Musk’s ‘efficiency’ agency site adds data from controversial rightwing thinktank - Sainato, Michael; Noor, Dharna (The Guardian, 2025)
Website of ‘Doge’ includes information published by thinktank CEI, which claims to fight ‘climate alarmism’
Keywords: Climate crisis; Donald Trump; Elon Musk; Trump administration; US news; US politics

Looking at Women, Looking at War by Victoria Amelina review – in memory of the Ukrainian novelist who catalogued war crimes - Cooke, Rachel (The Guardian, 2025)
A powerful, posthumous collection of diary entries, interviews, war reports and poetry has the late author’s tragic absence at its heart.
Keywords: Books; Culture; Essays; Journalism books; Ukraine

Campaigner for migrants in Libya targeted in spyware attack - Giuffrida, Angela; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (The Guardian, 2025)
An Italy-based human rights activist whose work supports the international criminal court in providing evidence about cases of abuse suffered by migrants and refugees held in Libyan detention camps and prisons has revealed that Apple informed him his phone was targeted in a spyware attack.
Keywords: Africa; Europe; Giorgia Meloni; Hacking; International criminal court; Italy; Libya; Middle East and north Africa; Migration; Technology; WhatsApp; World news

Campaigner for migrants in Libya targeted in spyware attack - Giuffrida, Angela; Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (The Guardian, 2025)
An Italy-based human rights activist whose work supports the international criminal court in providing evidence about cases of abuse suffered by migrants and refugees held in Libyan detention camps and prisons has revealed that Apple informed him his phone was targeted in a spyware attack.
Keywords: Africa; Europe; Giorgia Meloni; Hacking; International criminal court; Italy; Libya; Middle East and north Africa; Migration; Technology; WhatsApp; World news

FBI says it has discovered 2,400 new records related to JFK assassination - Press, Associated (The Guardian, 2025)
The agency was transferring the records for declassification and did not say what information they contained.
Keywords: Donald Trump; FBI; Joe Biden; John F Kennedy; US news; US politics

Polar heritage sites are slipping into the sea – but can one island live forever online? - Cecco, Leyland (The Guardian, 2025)
On Qikiqtaruk, off Canada’s Yukon coast, scientists are wielding virtual-reality cameras, 3D models and digital archives to protect the island’s history and culture before it disappears
Keywords: Americas; Arctic; Canada; Climate crisis; Coastlines; Conservation; Conservation and indigenous people; Environment; Geology; Global development; Indigenous peoples; Oceans; Science; Sea level; Whaling; World news

Israeli Police Raid Palestinian Bookshops in East Jerusalem - Odenheimer, Natan; Jakes, Lara (The New York Times, 2025)
The police said the stores were selling books that supported terrorism and that two members of the family who owned the business had been arrested. A lawyer said their detention was “political” rather than legal.
Keywords: Books and Literature; East Jerusalem; Gaza Strip; Israel; Palestinians

Russia destroys documents of the National Archive Fund in Dnipropetrovs'k region - UNN (UNN, 2025)
As a result of a Russian drone attack, the Mezhivskyi archival unit in Dnipropetrovs'k region was damaged. About 10% of the collection of documents of the National Archival Fond was lost due to the fire and its extinguishing.

‘Many teachers don’t want to do this, but they’re trapped’: film shows extent of Putin indoctrination in Russian schools - Sauer, Pjotr (The Observer, 2025)
Two years after he started documenting the effect of the Ukraine war on his pupils, Pavel Talankin reveals how it led to accolade – and exile from home.
Keywords: Culture; Documentary films; Europe; Film; Russia; Sundance 2025; Sundance film festival; Teaching; Ukraine; Vladimir Putin; World news

Why Responsible Data Access will determine the Future of AI: The Increased Importance of Data - Chafetz, Hannah (Data Stewards Network, 2025)
At this moment, the AI Action Summit is taking place in Paris, bringing together heads of state and government, international organizations, civil society, and CEOs to look at how artificial intelligence can be most effectively harnessed by society. Achieving these goals requires something more foundational — responsible data access. Without data to train, finetune, and augment them, there can be no AI systems.

