Mission accomplished? The 2003 boast that haunts today’s Iran conflict

On 9 April 2003 a statue of the leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was pulled down in the centre of Baghdad. The metal plaque at the base of the statue was torn off and the statue’s marble plinth attacked with a sledgehammer.

UN fact-finding mission warns of continued human rights abuses in Venezuela

In an address to the UN Human Rights Council, experts warned that the ‘machinery’ of repression was ‘mutating’ under interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.

World in ‘new dark age’ of abuse, U.N. rights expert says

The world has entered a “new dark age of abuses,” with the United States “raining death” on Iran and Venezuela, a U.N. special rapporteur said Thursday.

As Carney Travels the Globe for New Alliances, He Looks Away on Human Rights

Canada’s prime minister chooses pragmatism in a turbulent world, which means doing business with countries that do not share Canada’s democratic values. Some critics see this as weakness.

‘China’s new ‘cookie-cutter’ law to shape citizens in the Party’s image’, Benedict Rogers

It uses nice terms like ‘ethnic unity,’ but in reality, it is about bringing everyone into line.

EU-funded AI systems ‘exacerbate’ human rights violations in the Arab region: report

The European Union’s funding and exporting of high-risk artificial intelligence (AI) systems is exacerbating existing human rights violations in Palestine and across the wider Middle East, according to a new report.

Senegal approves tougher anti-gay law as rights groups raise concerns

Senegal’s parliament has approved a new law doubling to 10 years the maximum prison term for sexual acts by same-sex couples and criminalising the “promotion” of homosexuality.

Russia’s deportations of Ukrainian children were crimes against humanity, UN probe concludes

Nearly 80 percent of the children documented to have been snatched by Russia have not been returned to Ukraine, a U.N. report finds.

EU court orders states to recognise trans citizens’ gender in landmark ruling

A major EU court has ruled that member states cannot refuse to amend gender data when it interferes with free movement rights, in a landmark ruling for trans rights across Europe.

Spain’s king welcomes Mexico’s World Cup invite after ‘abuse’ comments

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has invited King Felipe VI of Spain to the Fifa World Cup, the Spanish royal palace has said, signalling a thawing of relations between the two nations.