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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Over the past weeks, Venezuelan citizens have reacted to a deteriorating economic situation and food shortages through protests and an effort to recall President Nicolas Maduro, while the State has responded by declaring a rights-restricting state of emergency and cracking down on dissent. [Vice News; IACHR Press Release: Detentions] At a recent rally, on June 7, 2016, hundreds of Venezuelan
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An Argentine court has convicted and sentenced former dictator Reynaldo Bignone and 14 other former Argentine military officers of crimes against humanity for their roles in Operation Condor, a transnational conspiracy behind the kidnapping, torture, killing, and forced disappearance of hundreds of political dissidents during the 1970s and 1980s. [NYT; CIJ] Bignone was convicted of participating in an illicit association,
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a new report to help medical practitioners engage in a human-rights-based approach toward managing and treating health complications associated with or caused by female genital mutilation (FGM). See World Health Organization, WHO Guidelines on the Management of Health Complications from Female Genital Mutilation (2016). The guidelines identify the human rights implications of FGM,
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On April 14, 2016, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) submitted an application to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), referring several cases that involve the extrajudicial killings by Colombian security agents. [IACHR Press Release] The victims were killed between 1992 and 1997 and were six of several thousand “falsos positivos,” a term used to refer to ordinary
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Human rights experts and civil society groups have issued repeated calls for Turkey to address the ongoing deterioration of the rights environment in the country amidst a failed Kurdish peace process, a sharp escalation of violent anti-terrorism operations, border guards’ attacks against Syrian refugees, and a severe crackdown on journalists and political dissidents. [Washington Post; CPJ] In a statement delivered
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Germany recently began its first prosecution for alleged war crimes in Syria, joining the several States and private actors seeking accountability for atrocities committed in the ongoing conflict in Syria. [The New Arab] Despite the lack of a final peace agreement, human rights experts are encouraging State governments to take steps to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes
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Human rights monitors have criticized Gambian authorities’ detention and alleged torture of political protesters, including the reported death in custody of a political opposition leader, as the international community pays closer attention to a government known to carry out extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests. [okayafrica; HRW] The Gambian government has charged protestors associated with the opposition party with
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The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) violated the human rights of people who lived in its camps following the 1999 conflict there by exposing them to unsafe living conditions and lead poisoning, according to the body established to evaluate human rights complaints against UNMIK. On April 8, 2016, the Human Rights Advisory Panel rendered its opinion in
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On March 30, 2016 the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the United Kingdom had fulfilled its procedural obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to conduct an effective investigation into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes by government agents, who wrongly suspected him of terrorist activity. See
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