On December 2, 2025, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) adopted a decision under its Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure concerning the Chagos Archipelago and the rights of the Chagossian people. CERD recalled the forced eviction and displacement of the Chagossian population from the Chagos Archipelago in the 1960s for the establishment of a military base on Diego Garcia.
The decision addresses the bilateral agreement signed on May 22, 2025 between the...
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On December 3, 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its Policy on Cyber-Enabled Crimes under the Rome Statute. This marks the first major policy response by an international prosecuting authority to the impact of new...
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On December 11, 2025, the World Bank published “World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development.” The Report provides a comprehensive assessment of standards and their role in accelerating economic development. It highlights the growing importance of technical and regulatory...
On January 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of State announced the withdrawal of the United States from 66 international organizations. The action followed Executive Order 14199 (Withdrawing the United States from and Ending Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing United States Support to All International Organizations). The list of organizations from which the United States will withdraw was made public, and reviews of additional bodies remain ongoing.
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The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) adopted Resolution 645 regarding the obligations of African states in the context of the externalisation of migration governance and the extra-regional transfer of migrants to Africa. This resolution intervenes in a context of increasing pressure exercised by third states to relocate the management of migration flows towards the African continent. It also follows a growing international recognition that migration management cannot subtract itself from fundamental human rights obligations, which requires cooperation and...
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On November 12, 2025, the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council elected Ms Phoebe Okowa as a Member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), with immediate effect. Ms Okowa is of Kenyan nationality and succeeds Judge Abdulqawi A. Yusuf, who resigned from the Court effective September 30, 2025. Pursuant to Article 15 of the ICJ Statute, Ms Okowa will serve for the remainder of Judge Yusuf’s term, which is set to expire on February 5, 2027.
The election followed multiple rounds of concurrent but independent voting in...
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On December 15, 2025, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), by majority, confirmed Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision rejecting Israel’s request for an order requiring the Prosecutor to issue a new notification under Article 18(1) of the Rome Statute in the Situation in the State of Palestine.
The appeal was submitted by Israel, as a challenge to the Prosecutor’s ongoing investigation. Israel argued that the events following October 7, 2023, together with referrals submitted by seven state parties in 2023 and...
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On December 9, 2025, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a sentencing judgment in Prosecutor v. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”). The sentencing judgment followed Abd-Al-Rahman’s conviction on October 6, 2025, on 27 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, Sudan, between August 2003 and April 2004.
The Chamber imposed a sentence of 20 years of imprisonment. Pursuant to Article 78(2) of the Rome Statute, the period of Abd-Al-Rahman’s detention since June 9, 2020,...
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On October 31, 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2797, extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until October 31, 2026. The resolution was adopted by 11 votes in favour, with abstentions from China, the Russian Federation, and Pakistan.
The resolution, drafted by the United States, reiterates full support for the efforts of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to advance negotiations among the parties (Morocco, the Frente POLISARIO,...
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On December 11, 2025, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in Tsaava and Others v. Georgia, concerning the dispersal of a large-scale demonstration that took place outside the Georgian Parliament on June 20-21, 2019. The applicants, who included the demonstrators and journalists, alleged that law enforcement authorities used excessive force through the use of kinetic impact projectiles and that the subsequent investigations were ineffective. The case concerned Article 3 (prohibition...