A surge in politically linked abuses gripped Zimbabwe in April, with 145 human rights violations impacting 3,675 people, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) reported. The watchdog highlighted a pattern of political intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and curbs on freedoms of expression and association among the most pressing issues. According to the report, those affected included 1,887 women and 1,788 men. ZPP warned that the human rights climate is deteriorating, citing an escalation in intimidation, violence, and the misuse…

Friday May 15, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — Somalia’s National Independent Human Rights Commission has raised alarm over the prolonged detention of Sadio Moallim Ali, saying she has spent more than a month in Mogadishu Central Prison without being tried. In a May 13 statement, the commission said it had visited the facility on April 29 to examine Ali’s detention conditions and review her legal and humanitarian circumstances. The commission said its delegation met with Correctional Service officials, prison administrators, Ali and…

A High Court judge has thrown out a claim by the estates of two former Jimi Hendrix bandmates, handing Sony Music Entertainment UK a victory in a long-running dispute over recordings by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Companies acting for the estates of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell had sued Sony, arguing they held copyright and performers’ rights connected to about 40 studio recordings made by the band during the 1960s. Redding and Mitchell, both of whom died in the 2000s, joined Hendrix to form The Jimi…

In a decisive move to bolster national security, Burkina Faso's Council of Ministers approved a draft law on April 24 aiming to establish a military reserve comprising 100,000 personnel by 2026. Defense Minister Célestin Simporé emphasized the initiative as a means to engage citizens actively in safeguarding the nation, stating it would "embed Patriotic Defense within a logic of citizen participation." The government has long relied on a significant number of civilian volunteers known as the Volunteers for the Defense of…

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia’s National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) on Monday met with the National Independent Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), led by Chairperson Dr Maryan Qasim, to formally hand over its 2025 State of the Media Report. The document records 72 verified violations of media freedom between January and December 2025, painting a stark picture of a press corps operating under constant strain and official pressure. The report details a wide pattern of abuses, ranging from arbitrary arrests and…

Tuesday April 28, 2026 Mogadishu (AX) — A new report handed to Somalia’s top human rights watchdog on Monday paints a stark picture of the pressures facing the country’s media, with the National Union of Somali Journalists warning that abuse of reporters remains widespread and rarely punished. NUSOJ presented its 2025 State of the Media Report to the National Independent Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), saying it had verified 72 violations of media freedom between January and December 2025. The union said the findings point…

Russia has moved to tighten its crackdown on LGBTQ activism, with a court declaring the country’s leading LGBTQ rights group “extremist” — a ruling that effectively bans the organisation and exposes its supporters to prosecution. The decision marks the latest step in a years-long campaign against LGBTQ organisations, one that has intensified sharply since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and deepened an already forceful conservative shift. A court in Saint Petersburg sided with a case filed by the…

The military government has escalated its crackdown on civil society, recently dissolving 118 organizations, with many focusing on human rights advocacy. The authorities have invoked a law regarding freedom of association enacted in July 2025, yet they have provided little justification beyond ambiguous claims of noncompliance. This latest move is part of a larger pattern of repression that emerged following the military coup in September 2022. Since that takeover, the regime has systematically targeted non-governmental…

The Trump administration has moved to end a series of agreements that had supported transgender students, reversing commitments earlier administrations made with several school districts. The US Education Department said it was scrapping six resolution agreements that, in its view, were reached through what it described as the manipulation of Title IX. Title IX, the federal civil-rights law, prohibits schools from denying benefits or engaging in discrimination in education "on the basis of sex." Since returning to office,…

A recent report by Human Rights Watch has uncovered a harrowing reality in Burkina Faso, revealing that over 1,800 civilians have lost their lives in the turmoil following Ibrahim Traoré's ascent to power three years ago. The document outlines incidents that constitute both war crimes and crimes against humanity, with 1,837 civilians—including many children—reported killed across 57 events from January 2023 to August 2025. The majority of these killings have been linked to the military and its allied militias, while a…