The Role of Social Media in Russia’s War in Ukraine: Durov’s Arrest as a Catalyst for Global Social Media Accountability?
The recent arrest of Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, on charges of allegedly aiding and abetting criminal activities through the platform, has cast a renewed spotlight on social media platforms’...
The ECtHR in Podchasov v. Russia – Preserving Encryption And Denying Backdoors
On 13th February 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) pronounced the seminal judgment of Podchasov v. Russia, holding that the weakening of end-to-end encryption (“E2EE”) or creating backdoors...
Register of Damage for Ukraine: A Vital Yet Challenging Step Towards Justice
Ukraine has endured unprecedented levels of destruction and human rights violations since the onset of Russian aggression in 2014. Since the full-scale invasion in February 2022, infrastructure damage is estimated...
Mapping the global crackdown on LGBTIQ rights
On 17 May 1990, the World Health Organisation (WHO) removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), thereby taking an important first step towards addressing and removing the stigma...
One year on, US journalist Evan Gershkovich remains a state hostage in Russia
For the past twelve months, US journalist Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, has been held in a Moscow prison awaiting trial. Arrested by security services on...
The License to Jeopardise: The LGBTQ Rights ‘Movement’ in Russia
The Supreme Court of Russia, on 30 November 2023, ruled against the ‘international LGBTQ movement’, declaring it an ‘extremist organisation’ and allowing the Russian government to take steps to curb...
Balancing Acts: The Intricacies of Enforcing ICC Arrest Warrants Against Heads of State
This year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against the President and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights of Russia for individual responsibility for alleged war crimes, stirring...
Museums and Missiles: Russia’s Attack on Ukrainian Heritage Highlights the Need to Protect Cultural Rights
Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, they have bombed, defaced, and looted sites of cultural significance to the Ukrainian people. UNESCO recently confirmed that 295 sites have been...
The Use of Russian Language in Ukraine in Wartime
After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops on the 24th February 2022, the status of the Russian language and its use in Ukraine have come under critical attention....
Hostage Diplomacy: Russia’s Detention of a US journalist as State Hostage-taking
On 30 March, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the arrest of the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow Correspondent, Evan Gershkovich, on “suspicion of espionage in the interests of the American...
The 2022 World Cup: from Soccer to Human Rights Violations & Geopolitics
Image description: View from above of crowd of spectators at 2022 World Cup in Qatar It is not news that Qatar, a country with serious human rights violations, was chosen...
Same-Sex Marriage, War in Ukraine, Child Brides & Equal Citizenship: Human Rights Round-Up 2022
Image description: a composite image of two women getting married, a protest against war in Ukraine, and a group of children. Every December, the world celebrates Human Rights Day. This...
