland issued an arrest warrant for a man living in the United States for war crimes committed during World War II. [Washington Post] Civil Society After
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Civil Society On Wednesday, Russian security officials raided the home of well-known journalist and human rights defender Zoya Svetova. [Committee to Protect Journalists] On Tuesday, hundreds protested the evacuation of settlers from homes in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, after courts found the homes were built on Palestinian land in violation of the law. [CNN] Last Friday, United States
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In the month of March 2017, various universal and regional bodies and experts will assess States’ compliance with their human rights obligations through consideration of State and civil society reports, country visits, review of individual complaints, and deliberation over thematic reports. Five United Nations treaty bodies will meet to engage with States regarding their treaty obligations related to economic, social,
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After more than 30 years of separation, Morocco has officially been admitted back in to the African Union (AU), the continent’s largest intergovernmental organization. [New York Times; Reuters] Morocco quit the African Union’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, in 1984 after the regional bloc officially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara) as a member. [BBC: Morocco] After a
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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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Civil Society This week, seven Tibetans in China were given prison sentences that ranged from five to 14 years. [HKFP] Egyptian authorities arrested a prominent human rights activist, Azza Soliman. [AI] Harsh winter weather forced demonstrators to temporarily evacuate the protest site at Standing Rock where they have been protesting the construction of a pipeline. [Washington Post] A Human Rights
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