Former US President Donald Trump credited himself with overturning the landmark reproductive rights case Roe v. Wade and accused Democrats of advocating for the killing of newborn babies before calling for national unity in an abortion position statement released Monday morning. “Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights, [...]
Search Results for: 2013-07-19
Explainer Part II: The Israel-Hamas War and the International Court of Justice
The ongoing conflict engulfing Israel and Palestine continues to raise significant issues of international law and policy. My earlier contribution focused on the jurisdiction and substantive law of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Here I address the ongoing litigation before the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court). Because the crime of genocide can be [...]
DRC presidential candidate suspends campaign events after violent rally
Moïse Katumbi, a prominent political figure and candidate in the upcoming presidential elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), suspended two campaign events following a violent incident at an election rally on Wednesday. Katumbi said that police fired live rounds during the event while Kongo Central governer Guy Bandu stated that Katumbi’s guards [...]
Turkey’s New Disinformation Bill: Disturbing Trend Toward Digital Authoritarianism
In 2002, when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Turkey, defeating Kemalist hegemony, there was a glimmer of hope in the West for the overwhelmingly Muslim country. However, the experience of Turkey over the past 20 years is one descending into an authoritarian regime with clampdowns [...]
Myanmar's Digital Dictatorship: An Extreme Example of the Use and Abuse of Social Media
The situation in Myanmar continues to deteriorate, with news received on July 25 that four activists have been executed. The executions are the first carried out in Myanmar for several decades. The government mouthpiece, the Global New Light of Myanmar, claimed that the activists’ crimes were “giving directions, making arrangements, committing conspiracies for brutal and [...]
More than two years after gunman Gabriel Wortman went on a shooting spree that killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia, questions of why and how this atrocity happened still weigh heavily on Nova Scotian hearts. Families of the victims and the citizens of Nova Scotia have demanded accountability from the authorities under whose watch [...]
HRW calls for end to rights abuses against African girls on Day of the African Child
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Thursday urged members of the African Union (AU) to take drastic steps to protect young girls and women. The report was released on the AU’s the Day of the African Child. Among the concerns raised by HRW are child marriage, free education for children, and allowing pregnant girls and young women [...]
“…Ukraine is not just a neighbouring country for us. It is an inalienable part of our own history, culture and spiritual space. These are our comrades, those dearest to us – not only colleagues, friends and people who once served together, but also relatives, people bound by blood, family ties.” — Address by the President [...]
The Supreme Court will overturn the law recognizing a woman’s fundamental right to choose an abortion. The only question is whether it will go even further and jeopardize women’s equality, reproductive rights, and family privacy rights for all. Pending in the Court is Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the question of the constitutionality [...]
Hungarian Anti-LGBTQ+ Campaign: Restricting Portrayals of Homosexuality to Minors
In June 2021, the Hungarian Parliament passed certain amendments to several acts, which curtailed the dissemination of information concerning homosexuality and sex reassignment (“H&SR”) among minors and school-goers. Inter alia, the legislation: (1) bans the availability of any material portraying or promoting H&SR or any other forms of deviation from one’s sex assigned at birth [...]