International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Introduction The initiation of criminal complaints concerning the attack by the US armed forces on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab has brought a doctrinal issue of direct practical relevance before Iranian prosecutorial authorities. The complaints filed by victims’ families transform what would otherwise remain an abstract question of international humanitarian law (IHL)…

By 21 April 2026, Iran’s internet blackout had entered its fifty-third consecutive day, the longest nationwide internet disruption ever recorded (NetBlocks; IODA Iran shutdown report). Connectivity remained at approximately one per cent of pre-war levels. The shutdown was costing the economy an estimated $35–40 million per day in direct losses, rising to $70–80 million when indirect…

In a recent article published on Universal Rights Group, Professor Alice Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has offered a thoughtful and provocative proposal to reform the Special Procedures system. Observing that the system faces genuine challenges — inadequate funding, growing caseloads, inconsistent State cooperation, and what she describes as "a digital wasteland of lost hope…

On 12 March 2022, the Human Rights Committee delivered its views on the complaint filed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President of the Federal Republic of Brazil who was imprisoned in 2018 in the context of the anti-corruption operation known as ‘Operation Car Wash (in Portuguese, ‘Operação Lava Jato’). The representatives of Lula asked the…