Argentina entered the new year with the national legalization of abortion, making it the sixth and most populace Latin American country to decriminalize pregnancy termination. Argentina joined the relatively small group of pro-abortion countries in the primarily Catholic region of the world, abolishing section 86 of its 1921 criminal code
On September 30th, the House of Representatives China Task Force (CTF) and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released reports regarding the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) threat to American power. The reports warn the American government that if profound intelligence and foreign policy realignment towards China is not
On August 26th, the Saudi Arabian Human Rights Commission announced it would judicially review three juvenile capital punishment cases. The cases pertain to three minors, Ali al-Nimr, Abdullah al-Zaher, and Dawoud al-Marhoon, all of whom were convicted in 2014, when they were under 18. The judicial review announcement follows Saudi
On 14 July, satellite images from Planet Labs inc. showed visible filling of the Grand Renaissance Dam, adding to the already tense relations between Egypt and Ethiopia. The $4.5 billion hydroelectric dam is the largest in Africa and has acted as a source of international dispute between the two African
In March, Mexico’s emergency call centres received their highest number of domestic violence reports since the national hotline’s inception. The rise in domestic assault allegations aligns with the introduction of Covid-19 quarantine measures in Mexico. As citizens began their isolation, the global economy started to suffer under the pandemic’s pressure,
On June 4th, The UN High Commissioner of Human Rights released a scathing report on the human rights violations present in the Philippines’ war on drugs. The report called for an immediate and independent domestic investigation into widespread allegations of unlawful civilian killings and severe violations of international human rights
On May 25th, an African American man by the name of George Floyd died in Minneapolis from injuries sustained while in police custody. The same day, videos of Floyd’s murder spread across the internet and social media, causing mass unrest amongst the American public at the flagrant disregard for Floyd’s
Confirmed Coronavirus cases have reached over 100,000 in Africa. According to the Africa Center of Regional Studies, the first case of COVID-19 in Africa was reported on February 15th, two months after the virus was initially identified in China. The spread of the pandemic in Africa has been relatively slow
March 2020 was the most violent month in Mexican history since 1997. Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, criminal groups throughout Latin America have learned to adapt to the new social and economic environment and use the crisis to their advantage. The introduction of the coronavirus has shifted security priorities in
May 2nd, the Taliban bombed an Afghan military center in the Southern Helmand Province of Afghanistan. The attack threatens the fragile March peace deal between the U.S. and the insurgent group. The target of the weekend truck-bombing was an Afghan compound stationing over 150 members of the Afghanistan military and
Sudan outlawed the widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), marking a historic victory for women’s rights in the African country. The WHO defines female genital mutilation “as procedures that intentionally alter or cause injuries to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.” Female genital mutilation is prolific in Sudan,
On April 20th, 2020, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report accusing the Burkina Faso Security Forces of executing 31 detainees. HRW claims the attack was on April 9th in the Northern town of Djibo. The accusation against Burkina Faso’s security forces comes amid a growing humanitarian crisis. Djibo, a
On the night of April 12th, Donald Trump retweeted a post seeming to support the firing of the NIAID director, Anthony Fauci. The tweet followed Fauci’s interview with CNN, where he admitted earlier COVID-19 mitigation ‘‘could have saved lives.’’ Trump’s retweet stimulated speculation of the possible replacement of Fauci on
In April 2020, there are reports of more than 30 cases of vandalism against wireless towers and equipment in Britain. The rapid increase relates to online conspiracy theories linking the spread of COVID-19 to new 5G wireless technology. The conspiracy has gained ground due to widespread misinformation on social media.
In the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels in Colombia have agreed to a month-long unilateral ceasefire. The ceasefire was implemented on April 1st and is set to last until April 30th. The ELN rebels have called it a “humanitarian gesture” to the Colombian people
On March 11th, 2020, the Taliban rejected the Afghanistan Government’s offer for the ‘conditional release’ of Taliban prisoners. President Ghani’s offer follows the groundbreaking February 29th deal between the United States and the Taliban to end the 18 year-long conflicts in Afghanistan. In a bid to withdraw U.S. troops in
