Author: Maryiam Yumna Azeez, LLM July 15, 2026 Gaza City's al-Hassaina mosque, damaged in an Israeli bombardment during the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian] Introduction The destruction of cultural heritage has increasingly emerged as a deliberate tactic of warfare. Aimed not only at physical eradication, but also to undermine the identity, memory, and social fabric of targeted communities (Br

Author: Bashir Wako July 15, 2026 HRRC affirms that all persons in state custody, irrespective of nationality or immigration status, are entitled to humane treatment, adequate healthcare and due process. HRRC calls on the authorities of Equatorial Guinea to take immediate steps to safeguard the health, dignity and fundamental rights of all persons in detention, in accordance with their obligations under international human rights law. [Image credit: Emiliano Bar via Unsplash]

Author: Vera Rousseff July 14, 2026 *English version is available below HRRC appelle l’Organisation des Nations unies à tenir sa promesse d'inclure tous les États membres dans les discussions sur la gouvernance mondiale de l’intelligence artificielle. Nous insistons sur le fait que les accords internationaux visant à encadrer l’IA doivent refléter les priorités de toutes les nations, quel que soit leur niveau de développement technologique, car les risques et les bénéfices po

Author: Kaitlyn V. Andres, MS & MPH July 14, 2026 A food giveaway in San Diego where flags and banners let LGBT people know they are welcome there. [Image credit: Feeding San Diego] Introduction As acceptance and awareness increase, more adults in the United States (U.S.) are identifying as a member of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community--that is as something other than heterosexual and/or cisgender. According to a Gallup poll, about 9% of U.S. adults id

Author: Aamnah Fatima Khan July 14, 2026 HRRC strongly condemns all forms of racism and discrimination at the FIFA World Cup 2026 and urges FIFA to protect victims, investigate such cases and hold those responsible accountable. Hossam Hassan's protest (left) gesture puts FIFA's anti-racism signal in focus. [Credit: Getty/the New Arab] The FIFA World Cup 2026 has been afflicted by multiple cases of racism, discrimination, xenophobia and online abuse, raising concerns about th

Author: Amy Asubonteng July 13, 2026 HRRC supports the court settlement of $1.8 million to patients affected by Serviceaide’s data breach incident. The compromise of individuals’ personal identifying information is a violation of the right to privacy. In addition, HRRC pushes for more corporate accountability. Compensation is only one step in addressing the mismanagement of confidential patient data by Serviceaide. [Image credit: Marcus Winkler via Pexels] Serviceaide Inc, a

Author: Sheetal Frank July 10, 2026 HRRC strongly condemns the racial discrimination and ill-treatment faced by Indigenous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. We call on the Australian authorities to review the rejected recommendations, uphold their obligations under international human rights law, and amend the age of criminal responsibility for children to at least 14. We also call on the government to improve youth justice systems and ensure tha

Author: Aamnah Fatima Khan July 10, 2026 HRRC strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and arrest of journalists in Türkiye ahead of the NATO Summit, which represents a grave attack on press freedom and the public’s right to information. We urge Turkish authorities to immediately release all detained journalists and end the use of restrictive laws to silence independent reporting. Riot police raise their shields to prevent media members from filming and photographing the det

Author: Jim Hamilton July 9, 2026 President of Belarus Alyaksandr Lukashenka. [Image credit: Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News, via Wikimedia Commons] Introduction On March 19, 2026, the Belarusian government, led by longtime authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka, released 250 political prisoners in exchange for the lifting of several United States (U.S.) sanctions on key sectors of the country's economy. This marked the largest in a series of U.S.-brokered prisoner exc

Author: Christine Savino July 9, 2026 HRRC condemns Italy’s failure to respond to domestic violence allegations with the seriousness required under human rights law. When prosecutors and courts rely on sexist assumptions, delay protective measures, or treat survivors’ accounts as less important than bureaucratic convenience, the justice system can cause further harm instead of guaranteeing protection. European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, where the judgment in

Author: Gaynor Vambe July 8, 2026 Bikita Minerals' new spodumene plant [Photo credit: Newzwire] Introduction Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in Southern Africa that is richly endowed with a variety of mineral resources, including lithium, gold, platinum, nickel, and chrome (Murombo, 2010). Zimbabwe’s mining sector is dominated by transnational mining corporations, particularly in lithium, platinum, gold, and diamonds, with foreign companies such as Valterra Platinum, Implats

By: Erina Bazán López July 8, 2026 HRRC supports Spain's regularization process as a lawful and necessary measure to protect workers' rights and formalize the economy. We call on the Spanish government to defend this process and process all 1.2 million applications efficiently. We caution that letting the Supreme Court challenge proceed unchecked would set a dangerous precedent, allowing supranational courts to block democratically-enacted national laws and harm vulnerable wo

Author: Sarisha Harikrishna July 7, 2026 Malaysian mothers and their children holding up placards with the words ‘Saya Juga Anak Malaysia’ (I am also a child of Malaysia) [Image credit: Family Frontiers via Al Jazeera] Introduction: A History of Struggle and Reclamation of Dignity After over 450 years of foreign colonial rule by various nations including the United Kingdom, Portugal, Japan, and the Netherlands, Malaysia’s fight for sovereignty succeeded on August 31, 1957. A

Author: Aahana Nagwekar July 7, 2026 HRRC condemns the decision to close the Human Rights Office in Burkina Faso. Removing a vital tool for protecting civilians and documenting acts of injustice is necessary to hold the regional government accountable. [Image credit: Sputnik photo by Pavel Bednyakov via AP Images on Impact Policies] The UN Human Rights Office confirmed on June 30 that it will permanently wind down its presence in Burkina Faso, with the office set to close by

Author: Christine Savino July 3, 2026 HRRC condemns policies that prevent people fleeing persecution from meaningfully seeking asylum. Access to asylum should not depend on whether a person can physically cross a border before officials block them. When governments externalize asylum obligations by forcing people to wait in dangerous border conditions, they risk undermining the principle of non-refoulement and denying protection to those most in need. The US Supreme Court rul