Judge temporarily blocks Musk’s ‘Doge’ team from accessing treasury records - Press, Associated (The Guardian, 2025)
Injunction granted in response to lawsuit alleging the Trump administration allowed Musk’s team access to sensitive data in violation of federal law.
Keywords: Elon Musk; Trump administration; US news; US politics

Preserving Disability: Disability & the Archival Profession - Cheryl (Publishing in the Archives Profession, 2025)
The book weaves together first-person narratives and case studies contributed from disabled archivists and disabled archives users, bringing critical perspectives and approaches to the archival profession. Collectively, these works address the nuances of both disability and archives-critically drawing attention to the histories, present experiences, and future possibilities of the archival profession.

Berlin court rules against X on data access - Datta, Anupriya (Euractiv, 2025)
Two civil society organisations sued X after the platform refused to grant systematic access to publicly available data.

Map wars in the Middle East: How cartographers charted and helped shape a regional conflict - Leuenberger, Christine (The Conversation, 2025)
But no matter the purpose, all maps have something in common: They are political. Making maps is about making decisions about what to omit and what to include. They are subject to selection, classification, abstractions and simplifications. And studying the choices that go into maps can reveal different stories about land and the people who claim it as theirs.

Revealing India’s Cold War secrets - Mark Pierce (The Interpreter, 2025)
Indians worried about interference by “the foreign hand” in their affairs might have over-estimated their adversaries.

From archives to impact: Historian, UWG alumna is changing how America sees black history - Press Release (The City Menus, 2025)
How does one define history? For University of West Georgia alumna Autumn Smith ’21, that isn’t a rhetorical question. The historian has already made an impact preserving, presenting and promoting the untold stories of Black history and culture. There are even three Emmy awards to prove it. “(Re)Defining History: Uncovering the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre,” produced by WABE Studios, explores the truth behind the carnage, what led to the violence and how it spawned resilience in Atlanta’s Black communities.

Trump launches sanctions against the ICC - AFP (JusticeInfo.net, 2025)
The decision comes as no surprise, but the reactions are massive, and its consequences could threaten the existence of the International Criminal Court (ICC): on Thursday 6 February 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order providing for sanctions against the Hague Court, which he accused of ‘taking illegal and unfounded actions against America and (its) close ally Israel’.

Defector who exposed Assad’s brutality calls for Syria sanctions to be lifted - Christou, William (The Guardian, 2025)
The former military officer, previously known only as ‘Caesar’, smuggled evidence of thousands of deaths out of the country.
Keywords: Syria

Disappearing Data: Trump Administration Removing Climate Information from Government Websites - Rachel Santarsiero (National Security Archive, 2025)
In the first two weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, the administration has begun to scrub critical environmental resources and datasets from federal agency websites. To combat this effort to suppress and censor public data, the National Security Archive’s Climate Change Transparency Project today publishes a selection of materials on climate change and environmental justice that have been deleted from agency web pages and spotlights the environmental and archivist organizations working to identify, scrape, and preserve these critical data.

Harvard law library acts to preserve government data amid sweeping purges - Satter, Raphael; Satter, Raphael (Reuters, 2025)
A unit of Harvard University's Law Library says it is releasing an archive of more than 300,000 government data sets, aiming to protect vital public information at a time when President Donald Trump's administration is wiping it from the web.

The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials 1946-1949: Digitalization project launched - Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2025)
A new research project is making the extensive documentation from the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials from 1946-1949 available digitally – a milestone for digital humanities and the historical reappraisal…

As Trump Administration Purges Climate Data and Web Pages, Research Groups Scramble to Save Information - Price, By Kiley (Inside Climate News, 2025)
The Trump administration has directed federal agency staff to remove climate references and scientific data from many web pages. Researchers are rushing to archive it.

CDC webpages go dark as Trump targets public health information - Sherman, Carter; Glenza, Jessica (The Guardian, 2025)
Resources for contraception, gender-affirming care, STIs and HIV flicker in and out of existence or vanish completely.
Keywords: Health; Trump administration; US domestic policy; US healthcare; US news; US politics; World news

Tiny Nigerian museum marking a forgotten British invasion pushes for recognition - Egbejule, Eromo (The Guardian, 2025)
In the sleepy Nigerian port town of Koko, the reminder of a forgotten invasion by the British more than a century ago has itself been forgotten. Officially known as the Nanna Living History Museum, the building was designated a national monument in 1990.
Keywords: Africa; Colonialism; Heritage; Nigeria; UK news; World news

Abroger l'amendement à la loi draconienne sur la cybercriminalité - Human Right Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2025)
La loi modifiée menace la liberté d’expression, notamment sur Internet.

