The horn of Africa has suffered four consecutive failed rainy seasons and is experiencing its worst drought in four decades, stressing food supplies already exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. 

Michael Dunford, the World Food Programme regional director for east Africa has called on governments to donate urgently to the horn of Africa, if they are to avert catastrophe 

89 million people are now considered “acutely food insecure” by the WFP, which has grown by almost 90% in the past year.

“Unfortunately, I do not see [that rate of growth] slowing down. If anything, it seems to be accelerating,” said Dunford speaking to the Guardian. 

Claire Sanford, deputy humanitarian director of Save the Children, noted that this was the "worst crisis" that she had seen in the past 23 years. 

“I can honestly say in my 23 years of responding to humanitarian crisis, this is by far the worst I’ve seen, particularly in terms of the level of impact on children,” she said. “The starvation that my colleagues and I witnessed in Somalia has escalated even faster than we feared.”

Last year, the UK and other G7 leaders promised to provide $7bn (£5.7bn) to help countries prevent famine, but appeals for east Africa have not managed to raise enough funds to stave off hunger.

In April, the UN had received only 3% of funds for its $6bn appeal for Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.

Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of Oxfam GB, said the current crisis was partly due to the British government’s “compassion failure” and decision to slash the overseas aid budget by £4.6bn last year.

According to the latest IPC assessment for Somalia, an estimated 1.5 million under-fives face acute malnutrition by the end of the year, including 386,400 who are likely to be severely malnourished. Those numbers are only expected to go up.

Read more at the Guardian 

A group of high-level British lawyers are compiling evidence that could hold as many as 10 countries responsible for the failure to prevent genocide against the Yazidis in northern Iraq. 

The lawyers, who announced the collaboration as the Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC) on Tuesday have been investigating over the past two and half years the genocide committed from early 2013 by the Islamic State. 

The YJC is expected to name three countries in a report next month when the work is complete. The report will be launched on the 6 July.

Aarif Abraham, an international human rights barrister and co-founder of the YJC, said the report would be the first to consider the issue of state responsibility in relation to the Yazidi genocide. He said: “It will serve to put states on notice of their binding obligations to prevent genocide through using all means reasonably available.”

It would be one of the first times that states have faced the risk of proceedings being instituted against them for failing to prevent genocide, and could open up a new form of human rights accountability.

The YJC includes five international human rights organisations and is chaired by Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was formerly a lead prosecutor at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. 

We are pleased to announce the work of Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC); a collection of 5 leading human rights NGOs. Please share & and join us for the launch of our major international report on 6 July: State Responsibility and the Yazidi Genocide. https://t.co/Kn5PSfm8mG pic.twitter.com/9U5dHgvHmv

— yazidijustice (@yazidijustice) June 21, 2022

The YJC lawyers have examined evidence that as many as 10 counties could be deemed responsible for the failure to prevent genocide under the UN's Genocide Convention. 

The group aim to bring those states before the international court of justice (ICJ). This would require another country to take action, though if successful the respondent states might be required to pay reparations to the victims of genocide. 

Aside from the prosecution of a single Islamic State fighter last November, there has been no accountability for the Yazidi genocide. 

The Frankfurt trial based on the principle of universal jurisdiction found the Islamic State fighter guilty of genocide over the death of a five-year old Yazidi girl he bought as a salve in 2015. The fighter was extradited to Germany on the basis of an international arrest warrant. 

The YJC says there is evidence the genocide is still taking place, and that Yazidis remain in an extremely precarious position in Iraq and Syria largely as a result of the recent resurgence of Islamic State, Turkish drone strikes and an overall sense of neglect by the Iraqis.

Under the principle of universal jurisdiction to address crimes under international law that were committed abroad by a perpetrator, British Tamil activists have been calling for targeted sanctions on leading Sri Lankan Military and political officials. During the 49^th UN Human Rights Council session the UN High Commissioner urged member states to act by imposing sanctions on Sri Lankan officials implicated in serious war crimes and by pursuing prosecutions under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Despite these repeated calls from UN officials, human rights organisations, and Tamil survivor communities, Britain’s response remains stagnant.

The US has already displayed that there is ample evidence to sanction Silva and other officials guilty of war crimes perpetrated against Tamil civilians. To this day, Britain has not imposed a single sanction on a Sri Lankan government or military official, a decision which Shadow Asian Minister, Stephen Kinnock, describes as a “moral failing”.  Last month  Canada's House of Commons unanimously adopted a motion recognising May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, in a landmark move making it the first parliament in the world to recognise the Tamil genocide.

