News

Jeremy Hunt, UK Foreign Secretary, has travelled to Iran to hold talks and make a personal request for the immediate release of dual-national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe on humanitarian grounds. Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been incarcerated in Iran on spurious charges for two and a half years and has had serious health issues during her detention. The UK foreign secretary has also called on Iran to stop using dual-citizens as diplomatic leverage. As … Read more →

The Bangladesh and Myanmar governments have announced the ‘voluntary’ return of the Rohingya refugees back to their home province in Myanmar. This decision left the Rohingya terrified. Back in Myanmar nothing has changed: no one was punished for the atrocities that gave birth to the refugee crisis in the first place while the human rights violations of the government continue unhindered by any external authority. Could the return to such … Read more →

The long-protracted conflict in Gaza continues as new attacks have left seven Palestinians and one Israeli soldier dead. The exchange took place near the city of Khan Younis in the south of Gaza as an undercover Israeli intelligence operation became exposed. Israeli forces have defended the secret operation that was being carried out, that resulted in the death of one of its officers and of seven Palestinians on 12 November. … Read more →

On 9 November 2018 the UK celebrated 20 years of the Human Rights Act. The anniversary is cause for recognition, but also a reminder that it was only 20 years ago that a specific framework of human rights was incorporated into domestic law in the UK. The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated the rights and liberties enshrined in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic law for the … Read more →

Seventeen people have been found dead off the Spanish coast making a total of 2,160 people, according to UN figures, that have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year since the start of the year. Another 17 are said to be missing in what is the worst tragedy in the straits of Gibraltar since 2009, when 10 migrants died in a shipwreck. Spain says they have found a total … Read more →

In the US states of West Virginia and Alabama measures were passed that could limit or ban abortion in those states and possibly beyond. This could overturn a 1973 law, Roe v. Wade that legalised abortion across the US. The new move echoes a sharp turn towards more conservative values and policies that have emerged under the Trump presidency. The Trump presidency has already delivered a number of controversial and … Read more →