For the 11th consecutive year, the United States has remained the only country in the Americas to carry out executions. The use of capital punishment by developed countries has fallen significantly in recent times with no member of the Council of Europe carrying out an execution since 1997. Therefore, the question must remain, why do… … Read more →
In August of this year, an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm was pitted against a human pilot in simulated F-16 fighter jet dogfights. The AI pilot won, 5-0. The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hosted the ‘AlphaDogfight’ Trials as part of the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program, which looks at future possibilities of teaming machines with humans to enhance defence capability through “complex multi-aircraft scenarios”. … Read more →
It is not often that in the world of human rights we celebrate positive news from Iran. However, on the 8 October, human rights defender and journalist Narges Mohammadi was released early from Evin prison, after spending more than 2000 days incarcerated in terrible conditions in a prison now rife with the coronavirus. It was… … Read more →
It’s a strange time to be taking my UK citizenship test. Strange because I’m being asked to assure the Home Office that I will respect the law. I am asked to be aware that in the UK the rule of law is one of the four main values that I will be asked to affirm if I am granted citizenship. … Read more →
On July 25, an elderly lady by the name of Hanife Yıldız was dragged on the ground by police officers, simply because she wanted to leave cloves in İstanbul’s historic Galatasaray square. The incident was so horrifying that it even left the people at the scene fearing that she would have a heart attack. … Read more →
One month has passed since the election in Belarus on 9 August, which was followed by mass protests and unprecedented levels of repression and intimidation of Belarusian citizens. As protests continue, Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power in Belarus for 26 years, seems to stop at nothing to hold on to power. The regime’s… … Read more →
Western governments have shirked their responsibilities for far too long. Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of citizens have been evacuated to their home countries in recent months—the largest repatriation in history. But these coronavirus airlifts have passed over a particularly desperate group: the children of foreign Islamic State fighters. For years, the fate of… … Read more →
The changing of place names (toponyms) that have indigenous origins, is inextricably linked to a variety of political and cultural factors in some countries. The Iranian regime’s long-term efforts in shaping … Read more →
Hong Kong’s recently enacted National Security Law on Monday claimed its first major target, with the arrest of media boss Jimmy Lai and six others associated with his company Next Media, on charges of colluding with foreign powers. Lai, a long-time critic of Beijing and pro-democracy activist, is well used to the constabulary’s knock on… … Read more →
Women in Turkey have taken to the streets to protest increasing femicide in the country. Anger over gender-based violence grew in recent weeks after the horrific murder of Pınar Gültekin, a 27-year-old student … Read more →
2020 is one phenomenal election year across the world. There have been, or there will be 20 elections across Europe, 15 across Africa, 14 across Asia, nine in North America, seven in South America, five in the Middle East, and eight in Oceania. Elections are the bedrock of any democratic society. They are the most… … Read more →
A three month investigation conducted by Noteworthy – an Irish investigative journal which is funded by readers to investigate stories chosen by readers – into Ireland’s laws around surrogacy and egg and sperm donation has found that … Read more →
The coronavirus crisis has substantially increased news consumption for mainstream media yet trust in the media and news remains low, especially in the UK. Trust in news and media matters, particularly during a time of crisis. As trust decreases people turn to alternative sources that exploit the weaknesses of traditional media outlets, often peddling conspiracy… … Read more →
Family is at the heart of our lives from the day we are born. Whether we love them or hate them, so much of our identity is built around families and … Read more →
Protesters around the world are continuing to demand justice for 46-year-old George Floyd, who died one week ago under the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis while other officers restrained his body. George Floyd’s death is a painful reminder of the African-American struggle against systemic racism. African-Americans have been the primary target of… … Read more →
The ongoing pandemic has significantly changed the landscape of digital rights in countries around the world. The collateral damage of the health pandemic has been the weakening of the immune system of democracy – freedom of expression and free exchange of information. Digital rights are not just human rights … Read more →
When I was a teenager, a shy young man took a long distance National Express bus down from Newcastle to stay with my family in Essex for a few days. He was a distant relative who had left lran and travelled to the UK by clinging to the underframe of a lorry a few years before, breaking all his limbs as he wedged them into gaps on the underside of the vehicle for hours on end. He was struggling … Read more →
Climate change and migration dredge up very specific imagery. It is often portrayed in the media as mass hordes of people crossing through barren deserts or Pacific Islanders standing at deteriorating shorelines. But the impact of climate change on human mobility is more complex than that – and its complexity … Read more →
The right to access information is incredibly important, now more than ever. Yet amidst a barrage of coronavirus disinformation aimed at sowing further chaos, many governments’ reactions to the pandemic have been to crack down hard on media outlets and journalists who are trying to provide the accurate information and facts that so many of… … Read more →
Across the world, COVID-19 has unleashed a tidal wave of state power. What can we do to ensure that the great pandemic of 2020 is not remembered for an unravelling of democratic values, a disintegration of the rule of law; an irreversible erosion of hard-won rights and freedoms? The risk is very real. Authoritarianism, the… … Read more →
The second reading of the government’s flagship Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill was scheduled for 21 April 2020. However, facing opposition from all sides of the political spectrum the Government struck the proposed “virtual” second reading off the order paper. Critics had suggested the government might take advantage of the unprecedented circumstances… … Read more →
Anti-LGBTQ+ hate is on the rise in the United States, with a 43% increase in the number of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic groups, compared to previous years. American civil rights organisation, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has issued its annual report analysing the different hate groups operating in the US. The report refers to 2019… … Read more →
Crime may be more tied to biology than we realised. This is the contentious finding of a major Lancet Psychiatry study, published last month. Researchers identified a difference in brain structure among individuals who had engaged in a lifetime of criminal behaviour. A study with such far-reaching implications raises many questions. How can we determine… … Read more →
Today marks the fifteenth International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. The day was initiated by the UN in 2005 with the goal of limiting states’ landmine capacities, particularly in countries where remnants of mines or live mines used in ongoing conflicts cause a serious threat to the safety and lives of… … Read more →
COVID-19 has spread at an exponential rate, with over 700,000 confirmed cases across the world. As a result, governments have enacted unprecedented measures in order to limit its spread and increase healthcare to deal with the outbreak. The focus has been on protecting the economy and people’s livelihoods, but the COVID-19 outbreak impacts lesser-seen dimensions.… … Read more →
The exponential transmission of COVID-19 is compounding the plight of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. While it took three months to reach the first 100,000 cases of the virus, it took only 12 days to double that, and in the words of Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) “Every day,… … Read more →
With its beautiful landscapes embroidered with ever-green olive groves, cherry orchards, fig trees, and hundreds of historical sites, Idlib attracted tourists from all over the world. I was born there in 1969, one year before Hafez Assad became President-for-life of Syria. One whole year without an Assad regime, before our carefree life in Idlib was… … Read more →
A recent report of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) has shed light on the living conditions of LGBTI people living in Europe and five countries in Central Asia. While some countries, such as Switzerland, have implemented legislation to criminalise anti-LGBTI discrimination, the situation doesn’t seem as rosy in other parts… … Read more →
The SafeToNet Foundation is a UK registered charity and is part of the SafeToNet safeguarding and wellbeing brand, which focusses on safeguarding children in the online digital context. At first blush this may seem a simple thing to achieve; after all there are “Parental Controls” that come with smartphones, all you have to do is… … Read more →
One of the common tropes of the digital age is that we should be worried about the AI robots that are coming to kill our jobs, kill our relationships, and ultimately even kill us. The problem is articulated often as a dystopian imagining, which we need to arrest before it becomes reality. Such discussions are… … Read more →