This research report offers guidance on the application of a restorative justice framework in contexts of massive human rights violations, including its advantages and challenges. Based on the experiences of Colombia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and the Philippines, the study examines how different responses to massive violations can integrate or reflect the practices and principles of restorative justice such as stakeholder participation, repair of harm, and engagement between victims and perpetrators.

The UN Security Council is due to vote on April 18 on a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, said diplomats, a move that Israel and ally the United States is expected to block because it would effectively recognize a Palestinian state.

The Palestinians are currently a non-member observer state, a de facto recognition of statehood that was granted by the UN General Assembly in 2012. But an application to become a full UN member needs to be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the General Assembly.

A man-made famine is "tightening its grip" across the Gaza Strip, the head of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA warned on April 17 as he accused Israel of blocking aid deliveries and seeking to end UNRWA's activities in the enclave.

"Today, an insidious campaign to end UNRWA's operations is underway, with serious implications for international peace and security," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the 15-member UN Security Council.

Some 20,000 protesters rallied in Georgia on April 17 after lawmakers advanced a controversial "foreign influence" law that opponents say will undermine Tbilisi's long standing European aspirations.

In a vote boycotted by opposition deputies, 83 lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party passed the first reading of the bill, which has been criticised as mirroring a repressive Russian law on "foreign agents" used to silence dissent. That was enough for it to pass the 150-seat parliament.

In a case brought by Yerevan against its Caucus neighbor and rival over alleged discrimination and ethnic cleansing, lawyers for Armenia on April 16 told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Baku is “erasing all traces of ethnic Armenians’ presence” in the contested territory.

The two Caucasian countries have been contesting the Nagorno-Karabakh territory during the three decades since the Soviet Union collapsed. Yerevan has sought to bring international attention to the mountainous enclave since Baku took control in a military operation in September.

The United States is reimposing sanctions on Venezuela’s vital oil sector over what it says is the government’s failure to adhere to democratic principles ahead of elections in July. Maduro, the successor of the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, is seeking a third six-year term after 11 years in office marked by sanctions, economic collapse, and accusations of widespread repression.

Members of Ghana's LGBT community and activists are waiting to see whether the West African country's president will sign into law a bill that would further restrict their rights and likely worsen the persecution many face.

Sweden has launched the trial of a former Syrian army officer over his alleged role in war crimes committed in 2012 during the country’s civil war.

The case against Brigadier General Mohammed Hamo, who resides in Sweden, opened on April 15. The trial is one of a very small number thus far against high-ranking Syrian government or military officials, despite efforts in Europe to implement justice against those responsible for human rights abuses during Syria’s 13-year civil war.

A year since it started, the war in Sudan has spiraled into one of the world’s largest and most complex displacement crises. Since April 15, 2023, more than 8.6 million people have fled their homes, with 1.8 million people, mostly women and children, crossing to neighboring countries.

Civilians suffer indiscriminate attacks—including widespread sexual violence. Communities are shattered, with families broken and separated or desperate to provide for those still in their care.

Iran has launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel, in an unprecedented attack that came as a response to an Israeli raid on the Iranian consulate in Syria two weeks ago.

The overnight escalation came more than six months into Israel’s devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians and pushed the besieged territory to the brink of famine. The war has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.