HRW issues warning amid Philippine mayor's renewed 'war on drugs'
The mayor of the Philippine city of Davao, Sebastian Duterte, has declared a new ‘war on drugs’, watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Sunday. In the 24 hours since his announcement, local authorities are reported to have killed at least five people, with an additional seven being killed in the days that followed. Mayor Duterte [...]
Gambia lawmakers refer bill reversing 2015 female genital mutilation ban to national committee
Gambian lawmakers referred a bill attempting to reverse the Women’s (Amendment) Act, 2015 to the national committee for further consultation on Monday. The Women’s (Amendment) Act, 2015 bans female genital mutilation (FGM). Local activists gathered outside the National Assembly of The Gambia on Monday with protest signs to boycott the bill. FGM is a practice [...]
Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership, the Sri Lankan civil war reached a brutal conclusion on May 18, 2009, ending a 25-year-long conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist rebel group. Rooted in longstanding grievances, including discriminatory policies against Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority, the conflict saw the [...]
Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on Monday accused the US of orchestrating a covert campaign to interfere with the upcoming Russian presidential election, set to take place on Mar. 15-17. The spy agency claims the administration of US President Joe Biden has ordered a group of American NGOs to stifle voter turnout in a bid [...]
Breaking Barriers: A Global Review of Legislative Reform on Women's Rights
The plight of women’s rights in various countries reflects a complex interplay of legal, cultural and societal norms that significantly disenfranchise women and girls, threatening their human rights and dignity. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, and Nigeria present challenging environments where women’s rights [...]
US DOJ files new obstruction of justice charges against Senator Bob Menendez and his wife
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a new superseding indictment Tuesday against Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and his wife Nadine Menendez. The superseding indictment added new obstruction of justice charges against the couple in the ongoing case for bribery, honest services wire fraud, extortion and acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Egypt. The [...]
The exchange of information is a key driver of today’s digital economy. International trade cannot be performed without business owners’ ability to transfer data across national borders, and multinational enterprises’ (MNE) internal operation relies on the ability to move data among countries where they have business presence. Accordingly, data has come to the center of [...]
Philippines president declines cooperation with ICC's drug probe
Philippines President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. reaffirmed on Tuesday that the country would not cooperate with the investigation undertaken by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the previous administration’s “war on drugs,” led by its former president Rodrigo Duterte, which allegedly took the lives of over 12,000 Filipinos. The Philippines became a party to the Rome Statute, [...]
ECHR hears oral arguments from Ukraine in case over Russian occupation of Crimea
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a case concerning potential human rights violations committed by Russia via its occupation of Crimea. Though Russia is a party to the case of Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea), no Russian representative was present at the Wednesday arguments since Russia left the [...]
Joshua Villanueva is a JURIST Assistant Editor and a 2L at UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings), He files this dispatch from San Francisco. Beginning this weekend, world leaders will gather in San Francisco for the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week, the largest international event this vibrant city will have witnessed since [...]