Repeal Amendment to Draconian Cyber Law - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2025)
The Pakistan government’s recent amendment to the country’s cybercrimes act seriously threatens internet freedom and free expression.

DeepSeek making a splash with EU data protection bodies - Moreau, Claudie (Euractiv, 2025)
DeepSeek's emergence in the European digital space has been closely watched by national data protection authorities, who are concerned the company is breaching the GDPR by transferring EU personal data to China.

The Panama Canal Treaty Declassified - National Security Archive (National Security Archives, 2025)
The documents posted today include CIA reports, NSC briefing papers, White House meeting minutes, telephone transcripts and audio tapes dating back to the Kennedy era. These fascinating archival records provide a contextual, factual overview to understand and appreciate the historical foundations of the foreign policy crisis that is escalating today over Panama.
Keywords: United States of America

Senior USAid officials put on leave after denying access to Musk’s Doge team - Roth, Andrew (The Guardian, 2025)
After standoff, Doge members gained control over access system, letting them lock out workers and read emails
Keywords: Donald Trump; Elon Musk; Trump administration; US Congress; US news; US politics; USAid

Argentine Navy ordered to preserve dictatorship archive - Jaureguy, Martina (Buenos Aires Herald, 2025)
Judge Alicia Vence halted the planned destruction of archives which could serve as potential evidence of crimes against humanity

Exonerated environmental defenders to face murder retrial in El Salvador - Lakhani, Nina (The Guardian, 2025)
Critics decry ‘politically motivated’ decision to revisit civil war-era charges against leaders of anti-mining campaign. Five Salvadorian environmental defenders who were exonerated of bogus civil war charges will face retrial this week amid growing evidence of political interference.
Keywords: Americas; El Salvador; Environment; Mining; World news

1,500 videos, photos of July atrocities collected - Staff Correspondant (The Daily Star, 2025)
Bangladesh Protest Archive, a digital platform that has been collecting videos, audio recordings, and photos documenting the state-led atrocities, including police brutality, perpetrated during the July uprising last year, announced its official launch yesterday.

Specters of the Past: How Russia and Ukraine are Weaponizing History - Piccoli, Erik (International Policy Digest, 2025)
History is a powerful tool so it would make sense that both Ukraine and Russia are rewriting their histories.

Specters of the Past: How Russia and Ukraine are Weaponizing History - Piccoli, Erik (International Policy Digest, 2025)
History is a powerful tool so it would make sense that both Ukraine and Russia are rewriting their histories.

Tunisia reclaims lost voices of WWI riflemen from German archives - RFI (RFI, 2025)
Germany has returned hundreds of sound recordings of North African soldiers who were held as prisoners during World War I, helping to fill a major gap in Tunisia’s war archives.
Keywords: Germany

Trump orders USDA to take down websites referencing climate crisis - Canon, Gabrielle (The Guardian, 2025)
Forest service website among many sites affected as agencies scramble to comply with president’s orders
Keywords: Climate crisis; Donald Trump; Environment; Trump administration; US news; US politics; World news

Trump Removes Access to CEJST, Our New Coalition Restores It - EDGI_Team (Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, 2025)
Last week the Trump administration removed access to the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). The public web tool allowed users to see on a map which places in the US face marginalization and disproportionate climate and pollution burdens.

Trump administration seeking access to database of immigrant minors - Miroff, Nick; Sacchetti, Maria (The Washington Post, 2025)
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is responsible for caring for unaccompanied minors, has long operated independently of ICE.

As Data Goes Off-Line Under Trump, Environmental Researchers Are Uploading Backups - Quinn, Ryan (Inside Higher Ed, 2025)
A team of scholars has worked since November to archive resources that are valuable to themselves and the public—just in case they were taken down. In the first few days of Donald Trump’s second term as president, the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST, for short) disappeared from government websites. It was an interactive map of U.S. Census tracts that are “marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution,” as the pre-Trump federal government put it—something researchers and the public could use to quickly locate and zoom in on specific communities and analyze the problems they face.
Keywords: premium

As conflict rates soar, misinformation is getting worse - Clionadh Raleigh (POLITICO, 2025)
We may not be able to change how people ingest information, but we can and should place guardrails around the evidence we use to inform the public.

