The Irish government has initiated a legal challenge against the UK government over its controversial decision to offer immunity for Troubles-era crimes. In September the Troubles Legacy Act received royal assent despite widespread opposition from victims' organizations, political parties in Northern Ireland, and human rights organizations. Critics of the Act have emphasized that the law would remove access to justice. The Act will stop future civil cases, legacy inquests, and, criminal prosecutions during Northern Ireland's Troubles. Amnesty International released a statement welcoming the...
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have seized Wad Madani, the city has been housing hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled the country's capital Khartoum due to conflict between the state forces and the RSF paramilitary. After three days of intense fighting, the RSF advanced and captured the capital of el-Gezira state. Thousands of people have fled the city, heading towards the south. During the RSF advance, army intelligence units were reportedly arresting civilians, specifically individuals from Darfur, based on their ethnicity. Many people who were arrested had been living and working in...
Human Rights Watch have stated that the Indian government should conduct thorough and impartial investigations into allegations that government agents were involved in assassination plots against Sikh activists in the United States and Canada . In a statement released on 15 December, the organisation notes the "Indian government’s systemic failures to prosecute security force personnel for extrajudicial killings and other serious abuses in India... raise broader concerns about its willingness to address transnational repression – abuses committed against nationals outside the country " "India...
According to the United Nations Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) families in Sudan's conflict zones are being pushed toward famine-like hunger, approximately 18 million people require urgent humanitarian food assistance. The UN IPC has identified the violence between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) along with other organized violence as the primary driver of life-threatening food insecurity in Sudan. Most of those facing catastrophic food insecurity are concentrated in the country's capital, Khartoum. Sudanese families are struggling to...
The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, alongside the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages and well as "ensuring humanitarian access". 153 member states voted in favour, 10 against and there were 23 abstentions. This was a second attempt by the UN General Assembly which in October had called for "a humanitarian truce" in a resolution adopted with 121 votes in favour, 14 against and 44 abstentions. Before the vote, the UN General Assembly president, Dennis Francis, delivered a speech in...
The US vetoed a UN security council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. The vote on the draft resolution put forward by the United Arab Emirates underscored the US and Israel’s growing diplomatic isolation, as the Israel Defense Forces continue to press the military effort against Hamas in southern Gaza. Thirteen security council members voted in favour of the resolution. The UK abstained. Speaking after the vote, US deputy ambassador to the UN Robert Wood said Washington could not support an unconditional ceasefire, which would only...
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the UN Security Council to act on the war in Gaza. Article 99 allows the secretary-general to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security”. In his letter to the council’s president, Guterres invoked this responsibility, saying he believed the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, “may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security”...
Benjamin Zephaniah, the iconic Black British poet, writer, campaigner and actor has died aged 65, his family announced today. Zephaniah was born in Birmingham in 1958, the son of Caribbean parents of the Windrush generation. He was a prominent anti-racist and anti-imperialist, notably turning down royal honours, instead penning a piece in response titled: "Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought." In his lifetime he published fourteen poetry collections, seven plays, five novels, five children's books as well as two further books and an autobiography. His second novel Refugee Boy, was...
The Biden administration said Wednesday it has determined that both sides in the ongoing conflict in Sudan have committed atrocities in the African nation’s western region of Darfur and elsewhere, saying the fighting “has caused grievous human suffering.” "Based on the State Department’s careful analysis of the law and available facts, I have determined that members of the e Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed war crimes in Sudan. I have also determined that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic...
The Justice Department has filed war crime charges against four members of the Russian military accused of abducting and torturing an American during the invasion of Ukraine. Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, Dmitry Budnik, Valerii LNU (last name unknown), and Nazar LNU were each charged in connection with their unlawful detainment of a U.S. national in the context of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The defendants are alleged to have interrogated, severely beaten, and tortured the victim. They also allegedly threatened to kill the victim and conducted a mock execution. The...