The motion states that "this House acknowledges the Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and recognizes May 18th of each year as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day".

Read more at The Guardian

More than 250 people mostly from the Amhara ethnic group, have been killed in an attack in the Oromia region of Ethiopia on Saturday. 

The attack reportedly began around 09:00 on Saturday and continued until about 13.00. Calls were made by residents to district authorities but help only came hours later.

"[Regional] special forces and the army arrived late in the afternoon around five. No-one came to help us until then," one resident said speaking to the BBC.

An advocacy group, the Amhara Association of America, puts the death toll at 378 and says it has identified 176 victims by name. Another witness told the BBC that in addition to those killed on the spot, some were abducted by the attackers.

"After they took them, they killed them in the woods. Fifty bodies were found in place in the forest," he said.

"They went into the houses of Amharic speakers and began killing," he continued.

In the village of Gutu eight people were killed after their houses were set ablaze and another 35 people were also buried in the village, and in the village of Silsaw 102 people were buried, he added.

Witnesses and the Oromia regional government have blamed the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) for the attack, however, a spokesperson for the OLA denied the allegations and claimed that the Ethiopian government was once again blaming the OLA for crimes it had committed. 

There r now a bewildering number of documented atrocities that hv been committed in Oromia state and beyond. The regime’s EHRC has proven itself to be too partisan to hold anyone accountable. This is why we must reiterate the urgent need for independent investigations. #Ethiopia

— Odaa Tarbii (@OdaaTarbiiWBO) June 19, 2022

Speaking to the Associated Press Odaa Tarbii said “The attack you are referring to was committed by the regime’s military and local militia as they retreated from their camp in Gimbi following our recent offensive,”.

Tarbii went on to tweet that the Government-backed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was incapable of holding anyone accountable, as the body had proven itself "to be too partisan" and then called for "independent investigations".

If there is one thing that should unite all who wish to see justice for the countless victims of atrocities in Ethiopia, it should be the call for the immediate launch of independent investigations.
The bloodshed of innocent civilians will only stop once there is accountability.

— Odaa Tarbii (@OdaaTarbiiWBO) June 19, 2022

Speaking to the Associated Press, Abdul-Seid Tahir who escaped the attack on Saturday said “I have counted 230 bodies. I am afraid this is the deadliest attack against civilians we have seen in our lifetime,”.

“We are burying them in mass graves, and we are still collecting bodies. Federal army units have now arrived, but we fear that the attacks could continue if they leave,” he added.

Another witness, who gave only his first name, Shambel, over fears for his safety, said the local Amhara community is now desperately seeking to be relocated somewhere else “before another round of mass killings happen”.

He said ethnic Amhara that settled in the area about 30 years ago in resettlement programmes are now being “killed like chickens”.

Ethiopia is experiencing widespread ethnic tensions in several regions. Thousands of people have been killed, and several million others have been displaced from their homes as a result of the fighting between forces loyal to Abiy and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and their allies.

Earlier this year, the head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) highlighted the ongoing crisis occurring in Tigray, stating that there is nowhere on earth where "people are more at risk".

Read more at Al Jazeera and BBC News

The Caravan’s multimedia reporter, Shahid Tantray, has been summoned by Srinagar police following a relentless campaign of police intimidation and threats for his critical coverage of rights in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

In a statement, he detailed how the J&K police force routinely questioned him about his work. During these conversations, the police would threaten to arrest him on fabricated drug charges and would also call in his family.

“I was scared that the police would pick me up and harass my family for the work I was doing,” Tantray wrote in his statement.

The intimidation campaign follows a damning piece he wrote for the Caravan in which he detailed the crackdown on journalists in the region following the abrogation of Article 370.

Read the full piece here: Dead Lines

On 4 February he attended Rangreth Police Post where a sub-inspector noted that it would be very simple to falsely implicate him in one of their open drug cases.

“Every security agent is after you”, the sub-inspector noted.

The officer then laid out three options for him.

1. To stay in Kashmir and sign a written agreement that he could not write anything against the Government.
2. To stay in Kashmir and continue writing pieces that displeased the government, in which case, he would be either shot or sent to jail.
3. Leave Kashmir immediately.

