Urgent action needed over US threats to the International Criminal Court

US National Security Adviser John Bolton made explicit and concrete threats against ICC judges, prosecutors and personnel if they proceed with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan. A group of national and international organizations requested that the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights take urgent action in response. Our joint letter to him follows.

  

INCLO welcomes historic win against UK mass surveillance

In a landmark win for seven members of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO), the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK’s mass surveillance practices violate privacy and freedom of expression. CELS joins all its fellow INCLO members in celebrating this victory.

  

#SomosMillones

The Senate voted to sustain the clandestine nature of abortion in Argentina, after months of massive social mobilizations.

  

#LetItBeLaw

We call on senators to vote in favor of rights and against clandestine conditions, criminalization and death.

  

Grave human rights crisis in Nicaragua

The repression of social protest carried out by Nicaraguan security forces and para-police groups has left at least 273 people dead and 1800 injured in the last three months. What started with demonstrations against a pension reform has ballooned into a human rights crisis.

  

Treating migration as a security problem violates human rights

During the final round of negotiations on the Global Compact for Migration, 40 organizations urged UN member states to ensure that the accord fully incorporate a rights-based approach. The last draft includes changes that reinforce a focus on control and security. If this is validated, countries will have wasted a historic opportunity to fuel a paradigm shift.

  

IACHR: sexual and reproductive rights & the secular state

Argentina must review legislation that is discriminatory, such as the criminalization of abortion and the lack of access to health care for women who decide to interrupt their pregnancies. The IACHR also put itself at the disposition of states in the region to assist with establishing a clear separation between the secular state and religious beliefs.

  

Defending Dissent: Report launch at the UN Human Rights Council

Joint research by the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) and the International Human Rights Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School (IHRC) offers practical guidance on how law enforcement can protect human rights when policing protests.

  

#LetItBeLaw

After the lower house passed a bill to legalize the voluntary interruption of pregnancy through week fourteen, 129 votes to 125, we call on senators to vote in favor of human rights and of ending clandestine abortions in Argentina.

  

Legal abortion: UN bodies give their backing

The Working Group on discrimination against women urged the Argentine state to approve the bill to legalize the voluntary interruption of pregnancy. This is the latest in a series of such recommendations by UN bodies, based on human rights considerations.