The Essential Role of ‘Civic Space’ in Safeguarding Electoral Integrity: How a Decision in Africa Can Reverberate
In a recent decision on Ethiopia’s 2015 elections, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), a body of the African Union, emphasized the crucial connection between civic space and the right to vote. It was a landmark determination in that it expanded the definition of the conditions necessary to ensure the right to vote by addressing a wide range of government-imposed limitations, including internet restrictions and the general closing of civic space.
DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions and Rights Violations in Georgia Prisons
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday issued a critical report detailing alleged rights violations within Georgia’s prison system. Following an investigation, the DOJ found that conditions in the state’s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment. This report draws attention to Georgia’s failure to protect inmates from violence and sexual harm, particularly for vulnerable groups like LGBTQ+ individuals.
A Secretive ICE Program Trains Civilians on Firearms and Surveillance
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has run a secretive program for years where ICE agents have trained hundreds of civilian volunteers on how to operate multiple types of firearms, conduct investigations and surveillance of immigrants, and use lethal force on human beings.
Egypt Should Release Prominent Activist Alaa Abdel Fattah
Alaa Abdel Fattah, the British-Egyptian writer and activist, should have been released on September 29 after serving an unjust five-year prison sentence. Instead, Egyptian authorities have kept him imprisoned, refusing to count over two years he spent in pretrial detention toward his time served. After spending most of the last decade behind bars, authorities told his lawyer he won’t reunite with his family until 2027.