The deputy superintendent had warned him that “this was not Europe, where you can write anything” and that he should not engage in “risky work”. Tantray responded that he would leave Kashmir on Monday, 7 February.

Despite this assurance, the sub-inspector repeatedly asked Tantray to bring in his 55-year-old father to the police statement and provide a written bond stating that he would not write anything critical. Tantray responded stressing that his work has nothing to do with his family and the officer relented.

Upon returning to Delhi, he began drafting his second story on the role of the Indian army in organizing nationalistic protests in Kashmir.

“The Indian Army was trying to establish a new generation of politicians and power-brokers in the valley and project to an international audience that normalcy has returned to the valley after the abrogation of Article 370,” Tantray writes.

Read the full piece here: False Flags

On 4 June, Tantray’s father would receive a call from Rangreth Police Post requesting he meet with the police. Meeting with the deputy superintended on 5 June, the officer asked his father about his whereabouts. His father responded that he was on assignment in Delhi. The officer responded:

“Tell us in half an hour whether he will come to Kashmir or if we should send a search party to Delhi”.

The Caravan’s political editor Hartosh Singh Bal then called the police to inform them that Tantray was in Delhi on assignment. The officer did not give any details, instead stating “we don’t have to tell you … We know where to find him”.

Tantray has yet to receive any information on whether a formal complaint or FIR has been filed against him despite repeated requests for this information.

Read his full statement below.

A statement by The Caravan’s multimedia reporter, Shahid Tantray (@shahidtantray), on facing police harassment.

For immediate attention: @pressfreedom@RSF_inter@IndEditorsGuild@PressCouncil_IN pic.twitter.com/3AGPYFgGNw

— The Caravan (@thecaravanindia) June 8, 2022

A former senior Rwandan official, Laurent Bucyibaruta will be the most senior officer to date to face trial in France for his involvement in the Rwandan genocide, as his trial opened in the country last week.

Bucyibaruta’s trial will be the fourth to be taken to trial in France in relation to the massacres of 1994. The trial is anticipated to last 2 months, and it has been announced that more than 100 witnesses (including survivors of the atrocities) will be called upon either in person or via videoconference. 

Bucyibaruta, aged 78-years-old, has been in France since 1977. He is currently under the supervision of the justice system and is said to suffer from numerous health complications that will require court proceedings to be limited to 7 hours a day. Bucyibaruta claims he is innocent of all charges and his lawyers have stated that they will initially request the case be dropped, citing the ‘unreasonable delays’ as proceedings against Bucyibaruta began 22 years ago. Should this fail, his legal team plan to apply for his acquittal.

Bucyibaruta's involvement during the time he served as the prefect of Gikongoro, Southern province in particular is under scrutiny. His participation and planning of several so-called ‘security meetings’, is central to the trial. It has been intimated that these meetings were used to plan the slaughter of innocent people. He has been accused of luring thousands of people into a trap by promising them shelter food and water, convincing them to take refuge in the buildings of Murambi Technical school. However, on the 21^st of April 1994, mere days later, tens of thousands of Tutsi people were killed. Further, Bucyibaruta’s role in the massacre that took place on the 7^th of May 1994, during which 90 students of Tutsi ethnicity were killed at the Marie Merci school in Kibeho will be addressed during the trial.

In the indictment of the Paris Court Appeal, during his time as prefect of Gikongoro, he stands accused of having “committed serious attacks on the life and physical and mental integrity of people grouped at the sites of the ETO [technical school] of Murambi, Tutsi prisoners in the Gikongoro prison, and people arrested at the roadblocks and during local ‘roundups’, in the execution of a concerted plan aimed at the total or partial destruction of the Tutsi ethnic group”. In addition, he was allegedly complicit in massacres perpetrated in the parishes of Kibeho, Cyanika, Kaduha and of students of the Marie-Merci school in Kibeho, “by knowingly helping the perpetrators of the said acts in order to facilitate their preparation or execution”.

In 1994, over the span of 100 days, Hutu militiamen slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus as they sought safety in schools and churches. 

So far, French courts have convicted 4 people over 3 cases. An army officer was sentenced to 25 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity. Two mayors were sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in the genocide, and a hotel driver was sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

Bucyibaruta is being tried over accusations of crimes against humanity, complicity in genocide and genocide. If he is found guilty, he will be sentenced to life in prison. 

Thousands of Palestinians rallied on Sunday during Nakba Day – which Palestinians call the “the catastrophe”.

