On April 2, the United States lifted the sanctions and a travel ban on Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to The Guardian.
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On March 8, Thailand’s Bangkok Criminal Court detained three pro-democracy activists on the charge of insulting the monarchy, according to Human Rights Watch. Al Jazeera states that 15 other protesters were indicted over attending anti-government rallies on charges of sedition and disobeying a ban on public assemblies.
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“Language is like water for fish or air for humans; we can’t live without it and it’s everywhere,” states Dr. Amelia Tseng, an award-winning linguist, professor of world languages and culture at American University, and researcher at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
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India represents the world’s largest democracy, with an approximate population of 1.3 billion people residing in the country. Since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came into power in 2014, there has been a fundamental reshaping of Indian politics with an increasing trend towards undemocratic governance.
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The government of Poland has instituted a near-total ban on abortions, spurring protests across the country. The ban suddenly took effect nearly three months after the country’s constitutional court ruled abortions of congenitally damaged fetuses unconstitutional.
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The international community are raising concerns over the recent discovery of the use of cluster bomb weapons in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. On October 28, a strike over the Nagorno-Karabakh region was flagged by Azerbaijan, which accused Armenia of using cluster bombs in a civilian area. Wednesday’s attack killed 21 civilians and injured 70, The BBC estimates.
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Thousands of people in Poland are taking to the streets in protest over a new court ruling on abortion, reports the New York Times. The nation’s top court’s decision completely bans the practice except in cases of rape, incest, or health necessity.
Read MoreRussia and China won seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council on October 13, causing outrage among human rights activists, while Saudi Arabia failed to secure a seat. While Russia and Cuba ran unopposed, Saudi Arabia and China were in a five-way race, with Pakistan receiving 169 votes, Uzbekistan 164, Nepal 150, China 139, and Saudi Arabia just 90 votes.
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International human rights group Amnesty International recently announced that they are halting operations in India and laying off all staff due to the Government of India freezing the organization’s bank accounts and forcing all ongoing campaigns and research work to be paused. In their statement, the organization condemned this action, calling it the latest action in a continued “witch-hunt” of human rights organizations by the Government of India.
Read MoreIn the past month, Rohingya Muslims have continued to face human rights abuses by by military forces in Myanmar and have been denied asylum in Malaysia.
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