Media Coverage

British national El Shafee Elsheikh was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in an Islamic State scheme that took roughly two dozen Westerners hostage a decade ago. Elsheikh’s hostages gave him a somewhat whimsical nickname — he was dubbed a “Beatle” along with other English-accented...

The United Nations Human Rights Council is due to renew the mandate of its Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, 125 national and international organizations working on Venezuela said today. The mission, established in 2019 to investigate systematic human rights violations in...

With 50,000 people locked up since late March for alleged gang ties, El Salvador’s congress has approved another month-long extension of the state of exception that suspends some fundamental rights in the name of combatting the country’s powerful gangs. Polling has shown the measure to be widely...

Colombia’s first leftist president was sworn into office Sunday, promising to fight inequality and bring peace to a country long haunted by bloody feuds between the government, drug traffickers and rebel groups. Gustavo Petro, a former member of Colombia’s M-19 guerrilla group, won the presidential...

Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Requesens has been sentenced to eight years in jail, his lawyer says. He was arrested three days after a drone carrying explosives blew up at a military parade attended by President Nicolás Maduro on August 4, 2018. Maduro was not hurt in the attack. Requesens...

A special peace tribunal investigating atrocities committed during Colombia’s decades-long conflict has charged 19 soldiers with war crimes and crimes against humanity for murdering 303 people, mostly civilians, between 2005 and 2008. The murders form part of what is known in Colombia as “false...

The Secretary-General met in July, at UN headquarters, with Father Francisco de Roux, the President of Colombia’s Truth Commission, along with fellow commissioners, to receive a copy of the recently issued Final Report of the Commission, a major milestone and achievement of the peace process. The...

Pope Francis offered a sweeping apology directly to Indigenous people on their land in Canada. The pope’s six-day visit to Canada, which will include a visit Tuesday to Lac Ste. Anne, a pilgrimage site that is sacred to many Indigenous people, and meetings with Indigenous and church representatives...

It’s been almost 100 years since Indigenous tribes in the north of Argentina were violently attacked. Hundreds were killed in the Napalpí Massacre, as it has come to be known. In a unique trial for the South American country, prosecutors now say that the state committed crimes against humanity. This...

The U.N. Security Council scheduled a vote Friday on a resolution that calls on all countries to stop the transfer of small arms, light weapons and ammunition to any party supporting gang violence and criminal activity in Haiti, which has seen an upsurge in bloodshed and kidnappings. The draft by...