In 1948 over 700,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes. The Nakba refers to the systematic ethnic cleansing of one-third of the Palestinian population at the time by Zionist paramilitaries between 1947-1949 and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society.

The anniversary comes when many are angered by the killing of prominent Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces and also marks one year since the bombing of Al-Jalaa building in Gaza which hosted a number of press offices, including The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera’s bureau.

In her final report before being killed by Israeli forces, Shireen Abu Akleh visited Al Ruwwayyes, one of more than 500 villages from which Palestinians were expelled in 1948.

Among them was Abu Ibrahim, who was 11 years old the day their mosque was blown up and his family had to flee.

Palestinians “still yearn to return to their homes,” Abu Akleh said in the report. “This is the life of refugees.”

Friends and colleagues described Abu Akleh as a brave and kind reporter with an “infectious laugh” who gave voice to the struggles of Palestinians over a career spanning nearly three decades.

“Our loss is so huge,” said Nida Ibrahim, an Al Jazeera correspondent and colleague of Abu Akleh’s in the occupied West Bank. “She was kind, dedicated and devoted. She knew the story through and through and she understood the nuances. She brought a wealth of information to her reporting.”

During the funeral of Abu Akleh, Israeli police forces attacked mourners and pallbearers. Footage which was shared online shows Israeli police wielding batons and striking mourners and pall-bearers was widely condemned.

The closest video of the #Israeli police suppressing the funeral procession of Shireen Abu Aqleh as the coffin was leaving the French hospital towards the cemetery pic.twitter.com/TaOsvCUUCd

— Rushdi Abualouf (@Rushdibbc) May 13, 2022

At least 16 Palestinians have been injured after Israeli occupation forces attacked a Nakba rally taking place near al-Bireh, an occupied West Bank City located 15km from Jerusalem.

Read more at Al-Jazeera

Photograph by Alisdare Hickson

The UK’s controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 received royal assent to become UK law despite widespread criticism. 

The bill has been criticised for its ability to impose extra conditions on the rights of assembly and protest. 

The new law gives UK police the power to attach conditions, such as imposing start and finish times and setting noise limits, to protests. It also includes an offence of "intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance” which is intended to ban people from occupying public spaces.  

Reacting to the bill, Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International said: 

“This is a dark day for civil liberties in the UK. This deeply-authoritarian Bill places profound and significant restrictions on the basic right to peacefully protest and will have a severely detrimental impact on the ability of ordinary people to make their concerns heard.” 

“This Bill also persecutes traveller communities and will further entrench racism and discrimination in British policing through its huge expansion of stop-and-search powers,” he added. 

Concerns have also been raised about the disproportionate impact the bill will have on marginalised communities in the UK. 

In a press release, Human Rights Watch highlighted that the new Bill “strengthens police powers to crack down on ‘unauthorised encampment’ which risks exacerbating discrimination against Traveller, Roma, and Gypsy people.” 

Labour MP Apsana Begum said the bill “also threatens the way of life for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, through greater police powers targeting them. Likewise, despite the rhetoric, all evidence indicates that it is not likely that the Bill will even cut crime and make those that are not being targeted in the Bill safer.“

Earlier this year, more than 350 Psychiatrists and Psychologists signed an open letter expressing concerns regarding the impact the Bill will have on the mental health of young people. 

“We cannot think of better measures to disempower and socially isolate young people who are already suffering the devastating mental health consequences of disrupted education and prohibited social contact imposed by the pandemic.”  

Despite the widespread opposition, the UK government pushed through the legislation and has now become UK law. 

According to a government press release, the Bill claims to equip “the police with the powers and tools they need to combat crime and create safer communities, while overhauling sentencing laws to keep serious sexual and violent offenders behind bars for longer.” 

Israel’s military has launched four missile strikes Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip during the holy month of Ramadan.

The move follows reports that Israel’s army intercepted a rocket launched from the Gaza strip amidst growing tensions over the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Thus far no Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the rocket launch, which Israeli officials claim was struck down by their Iron Dome interceptor.

Palestinians accuse Israeli forces of encroaching upon the holy site during Ramadan and have engaged in peaceful demonstrations against the occupation. Israeli security officials responded with force beating demonstrators and arresting hundreds. Reports indicate that at least 158 demonstrators were injured by Israeli forces.

