20 h. ago Liberty loses bid to bring legal action against equalities body

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is consulting on guidance following the Supreme Court’s ruling on gender earlier this year.

Politics

24 h. ago Badenoch claims ECHR being used ‘to attack democratic decisions’ – UK politics live

Tory leader says rulings by European court of human rights are ‘damaging our security and prosperity’As Jessica Elgot and Amelia Gentleman report, Downing Street is exploring new proposals for a digital ID card to crack down on illegal migration, rogue landlords and exploitative work, set out in a policy paper authored by a centre-left thinktank.Steve Reed, the environment secretary, was the government voice on the media this morning and he confirmed that the government is interested in this idea. He told Times Radio:It’s absolutely something that we are looking at, and that we should be looking at.We know we need to look at all the actions we can take to stop the levels of illegal migration that we were seeing particularly under the last government. Continue reading...

Politics

26 h. ago Human rights laws need 'tightening,' says Cabinet minister amid Tory move to quit ECHR to cut immigration

Environment Secretary Steve Reed’s comments came as the head of the Council of Europe, whose role includes promoting human rights, argued the ECHR needed to be ‘adapted’ for the modern world

Politics

31 h. ago ‘She lived without fear’: daughter of Chechen activist publishes book she vowed to pen after mother’s murder

Lana Estemirova promised to tell story of her mother, a renowned human rights activist. This month it is publishedLana Estemirova was 15 in 2009, when her mother, the renowned Chechen human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, was kidnapped and murdered. Bundled into a car as she walked to the bus stop on her way to work, she was driven out of town and then shot five times in the chest and head.The killing was widely seen as retribution for Estemirova’s fearless investigations of extrajudicial murders, kidnappings and human rights abuses in Chechnya, first by Russian soldiers and then by forces loyal to the Kremlin-appointed warlord, Ramzan Kadyrov. Nobody was ever prosecuted for the crime. Continue reading...

Events

35 h. ago Kemi's human rights exodus: Badenoch to say she's ready to quit the ECHR in order to take back control of Britain's borders

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will say today that she is 'increasingly of the view we need to leave' the Strasbourg Court to prevent activist judges frustrating attempts to deal with the migrant crisis.

Politics

37 h. ago Badenoch ‘increasingly’ supportive of leaving ECHR, as she launches exit probe

The Conservative leader is expected to set out her plans for a commission about whether the UK should leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

Politics

41 h. ago The Guardian view on the Conservatives and international law: a party trapped inside its own destructive obsessions | Editorial

Kemi Badenoch’s European human rights withdrawal plan would weaken Britain, delight authoritarians and achieve none of the goals the Tories imagineKemi Badenoch’s announcement of a Conservative party inquiry into a British withdrawal from the European convention on human rights (ECHR) should fool no one. The working party under the shadow attorney general, David Wolfson, announced on Thursday, will not look dispassionately at whether the UK should withdraw. It will merely try to say why and how. The policy of withdrawal itself is almost, to coin a phrase, oven-ready.This back-to-front policymaking process exemplifies the party’s rudderless drift under Mrs Badenoch. Tory policy is not now in the hands of the leader or the shadow cabinet. It is in the hands of Reform UK and the opinion polls. Mrs Badenoch is a follower of events. Hers is the approach of someone still trapped in a party bubble which is consumed by the belief that withdrawal is the key to regaining the Conservative...

Society

42 h. ago Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ content violates human rights, says EU lawyer

ECJ advocate general condemns ‘stigmatising’ law that bars such content from schools and primetime TVEurope live – latest updatesThe Guardian view on Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ lawsA Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European court of justice.The non-binding opinion from the court’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, issued on Thursday, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called childprotection law, passed in 2021. Continue reading...

Politics

46 h. ago Human rights groups condemn Trump’s ‘racist’ and ‘cruel’ travel ban – live

Human Rights First said Trump’s ban ‘disproportionately targets Muslim-majority nations and undermines the United States’ foundational principles of equality under the law’Trump bans citizens of 12 countries from entering USEverything to know about Trump’s new travel banPresident Vladimir Putin told US president Donald Trump that he was ready to use Russia’s close partnership with Iran to help with negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme, the Kremlin said on Thursday.Trump said after a phone call with Putin on Wednesday that time was running out for Iran to make a decision on its nuclear programme and that he believed Putin agreed that the Islamic Republic should not have nuclear weapons. Continue reading...