Archiving Gaza: The Race to Save Evidence of War Crimes and Mass Destruction - Hassan, Lila (Drop Site News, 2025)
Inside the dangerous effort to dodge censorship and document the horrors of Israel's war against Gaza.

The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict and War Crimes: Challenges for Documentation and International Prosecution - Grzebyk, Patrycja; Uczkiewicz, Dominika (Routledge, 2024)
As the largest international armed conflict in Europe since World War II, Russia’s war against Ukraine has provoked strong reactions and questions about the post-1945 world order, the utility of the war, and the effectiveness of international criminal justice. Throughout the chapters in this volume, scholars and legal practitioners from Canada, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, the UK, and the United States present the results of interdisciplinary research, insights from the perspective of other post-communist states, and first-hand expertise from directly working on the documentation and prosecution of these crimes.

The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict and War Crimes: Challenges for Documentation and International Prosecution - Grzebyk, Patrycja; Uczkiewicz, Dominika (Routledge, 2024)
As the largest international armed conflict in Europe since World War II, Russia’s war against Ukraine has provoked strong reactions and questions about the post-1945 world order, the utility of the war, and the effectiveness of international criminal justice. Throughout the chapters in this volume, scholars and legal practitioners from Canada, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, the UK, and the United States present the results of interdisciplinary research, insights from the perspective of other post-communist states, and first-hand expertise from directly working on the documentation and prosecution of these crimes.

India regulator seeks greater access to social media records, source and memo say - Batra, Shubham (Zawya, 2024)
India's markets regulator is seeking broader powers from the government to remove unauthorised financial advice from social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram, and to access their call records for investigations into market violations, a government source and a document reviewed by Reuters showed.

SAHR Tuesday Talks - Managing UNHCR Records - ICA (ICA, 2025)
Managing UNHCR Records, Archives and Protecting Information on Refugees and Displaced Persons

Long-lost anti-fascist mural from 1930s restored and back on show in Mexico - Graham, Thomas (The Guardian, 2025)
A long-neglected 1930s mural in Mexico that warns about the rise of fascism has been revealed and restored – just as some historians say the world faces that threat once more.
Keywords: Americas; Art; Communism; Diego Rivera; Mexico; Nazism; Painting

Provision of Information Management and Analysis Organizational Review - KonTerra Group (OCHA, 2025)
The review focuses on OCHA’s IM and Analysis function (including its role in the provision of IM and Analysis products and services to the humanitarian community).

Peacebuilding and disinformation - Berghof Foundation (Berghof Foundation, 2025)
A non-governmental organisation supporting people in conflict in their efforts to achieve sustainable peace through conflict transformation and peacebuilding

Russia Is Spinning Up a New Barrage of Lies in Europe - McGee, Luke (Foreign Policy, 2025)
European officials are in a long battle against disinformation.

Seizure of news organisation's laptop undermines press freedom - ARTICLE 19 (ARTICLE 19, 2025)
The Malaysian police recently confiscated a laptop from Malaysiakini as part of their ongoing investigation into former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's comments regarding a purported royal addendum that could allow former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to serve his prison sentence under house arrest.

Saving history: These archivists' mission to preserve social media record of war in Gaza - Charlie Bell; Agnes Ored (SBS News, 2025)
Archivists preserve social media posts from conflict zones — but verifying and protecting the vast quantity of dynamic content presents huge challenges for the teams that attempt it.

A new Vancouver archive aims to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust - Wendy Cox (The Globe and Mail, 2025)
As per his mother’s wishes, Taylor has donated his grandfather’s archives to the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) and the UBC Library. The digitization of the archive is set to be completed in August, and it will be open to researchers worldwide. On Monday, Taylor also launched a six-episode podcast called The Hidden Holocaust Papers.
Keywords: Social Issues

‘New way of bearing witness’: one of biggest Holocaust archives goes online - Bakare, Lanre; Arts, Lanre Bakare (The Guardian, 2025)
Wiener Holocaust Library has digitised more than 150,000 items including letters, pamphlets and photos
Keywords: Holocaust; Judaism; Nazism; Second world war; UK news; World news