Israel alleges that these demonstrations are politically motivated and prevent Jews from visiting the sacred site whilst they celebrate Passover.

Last May, similar tensions saw Israeli forces bombarded Gaza killing at least 248 people, including 66 children and injuring 1,900.

Israeli police have raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, with medics reporting at least 158 Palestinians injured.

Israeli forces entered in force before dawn on Friday, as thousands of worshippers were gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers. 

The Palestinian Red Crescent added that Israeli forces had hindered the arrival of ambulances and paramedics to the mosque, as Palestinian media said dozens of injured worshippers remained trapped inside the compound.

Israeli police said they arrested at least 300 Palestinians during the latest escalation. However, Palestinian sources put the number at 400.

Israeli police said they entered the compound, the third holiest site in Islam and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, to break up a “violent” crowd that remained at the end of the morning prayers.They said they went in “to disperse and push back” the crowd after a group of Palestinians began throwing rocks towards the nearby Jewish prayer space of the Western Wall.

But Palestinian cameraman, Rami al-Khatib, who witnessed the raid, said: ”They [Israeli forces] brutally emptied the compound. They were attacking the mosque staff, normal people, elders, young people, reports Aljazeera.

“There were many injured people, they fired rubber bullets inside Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. They were beating everyone, even the paramedics, they hit them,” said al-Khatib, who too was injured.

Reporting from Damascus Gate, Al Jazeera’s Najwan al-Samri said Israeli police stormed the mosque compound without pretext and assaulted worshippers near the Qibly prayer hall following the morning prayer.

Tensions have escalated in recent weeks. Israel has been carrying out arrests and military raids in the illegally occupied West Bank.

Read more at AlJazeera  and the Independent 

Those entering the UK illegally, as well as those who have arrived illegally from 1 January, will now be relocated to Rwanda, the PM says.

This will provide "safe and legal routes" for asylum whilst "disrupting the business models of the gangs", he addshttps://t.co/a3jSwzI8yb pic.twitter.com/YfhwNtwZWi

— Sky News (@SkyNews) April 14, 2022

Britain’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has announced an agreement that would see asylum seekers crossing the English Channel taken to Rwanda for their applications to be processed.

"The UK asylum system is collapsing under a combination of real humanitarian crises and evil people smugglers"

Home Secretary Priti Patel says new deal will see some who arrive in UK illegally relocated to Rwanda "to resettle and rebuild their lives"https://t.co/iIN9xRFNwA pic.twitter.com/4EQbe8oVu4

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) April 14, 2022

The agreement with Rwanda, reportedly cost an initial £120m and follows three years of promises by the UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to outsource the country’s asylum processing to third countries and the refusal from both Albania and Ghana.

During his announcement, the Prime Minister insisted that “Rwanda is one of the safest countries in the world” whilst also lashing out at lawyers who may oppose the bill as being “politically motivated”.

The decision to offshore asylum application was inspired by Australia’s widely condemned immigration policies which see their authorities intercept boats to ensure refugee processing does not occur on the Australian mainland. These policies have contributed to the increasing number of detention centres, where many have languished for years.

(Photo credit: Chatham House)

Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, has slammed the measure stressing that it is “unworkable, unethical and extortionate”. The Scotsman reports that the accommodation in Rwanda is believed to have enough space for around 100 people at a time and to process up to 500 a year. Nearly 29,000 migrants crossed the Channel in 2021.

The International Truth and Justice Project stressed that Tamil torture survivors have had to make this perilous journey and will be impacted by this measure.

Several suicidal #tamil #torture survivors - single men - arrived on dinghies last year in the Uk - can’t imagine how they would survive being sent 2Rwanda. What happened to uk’s Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative’s ‘do no harm’, don’t disbelieve victims etc?@FCDOHumanRights https://t.co/y4IMhbTp3V

— ITJP (@itjpsl) April 14, 2022

Lewis Goodall, a reporter for BBC Newsnight, also criticised the measure highlighting the government’s concerns over reports of torture and deaths in custody within Rwanda.

Prime Minister says “Rwanda is one of the safest countries in the world.”

Yet here’s part of his own government’s assessment of governance in Rwanda from January 2021. https://t.co/7QCO6AaWGO

— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) April 14, 2022

Responding to the announcement Chief executive of Scotland’s Refugee Council, Sabir Zazai, lambasted the move to an Australian style system which he described as a “failed system mired in human rights abuses”.

