Colombia President, Gustavo Petro has named commanders for the military and police, saying he chose the officials as they have not been accused of human rights violations or corruption. Petro, a critic of Colombia's military establishment has promised to change the security forces and instil officials who respect human rights. The criteria for selecting the new commanders was "zero corruption, zero violation of fundamental rights," Petro said during a news conference. "The concept of human security means that success lies not in the number of dead, but in substantially reducing deaths,...
India’s opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, has accused the government of forcing people entitled to free food at government ration shops to buy flags in return for provisions in the run-up to Independence Day celebrations on 15 August. India will celebrate 75 years of independence from the Raj on Tuesday, and the streets of cities across the country are full of flags for sale. But Gandhi claimed that in some cases patriotic fervour was being forced on people, referring to a widely circulated video showing a shopkeeper in Haryana state scolding a customer who came in for free grain and did not...
Guastavo Petro, Colombia's new president and former M-19 guerrilla has announced his government's 10-point plan to tackle inequality. Petro also noted that the decades-long war on drugs had failed and called for developed nations to change their drug policies which often filed violent conflicts across Colombia and Latin America. "It is time for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has failed—and failed resoundingly. That it has led to the murder of a million Latin Americans—the majority of them Colombian — over the past 40 years, and that it causes 70,000...
The Head of Amnesty International in Ukraine resigned after the organisation issued a report that accused Ukraine's military of endangering civilians. Oksana Pokalchuk , who had led the organisation for almost 7 years in Ukraine stating that the conduct of the organisation in delivering and consulting on the report has led to this report becoming a "tool of Russian propaganda". Amnesty International said on Sunday that “We fully stand by our findings,”, but it stressed that “nothing we documented Ukrainian forces doing in any way justifies Russian violations”. Pokalchuk has said the report...
Three UN-appointed independent human rights experts returned from Ethiopia on Tuesday after working to negotiate access to areas important for investigations into violations of international humanitarian law. The three-member Commission – comprised of Kaari Betty Murungi (Chair), Steven Ratner and Radhika Coomaraswamy – concluded a five-day visit to the country where they met with the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, and other senior government officials. The body will investigate violations of international humanitarian law and international refugee law in Ethiopia committed by...
Iraq protestors and supporters of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have stormed parliament and continue to occupy it, calling for early elections to be held. Thousands of followers of the influential Shia cleric stormed into Iraq's parliament on Saturday, protesting against the government formation effort led by the scleric's rivals, an alliance of Iran-backed groups. Iraqi security forces initially used teargas and stun grenades to try to repel the demonstrators, who are followers of the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Once inside, the protesters declared an open-ended sit-in and claimed they would not...
A federal US judge issued a default judgement against Khalifia Haftar, finding him liable for war crimes. Judge Leonie Brinkema's judgement paves the way for families in three separate civil suits to seek monetary compensation. The families filed their lawsuits under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, a law that allows non-US citizens to seek compensation from individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, allegedly committed torture or extrajudicial killing. Haftar, a US citizen who had been a Virginia resident for decades, unsuccessfully tried to have the...
The South African government has called for Israel to be declared an 'apartheid state', following its continued occupation of Palestinian territories. The South African government expressed concerns that Israel continued occupation of "significant portions of the West Bank" and the developments of new settlements there "are glaring examples of violations of international law". “The Palestinian narrative evokes experiences of South Africa’s own history of racial segregation and oppression,” Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, said at the second...
The Nepali government's bill to amend its current transitional justice laws will not fully provide justice to victims or meet Nepal's obligations under international law, says human rights groups. Several Human rights organisations have called for the amendment of the proposed bill by the Nepali government. Successive Nepali governments have stalled the transitional justice process since 2015 , when Nepal’s Supreme Court ruled that the current law fails to meet Nepal’s domestic and international legal obligations on several grounds, including that it empowers the two transitional justice...
Pope Francis apologised and asked for forgiveness from survivors of Canada's church-run schools, with commentators noting it did not go far enough to address historic abuses. During his tour of Canada, touted as his "pilgrimage of penance" the widely anticipated apology was received during a visit to the community of Maskwacis, Alberta. “ I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the...