‘We were raided regularly’: with Assad gone, banned books return to Syria’s shelves - Christou, William (The Guardian, 2025)
Under the deposed dictator, books had to pass detailed scrutiny by government censors.
Keywords: Bashar al-Assad; Books; Censorship; George Orwell; Middle East and north Africa; Syria

Preserving the legacy of Russia's independent media - Satchkova, Svetlana (RAAM, 2025)
With independent journalism in Russia now virtually impossible, a group of exiled journalists has launched a Russian Independent Media Archive. The collection preserves the legacy of Russian journalism and underscores the current lack of freedom, but also functions as a valuable tool for research and education.

Secret police tricked Carlos the Jackal into fleeing Prague, archives reveal - Walker, Shaun (The Guardian, 2025)
New book casts doubt on accepted picture of communist bloc support for violent radicals during cold war.
Keywords: Carlos the Jackal; Cold war; Czech Republic; Czechoslovakia; Espionage; Europe; World news

‘The risk of extinction is accelerating’: world’s botanic gardens raise alarm with space to protect endangered plants running out - Ferguson, Donna (The Observer, 2025)
University of Cambridge research suggests living collections have collectively reached peak capacity
Keywords: Conservation; Endangered species; Environment; Plants

Police Commissioner apologises for exposure of CISOCA records - Jamaica Observer (Jamaica Observer, 2025)
Police Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake has issued an apology following the exposure of sensitive records belonging to the police’s Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA)

Authorities pass bill with sweeping controls on social media - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2025)
The amendment Bill was presented in and passed by the National Assembly on 23 January 2025 and referred to the Standing Committee the next day by the Senate after backlash from opposition, media and civil society. The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act passed in 2016 triggered widespread criticism from human rights organizations and activists for its potential for harmful impact on the right to freedom of expression and access to information in the country. The nine years since have confirmed these fears as journalists, human rights defenders and political opposition have been targeted under the law. Recently, the authorities have frequently imposed blanket bans on social media platforms and have blocked X, formerly Twitter, since February 2024.

The EU wants to scan every message sent in Europe. Will that really make us safer? - Fotiadis, Apostolis (The Guardian, 2025)
Lawmakers argue that mass surveillance will help to protect children. But the implications for our privacy and security are staggering, says journalist Apostolis Fotiadis
Keywords: Child protection; Data protection; Digital media; Encryption; Europe; European Union; Media; Society; Surveillance; Technology; World news

Newly discovered photos of Nazi deportations show Jewish victims as they were last seen alive - Gruner, Wolf (The Conversation, 2025)
Descendants of survivors helped researchers identify 279 deportees and tell their stories. ‘We give previously faceless victims a voice,’ says project’s co-founder.

Don’t Let Autocrats Erase the Internet - Nossel, Suzanne (Foreign Policy, 2025)
Preserving digital archives is a crucial weapon in discrediting and defeating authoritarian regimes.

Burkina Faso collecting Thomas Sankara's archives, artefacts - CGTN Africa (2025)
The Burkinabe government is leading an initiative to restore the memory of Thomas Sankara, who was the leader of the country from 1983 before being assassinated in 1987. Fellow revolutionaries in possession of materials associated with Sankara have been handing them over for national preservation.

Meta, WhatsApp win relief as India tribunal suspends data sharing ban - Chaturvedi, Arpan; Chaturvedi, Arpan (Reuters, 2025)
An Indian tribunal temporarily suspended a five-year data sharing ban between WhatsApp and owner Meta Platforms , a major relief for the U.S. giant which had warned its advertising business will be affected.

Déclaration du Procureur de la CPI, Karim A.A. Khan K.C. : des mandats d’arrêt requis dans la situation en Afghanistan - International Criminal Court (International Criminal Court, 2025)
Aujourd’hui, mon Bureau va déposer deux requêtes aux fins de délivrance de mandats d’arrêt dans la situation en Afghanistan auprès des juges de la Chambre préliminaire II de la Cour pénale internationale.

Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in Afghanistan - International Criminal Court (International Criminal Court, 2025)
Today, I can announce that my Office has filed two applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court in the Situation in Afghanistan.