“Once again, the government is stepping back from its legal and moral obligations and shunting responsibilities onto other bodies, in this case, a country which has only a fraction of the wealth and resources. A truly global Britain would proudly play a leading role in international protection, and create a fair and efficient asylum system of which we can all be proud and which would cost far less than throwing money at this doomed venture” he stated.

He further added:

“The truth is, any of us could be forced to flee our homes at short notice. Any of us would want to be treated with dignity and respect at one of the most challenging times of our life. Yet this is increasingly very far from the reality a person seeking protection in the UK”.

He further stressed that:

“The UK cannot claim to stand with Ukraine at the same time as it rolls out a regime of punishment and violence under the guise of deterrence for people who are only looking to find safety and rebuild their lives.

Read more here and here.

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Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of Russian military forces committing war crimes in the occupied Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions of Ukraine. 

Between February 27 and March 14, 2022, Human Rights Watch learned of "unspeakable" acts of violence against Ukrainian civilians in Russian forces’ custody including repeated rape, summary execution, unlawful violence and threats. Russian soldiers were also involved in the looting of civilian property such as food, clothing, and firewood. 

“Russia has an international legal obligation to impartially investigate alleged war crimes by its soldiers [...] Commanders should recognize that a failure to take action against murder and rape may make them personally responsible for war crimes as a matter of command responsibility,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. 

Human Rights Watch substantiated the report through interviews with multiple witnesses, victims, and locals residing in Russia-occupied territories.  

One woman recounted being repeatedly raped by a Russian soldier in a school in the Kharkiv region. The woman and her family had been using the school as a shelter on March 13 when the attack occurred. Photographs, shared with Human Rights Watch, show facial injuries inflicted by the soldier as he beat her and cut her face, neck, and hair with a knife. 

In the village of Staryi Bkiv, Russian soldiers executed at least six men on February 27. The mother of one of the men was witness to the dead bodies of all six. 

Human Rights Watch also heard accounts of Russian forces fatally shooting a woman and a 14-year–old child on March 6 in the village of Vorzel. The soldiers threw a smoke grenade into a basement, and shot the woman and child as they emerged from the shelter. 

All parties to the Russia-Ukraine war are accountable to international humanitarian law and the laws of war, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the First  Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, and customary international law, reiterated the international human rights organisation.

Russia has denied claims that it has killed or harmed civilians. 

"We don't target civilian facilities to save as many civilians as possible. That is why our advance is not that rapid as many expected [...] We are not acting like the Americans and their allies were acting in Iraq when they wiped out entire cities," said Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's ambassador to the U.N. at a Security Council session on Tuesday.

Read the detailed findings here. 

_{European Union 2015 - European Parliament}

Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, secured a fourth consecutive term on Sunday in a landslide election victory. 

Orban is at the helm of the right-wing Fidesz party, which acquired about 67.8% of the vote. He is credited with steering the party towards its overwhelming win on Sunday night. The opposition alliance led by Peter Marki-Zay tailed far behind, securing only about 28.1% of the vote. 

The election calls into question the role of Hungary in the European Union, as Orban’s allied relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has complicated EU’s efforts to forge a united front against him. As liberal democracies contend with the ascendance of right-wing populism, Orban’s rise to power presents a dilemma for many Western European states. 

"The whole world could see this evening in Budapest that the Christian Democrat politics, the conservative politics and the nationalistic politics won [...] Our message to Europe is that it's not the past but the future. This will be our common European future,” Orban said on Sunday night. 

Among his list of political opponents, Orban referenced the Hungarian left, bureaucrats in Brussels, the international media, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

During his 12 years in power, Orban has imposed measures to undermine democratic institutions in Hungary, and has spearheaded legislation targeting migrants and the LGBTQ+ community. Most recently, the top court in Europe allowed the EU to block funding to Hungary and Poland for infringing on democratic rights. Furthermore, state and private media are largely dominated by allies of Orban and key institutions across sectors remain similarly under the rigid command of his loyalists. 

The historically fraught relationship that Hungary has held with the EU under Orban’s leadership, was exacerbated by his response to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although Hungary has taken in nearly half a million Ukrainian refugees and backed EU’s sanctions against Russia, the Prime Minister has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons and remains the only EU leader to have publicly criticized President Zelensky. 

Concerns continue to be raised regarding the legitimacy of the election. In 2018, the Organization for Security and Co-operation and Europe described Hungarian elections as “free but not fair.”

