Tag Archives: rights

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP |  The UN rights council voted Thursday to send experts to help authorities in crisis-wracked Burundi to investigate violations, casting doubt on whether an independent international probe would be allowed to continue. The resolution, presented this week by a group of African countries, was controversial since …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it would allow women to drive, the last country in the world to do so, sparking euphoria and disbelief among activists in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where social restrictions are increasingly being loosened. The longstanding driving ban was seen internationally as a …

Belgrade, Serbia | AFP |  Serbia’s lesbian prime minister said Sunday that she was working “one step at a time” towards a more tolerant society, as she joined Belgrade’s annual gay march held under heavy security. Ana Brnabic, 41, became one of the few openly gay government leaders in the …

Strasbourg, France | AFP | Europe’s top rights court ruled Tuesday in favour of a Romanian man fired by his employer over private messages sent at work, overturning a previous decision with wide ramifications for privacy in the workplace. The apex body of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | UN investigators on Monday accused Burundi’s government of crimes against humanity, including executions and torture, and urged the International Criminal Court to open a case “as soon as possible”. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Burundi said it had “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes …

Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Police in the US state of Utah have launched an investigation after video footage showed an officer forcibly arresting a nurse for refusing to draw blood from an unconscious patient. The images captured by a police body cameras and University Hospital in Salt Lake …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | A leading Sudanese activist who was released after a presidential pardon said Wednesday that defending human rights was “not a crime”, as he vowed to continue fighting against rights abuses. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, an engineering professor at the University of Khartoum, told AFP in an interview …

Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday pardoned a leading human rights activist who was facing trial on charges of spying for foreign embassies, state media reported. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, an engineering professor at the University of Khartoum, was arrested by security forces in December as part …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday she was glad a Spanish court had ordered the conditional release of a Turkish-German writer wanted by Ankara and warned Turkey not to “misuse” Interpol to pursue its critics. “That’s not on. We must not misuse international organisations such as Interpol” …

Dakar, Senegal | AFP | A Senegalese singer was granted provisional release Monday after 10 days of detention for “offending the head of state and spreading fake news”, her lawyer said. Amy Colle Dieng, a well-known singer of Senegal’s popular mbalakh form of dance music, had been arrested on August 3 …