Is TikTok a national security threat – or is the ban a smokescreen for superpower rivalry? - Sabbagh, Dan (The Guardian, 2025)
Washington looks happy for the video app to harvest users’ data – as long as China does not reap the rewards
Keywords: China; Digital media; Donald Trump; Media; Social media; Technology; TikTok; US news; World news

Is TikTok a national security threat – or is the ban a smokescreen for superpower rivalry? - Sabbagh, Dan (The Guardian, 2025)
Washington looks happy for the video app to harvest users’ data – as long as China does not reap the rewards
Keywords: China; Digital media; Donald Trump; Media; Social media; Technology; TikTok; US news; World news

Ethics watchdog issues conflict of interest warning to Musk’s Doge agency - Smith, David (The Guardian, 2025)
American Oversight has raised concerns over ‘department of government efficiency’ using encrypted apps
Keywords: Donald Trump; Elon Musk; Trump administration; US news; US politics

Microsoft's LinkedIn sued for disclosing customer information to train AI models - Stempel, Jonathan (Reuters, 2025)
Microsoft's LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers who said the business-focused social media platform disclosed their private messages to third parties without permission to train generative artificial intelligence models.

Fallen Black South African Soldiers From World War I Finally Remembered - Crystal Orderson (Inter Press Service, 2025)
Despite being the sons of Africa, the hundreds of soldiers who served in non-combat roles between 1914 and 1918 have been unrecognized for decades.

ICC arrest warrant against Osama Elmasry Njeem for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes - International Criminal Court (International Criminal Court (ICC), 2025)
On 18 January 2025, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "the Court"), by majority, issued a warrant of arrest for Mr Osama Elmasry Njeem, also known as Osama Almasri Njeem, in the Situation in Libya. Mr Osama Elmasry Njeem, who is alleged to have been in charge of prison facilities in Tripoli, where thousands of persons were detained for prolonged periods, is suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, rape and sexual violence, allegedly committed in Libya from February 2015 onwards.

Mandat d’arrêt de la CPI à l’encontre d’Osama Elmasry Njeem pour crimes contre l'humanité et crimes de guerre présumés - International Criminal Court (International Criminal Court (ICC), 2025)
Le 18 janvier 2025, la Chambre préliminaire I de la Cour pénale internationale (« CPI » ou « la Cour ») a délivré un mandat d’arrêt à l’encontre de M. Osama Elmasry Njeem, également connu sous le nom d’Osama Almasri Njeem, dans la situation en Libye.

Archives of the Surveilled - Rosen, Charlotte (Public Books, 2025)
The FBI’s recording of Arthur Huff Fauset's life undermined its own goals by essentially archiving his speeches, which would have otherwise been lost to history and even the author’s own memory. In these words written at the end of his life, there is a poignancy to his sarcasm: He may leave a legacy after all, but only through the institutions that silenced him in the first place Archives open up the possibility to read around the official political and literary history that government repression has constructed.

The Vigil Files: Government Surveillance in the Civil Rights Movement - Alejandro Hernández (Denver Public Library Special Collections and Archives, 2025)
In part one of Ernesto B. Vigil Freedom of Information Act papers (WH2496), we looked at some of the early actions the FBI took to surveil the civil rights movement. In part two, we will look at how such actions would escalate and even some cross-border actions taken by J. Edgar Hoover.

Italian church probe reveals scores of abuse cases in a single diocese - Armellini, Alvise (Reuters, 2025)
Dozens of sex abuse cases committed by members of the clergy over six decades emerged on Monday from an independent report into a northern Italian diocese that dug deeper into the past than others produced by the Italian Catholic Church.

New legislation will open WWII collaboration archive: minister - Quell, Molly (DutchNews.nl, 2025)
Education and culture minister Eppo Bruins is preparing new legislation which will open controversial digital archives on possible collaborators during World War II to the general public, he told current affairs programme Buitenhof at the weekend. The archives should have been fully online from January 1, but that plan was halted because of privacy concerns. Instead, only the list of names of suspects was made available – even though many were never investigated. The records from the Centraal Archief Bijzondere...

Meta Looks for the X Factor - Chakravorti, Bhaskar (Foreign Policy, 2025)
What Mark Zuckerberg’s change of heart on misinformation means for the world.