Politics

49 h. ago Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ content violates human rights, says EU’s top court

ECJ advocate general condemns ‘stigmatising’ law that bars such content from schools and primetime TVEurope live – latest updatesThe Guardian view on Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ lawsA Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European court of justice.The non-binding opinion from the court’s advocate general, Tamara Ćapeta, issued on Thursday, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called childprotection law, passed in 2021. Continue reading...

Events

50 h. ago Convicted Somalian knife attacker wins human rights case to stay in UK because his clan faces persecution in his home country

Abdilahi Essa Darwish, 41, was jailed for violence and wielding a blade in 2021 but  has since won an immigration case after an asylum tribunal ruled he may come to harm if he is sent back.

Events

59 h. ago Battle lines drawn over immigration: Keir plans legal crackdown on migrants exploiting 'right to family life' as Kemi pledges to revive Rwanda

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is drawing up legislation to make it easier to deport overseas offenders as well as failed asylum seekers, the Mail can reveal.

Events

63 h. ago El Salvador human rights lawyer demands public trial as police haul her before judge

A lawyer from a prominent human rights organization who has been an outspoken critic of some of President Nayib Bukele’s policies has demanded a public trial as police brought her before a judge

Events

69 h. ago UN says dozens of bodies discovered in a section of Libyan capital run by armed militia

The United Nations human rights office has expressed concerns about the discovery of dozens of bodies in an area of Libya’s capital controlled by an armed militia

Events

2 d. ago The mum of an ISIS 'Beatle'. Shamima Begum. Gerry Adams. 5 Al

Liberal human rights lawyer Philippe Sands rejected the opportunity to defend the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, and instead signed up to act against him on behalf of Human Rights Watch.

Events

3 d. ago Dame Judi Dench and Carey Mulligan urge Keir Starmer to free British man who's been trapped in Egypt prison for the past 10 years

EXCLUSIVE: Alaa Abd el Fattah, 43, has been imprisoned in Wadi El Natrun prison in Cairo after being arrested for his activist work in support of democracy and human rights in the country.

Events

4 d. ago I told the truth about the West Bank and was threatened and assaulted. Now I'm relying on you to act | Issa Amro

Our lives are blighted by illegal settlements, and Israel has just approved 22 more. Without concrete action, we will be erasedIssa Amro is a Palestinian human rights defenderEach of the 22 illegal settlements approved by Israel last week is another nail in the coffin of the peace process, hammered in by the complicity of western governments and corporations. Israeli settlements are not benign civilian neighbourhoods – they are primary instruments of dispossession, control and apartheid. Settlements are closed militarised zones on Palestinians’ stolen land, cutting off our access to our resources, our farms, our schools, our jobs and each other. Palestinian lands rapidly shrink, our livelihoods are devastated, our rights are systematically violated and our identity is undermined.Western lawmakers look on, expressing commitment to peace through a two-state solution but choosing to do nothing to achieve this goal. Instead, their policies and inaction enable yet further settlement acti...

Events

4 d. ago A lawyer's prolonged detention shows how El Salvador's gang emergency extends to common crimes

El Salvador’s arrest of an anticorruption lawyer from a well-known human rights organization last month is the latest example of how the special powers given to President Nayib Bukele to battle gangs are being applied to a host of unrelated alleged crimes

Events

4 d. ago Sweden urged to ban international adoption after damning inquiry findings

Inquiry head accuses Swedish state of human rights violations, citing child-trafficking cases across four decadesSweden should ban international adoption and apologise after thousands of children were illegally and unethically taken from their home countries including South Korea, Colombia, China and Sri Lanka over several decades, a government inquiry has found.Presenting the damning findings of the almost four-year investigation, the head of the inquiry, Anna Singer, accused the Swedish state of “violations of human rights”, citing child-trafficking cases spanning from the 1970s to the 2000s. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Israel fears the threat of trade sanctions — but is the EU ready to follow through? | Martin Konečný

A human rights review of EU-Israel ties is under way. The results will be significant for both the war and Europe’s reputationAfter many months of inaction and complicity in the face of Israel’s destruction of Gaza, Europe is finally beginning to stir. Tens of thousands of people killed and attacks on schools and hospitals had apparently not been enough. But, along with the blocking of humanitarian aid and open calls for ethnic cleansing, Israel’s actions finally became too severe to ignore, deny or justify. In recent weeks, a cascade of unusually strong statements, diplomatic rebukes and threats of sanctions has emerged from European capitals – each move amplifying the next, as if a long-dormant herd has suddenly jolted into motion.Among these developments, the most significant may be the possible suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement, which grants Israel preferential access to the world’s largest single market. Last month, the Dutch foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, b...

Politics