Human Rights

The UK government's proposed repeal of the Human Rights Act would “wind the constitutional clock back to the 1990s” and is “particularly unwise” now because of the actions of Russia in Ukraine, experts have warned. Government plans to replace the legislation with a British Bi

Human rights campaigners have called for the release of lawyer Mohammad Najafi, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018 on multiple convictions for his defence of basic civil and political liberties. Lawyers for Lawyers, an independent and non-political Netherlands-based foundation and the Center

Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, has confirmed that she will act with a team of international lawyers as international counsel to renowned media entrepreneur, pro-democracy campaigner, and writer, Jimmy Lai. Mr Lai, through his media companies and his writings, is a high-profile

Any changes to the Human Rights Act 1998 could "significantly undermine Northern Ireland's unique constitutional settlement", The Bar of Northern Ireland has said. In its submission to the UK government's review of the law, the Bar said it "would not support any amendments to the HRA as part of this

The UK government's review of the Human Rights Act "presents significant potential risks to stability and peace in Northern Ireland", experts at Queen's University Belfast have said. In a 19-page submission, QUB Human Rights Centre said the review is "widely perceived here as the latest in a long li

Saudi Arabia executed 25 people in 2020, according to monitoring carried out by ESOHR and Reprieve.

A new report from Airwars raises the question of whether the Trump administration has been using the CIA for strikes in Yemen in order to shroud US operations there in greater secrecy. Airwars is a not-for-profit transparency organisation aimed at tracking, assessing and archiving military actions a

The European Union's 2020 Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought has been awarded to the opposition in Belarus and its leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, for facing up to the Lukashenko regime. Belarus has been in the midst of a political crisis since the disputed presidential elections on 9 August, w

The Saudi Human Rights Commission has announced that, following a royal decree, the sentences of all people convicted of childhood crimes will be reviewed. According to a new Royal Order, all authorities must suspend the application of the death penalty for those convicted while they were minors, pe

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has told the UN that Ireland has not done enough under its human rights obligations for women's rights. The right watchdog's report reviews Ireland's performance on combating discrimination against women, particularly in cases of historic abuse,

Patrick Penninckx, head of the information society department at the Council of Europe, conducted a webinar entitled Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights this week. It was organised by the European Law Students Association (ELSA) as part of a series of webinars on law and technology. The sp

Human rights advocate Mary Lawlor has taken up her post as UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Ms Lawlor has decades of experience in human rights, having helped to grow Irish-based NGOs as a previous director of Amnesty International in Ireland and a founder of Front L

Patrick Corrigan, Northern Ireland programme director at Amnesty International, argues against a return to "business as usual" after the coronavirus pandemic is over. Amid the rising death toll, the dangers faced by our front line workers and the wider dislocation for a society dealing with COVID-19

Saudi Arabia has carried out its 800th execution since the reign of King Salman bin Abdulaziz began five years ago. Human rights group Reprieve said the rate of executions has doubled under King Salman's rule, despite Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman insisting the kingdom intends to "minimise" the n

A new book about Northern Ireland human rights lawyer Kevin Boyle is being promoted online in a "virtual book tour" because of the coronavirus pandemic. The recently-released book, "Are You With Me? Kevin Boyle and the Rise of the Human Rights Movement" by former CNN correspondent Mike Chinoy, explo