Ethel Rosenberg’s family pushes Biden to exonerate her decades after her execution - John Yang; Harry Zahn (PBS NewsHour, 2025)
In 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed after being convicted as Soviet spies in a sensational Cold War espionage case. Now, a recently declassified document is seen as the strongest evidence yet of Ethel’s innocence.

Women's rights under threat in Uganda as conservative groups push disinformation campaign - Prudence Nyamishana (Global Voices, 2025)
The rise of the anti-rights conservative groups in Uganda and around the world has led to gendered disinformation that is threatening democracy and freedoms in the East African nation.

Call for ‘censorship culture’ to end as Unity Mitford’s German diary is revealed - Tapper, James; Thorpe, Vanessa (The Observer, 2025)
Extracts from Mitford’s papers published but many more archives concerning British fascists remain concealed
Keywords: Adolf Hitler; Censorship; The Mitford sisters

Conservatives spent £134m on never-used IT systems for failed Rwanda scheme - Dearden, Lizzie (The Observer, 2025)
Home Office official says data protection laws caused the cost of its forced removal programme to increase
Keywords: Conservatives; Home Office; Human rights; Immigration and asylum; Politics; Refugees; Rwanda; UK news

Conservatives spent £134m on never-used IT systems for failed Rwanda scheme - Dearden, Lizzie (The Observer, 2025)
Home Office official says data protection laws caused the cost of its forced removal programme to increase
Keywords: Conservatives; Home Office; Human rights; Immigration and asylum; Politics; Refugees; Rwanda; UK news

At what cost are we bridging Africa’s digital divide? - Muhammed Bello Buhari (Global Voices, 2025)
Beneath the promises of enhanced connectivity in Africa lies a complex narrative—a 21st-century iteration of colonial dynamics cloaked in the  rhetoric of "connecting the unconnected"

Yoon supporters storm Seoul court after his detainment period is extended - the Guardian (The Guardian, 2025)
Protesters smash windows after officials cite concerns the impeached president could destroy evidence if released
Keywords: Asia Pacific; South Korea; World news; Yoon Suk Yeol

EU asks X for internal documents about algorithms as it steps up investigation - O'Carroll, Lisa (The Guardian, 2025)
Musk’s company has been accused of manipulating systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibility
Keywords: Digital media; Elon Musk; Europe; European Union; Internet; Social media; Technology; World news; X

Sudani oversees handover of Baath crime archives in London - Rudaw (Rudaw, 2025)
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Thursday oversaw the handover of archival documents on Baathist era crimes to an Iraqi documentation center during his visit to London, his office said. The archive, previously held by an Iraqi human rights organization, was transferred to the Iraqi Center for Documenting Extremist Crimes, which is affiliated with the al-Abbas Holy Shrine located in Karbala, according to a statement from Sudani’s office.

Deb Haaland on Biden's efforts to preserve public land and recognize Indigenous history - Amna Nawaz (PBS News, 2025)
One of the legacies President Biden leaves behind when he exits the White House is his record on conserving and protecting the country’s public lands and water. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland played a key role in implementing Biden's policies over four years. Amna Nawaz spoke with Haaland about her achievements.

Balgh platform marks two years as a tool of repression - ARTICLE 19 (ARTICLE 19, 2025)
Iraqi authorities continue to use the Balgh platform to monitor online speech and curtail freedom of expression.

Women’s Rights Advocates Light Up National Archives to Push for ERA Publication - Equality Now (Equality Now, 2025)
Last night, the U.S. National Archives Building was illuminated with a bold and urgent message from women’s rights organizations across the country, calling on President Biden to take immediate action to enshrine the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) into the U.S. Constitution. This powerful projection highlighted the critical need to address sex discrimination and ensure equality under the law.

91-Year-Old Photographer Loses Over 80,000 Images in LA Wildfires - Growcoot, Matt (PetaPixel, 2025)
He worked at JPL for nearly 50 years.

Poland, Ukraine move on exhumations deal of WWII-era massacre victims - Brzozowski, Alexandra (Euractiv, 2025)
The historical dispute has repeatedly been raised by Poland as a key obstacle to Kyiv's progress toward EU accession.

Judge orders operation of dictatorship memory sites be guaranteed - Herald, Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Herald, 2025)
Federal judge Ariel Lijo has ordered Human Rights Secretary Alberto Baños to guarantee that dictatorship memory sites have the required staff and resources to operate properly.

