For decades, the Indigenous Yanomami have suffered at the hands of illegal gold miners, who destroyed vast stretches of their homeland and polluted their rivers with mercury. But since 2019, the crisis has reached new heights, with hundreds of Yanomami dying from conditions related to the mining. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has gone so far as to declare the situation a “genocide.”

The United States has proposed a rival draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah, according to the text seen by Reuters.

The move comes after the U.S. signalled it would veto on February 19 an Algerian-drafted resolution—demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire—over concerns it could jeopardize talks between the U.S., Egypt, Israel, and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Senegal’s President Macky Sall on February 15 pledged to organise presidential elections “as soon as possible” after the Constitutional Council overruled his decision to delay this month’s vote.

The National Assembly’s decision on February 5 to reschedule the vote was “contrary to the constitution,” the judgment said. “The constitutional council, noting the impossibility of organizing the presidential election on the date initially planned, invites the competent authorities to hold it as soon as possible,” it added.

The United Nations mission in Libya has urged authorities to investigate the shooting deaths of 10 people in a Tripoli neighborhood, with city security chiefs saying the victims included two members of a powerful armed faction.

The UN said in a statement released on social media that the authorities should "prevent any actions that could lead to escalation and further violence." Libya has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014, with rival factions taking over different parts of the country.

On November 28, 2023, ICTJ organized an international dialogue in Bogotá, Colombia, to share innovative strategies for advancing victims’ rights to redress for human rights abuses and for establishing more victim-centered development policies. The gathering also marked the official launch of ICTJ’s new report—Advancing Victims’ Rights and Rebuilding Just Communities Local Strategies for Achieving Reparation as a Part of Sustainable Development—which presents findings from a two-year comparative study of local efforts in Colombia, The Gambia, Tunisia, and Uganda to advance reparations. 

The civilian death toll from two Israeli air strikes in southern Lebanon has risen to 10, in the deadliest attack in more than four months of cross-border exchanges.

The prime ministers of Spain and Ireland have asked the European Commission to urgently review whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza as international pressure grows for Israel to hold off on an assault of the densely packed southern border city of Rafah.

The two leaders said on February 14 that attacking Rafah poses “a grave and imminent threat that the international community must urgently confront.” Spain and Ireland have been particularly outspoken on the topic of Israel’s assault on Gaza in comparison with other European Union states.

A six-party alliance appears poised to form Pakistan’s next government, after nearly a week of political drama following a fractured mandate delivered by the country’s voters in the February 8 elections.

Led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which won 75 seats, and Pakistan People’s Party, which secured 54 seats, the coalition—announced the night of February 13—will have more than 150 members in the parliament, crossing the required 134 seats for a simple majority in the National Assembly.

India’s Supreme Court has scrapped a seven-year-old election funding system, called “electoral bonds,” that allows individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits.

Coming nearly two months before the general election, February 15’s decision is being seen as a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been the largest beneficiary of the system it introduced in 2017.

Ecuador's electoral court set April 21 for a referendum on measures to tighten security, fight organised crime, and reform the constitution, it said on February 14, amid worsening conflict between government forces and criminal gangs.

The steps have been proposed by President Daniel Noboa, who launched a security offensive in early January to dismantle criminal groups he designated as terrorists. Noboa has also argued for legal reforms to expand the powers of Ecuador's police and military.