Human Rights

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

Egyptian prosecutors and judges are turning a blind eye to children as young as 12 being arrested, forcibly disappeared and tortured, human rights campaigners have said. A new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Egyptian rights group Belady documents abuses against 20 children between the ages of

Human rights advocate Mary Lawlor has been appointed as UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. Michel Forst, the current special rapporteur, is stepping down after six years in the role.

A new report published by Amnesty International today shows how the Saudi Arabian authorities are using a counter-terrorism court – the Specialised Criminal Court – as a weapon to systematically silence peaceful opposition in the country. Charges used in proceedings in the court fre

Four of Ireland's main political parties have committed to all eight election demands issued by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). The group challenged all parties to commit to its eight "human rights asks", which cover issues ranging from abortion access to hate crime and image-based sex

The UK's refusal to allow the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands to return to their homeland is a crime against humanity, an eminent international lawyer has said. Speaking in Edinburgh, Philippe Sands QC criticised Britain's failure to abide by a judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)