“We don’t debate the victory of Fidesz, but we debate that this election was democratic and even,” Marki-Zay told supporters as he conceded defeat.

Pope Francis has apologized to Indigenous delegates for the conduct of some members of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada’s residential school system. 

A week of private separate meetings between Pope Francis and First Nations, Inuit and Metis delegates, comprised discussions of the Roman Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential school system and its enduring legacy. The week culminated with a final and public meeting at the Vatican on Friday.  

"For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God's forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry. And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon,” Francis said. 

"I also feel shame ... sorrow and shame for the role that a number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that wounded you, and the abuses you suffered and the lack of respect shown for your identity, your culture and even your spiritual values." 

Between the late 1800s and 1996, at least 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and enrolled in residential schools. While the facilities were set up by the Canadian government, more than 60% were operated by the Catholic church. 

Residential schools were part of a larger policy to assimilate Indigenous peoples into the dominant Euro-Canadian culture. Many children at the school suffered physical, psychological and sexual abuse and were punished for practising cultural traditions or speaking in native languages. At least 4,100 deaths have been documented and thousands of confirmed and unmarked graves have been found. From 2008 to 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated the legacy of the residential school system and in its landmark 2015 report, contended that “[...] the schools institutionalized child neglect and carried out ‘cultural genocide.’” One of the commission’s 94 calls to action included a call for a papal apology. 

Different church groups, Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2008 and the RCMP in 2004 and 2014, have each issued apologies and recognized their role in the system. However, a year following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request for the head of the Catholic Church to apologize for its involvement in the residential school system, the church issued a letter stating that the Pope would not deliver an apology. 

The apology is only one of the demands that Indigenous delegates raised this week. During a private meeting, the leader of the Inuit delegation requested Pope Francis to personally intervene in the case of an Oblate priest facing a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest. The Oblate priest, now residing in France, is accused of sexually assaulting children in Nunavut. First Nations delegates have “[...] also urged the Pope to revoke centuries-old papal decrees used to justify the seizure of Indigenous land in the Americas by colonial powers.”

The Assembly of First Nations delegation lead, Chief Gerald, told reporters following the Friday address:

"It's a historical first step. However, only a first step. The next step is for the Holy Father to apologize to our family at their home. We seek to hear his words. They also seek the words of apology at home."

Pope Francis has said he hoped to visit Canada "in the days" around the church's Feast of St. Anne, which falls on July 26.

Read more here.

Jamaica's prime minister, Andrew Holness has told the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that his country is "moving on" and intends to become a republic. 

Representatives from the British monarchy's arrival in Jamaica on Tuesday coincided with major demonstrations urging them to pay reparations for slavery and calls from senior politicians for the country to become a republic, severing its tie with the United Kingdom. 

During a meeting between the prime minister and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Holness said their visit had given an opportunity for the nation to address "unresolved" issues. 

"There are issues here which are, as you would know, unresolved but your presence gives an opportunity for those issues to be placed in context, put front and centre and to be addressed in as best [a way] as we can.

“Jamaica is as you would see a country that is very proud of our history and very proud of what we have achieved. We are moving on and we intend to attain in short order … our goals and fulfil our true ambitions as an independent, developed, prosperous country.” He stated

Campaigners this week published a document listing 60 reasons why the British government and royals should apologise to the Jamaican people and offer reparations, citing human trafficking and the transatlantic slave trade and the destruction of Jamaica’s natural environment by establishing a plantation system, the Guardian reports. 

An open letter addressed to monarchy representatives, William and Kate, signed by 100 campaigners, which was delivered to the British high commission on Tuesday, noted that the Queen had “done nothing to redress or atone for the suffering of our ancestors that took place during her reign and during the entire period of British trafficking of Africans, enslavement and colonisation”.

“You, who may one day lead the British monarchy, are direct beneficiaries of the wealth accumulated by the royal family over centuries, including that stemming from the trafficking and enslavement of Africans,” the letter said. “We urge you to start with an apology and recognition of the need for atonement and reparations.” the letter added. 

Last year Barbados became a republic, officially removing Elizabeth II as its head of state. There has been growing sentiment for Jamaica to follow suit, political pollster Don Anderson said only around 40% of Jamaicans supported separation from the monarchy in 2011, but in 2020 this had increased to 62%.

Read more at Guardian.