3M knew firefighting foams containing PFAS were toxic, documents show - Salvidge, Rachel; Hosea, Leana (The Guardian, 2025)
Newly uncovered documents reveal chemicals giant was aware ‘environmentally neutral’ products did not biodegrade
Keywords: Australia news; Business; Environment; Firefighters; PFAS; Pollution; UK news; Water

MI5 files suggest queen was not briefed on spy in royal household for nine years - Davies, Caroline (The Guardian, 2025)
Documents indicate monarch was informed Anthony Blunt was Soviet agent in 1973, though he confessed in 1964
Keywords: Espionage; MI5; Monarchy; Queen Elizabeth II; Russia; UK news

‘Abuse, corruption, dark dealings’: Pope Benedict handed scandal documents to Francis - Giuffrida, Angela; Pepinster, Catherine (The Guardian, 2025)
Pope Francis says in his autobiography he received a ‘large white box’ relating to ‘difficult and painful situations’
Keywords: Catholicism; Christianity; Pope Francis; Religion; The papacy

The artificial intelligence dilemma for peacebuilders and human rights defenders - Heather Ashby (OpenGlobalRights, 2025)
Rights defenders must actively shape the discussion to mitigate the adverse human and environmental impacts of AI, particularly on the Global South.

Secret UK files detailing confessions of Cambridge Five spies released - Holden, Michael (Reuters, 2025)
Top secret MI5 files detailing first-hand accounts of confessions of three of Britain's most notorious double agents including Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt who spied for the Soviet Union were released for the first time on Tuesday.

Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal - Speri, Alice (The Guardian, 2025)
Records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’
Keywords: Afghanistan; Donald Trump; Germany; Italy; Kuwait; Middle East and north Africa; Oman; Qatar; South and central Asia; Trump administration; US immigration; US news; US-Mexico border; World news

Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal - Speri, Alice (The Guardian, 2025)
Records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’
Keywords: Afghanistan; Donald Trump; Germany; Italy; Kuwait; Middle East and north Africa; Oman; Qatar; South and central Asia; Trump administration; US immigration; US news; US-Mexico border; World news

Videos reveal new incidents of deadly brutality by Bangladesh police - Stacey, Kiran; Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (The Guardian, 2025)
‘Grotesque’ footage shows previously undocumented incidents on day PM Sheikh Hasina fled country
Keywords: Bangladesh; Sheikh Hasina; South and central Asia; World news

Note of concern from the International Council on Archives - Almeras, Clemence (ICA, 2025)
Note of concern from the International Council on Archives about its concern with regard to the measures adopted by the Argentinian government affecting the Human Rights Secretariat and its institutions

Court ruling on Belgium’s conduct in colonial Africa hailed as turning point - Rankin, Jennifer (The Guardian, 2025)
Verdict of crimes against humanity for kidnap of mixed-race children could pave way for wider justice, activists say
Keywords: Africa; Belgium; Burundi; Colonialism; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Europe; Race; Rwanda; World news

US supreme court curbed public scrutiny as it boosted security before Roe ruling - Wilson, Jason (The Guardian, 2025)
Memo obtained by the Guardian mandates that court would maintain ‘exclusive’ control of all security-related records
Keywords: Donald Trump; Roe v Wade; US news; US politics; US supreme court

Italy donates digital archive of Somali laws to aid legal and cultural recovery - Hiiran Online (Hiiran Online, 2025)
Italy has donated a digital archive of Somali laws and official bulletins from 1950 to 1989, offering essential resources to bolster the country's legal system and cultural recovery. The digital archive was handed over by Italian Ambassador Pier Mario Daccò Coppi to Somali Minister of Justice Hassan Moalim Mohamud during a ceremony in Mogadishu, marking the anniversary of the 1948 massacre of Italians in the city.

Fears grow over censorship of secret Queen Elizabeth and Philip papers - Palmer, Richard (The Observer, 2025)
Critics flag ‘worrying trend’ of keeping royal files under lock and key as thousands set for release to public
Keywords: Freedom of information; National Archives; Prince Philip; Queen Elizabeth II

Israel must be added to UN’s sexual violence blacklist - Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 2025)
Palestinian sexual violence reports blocked from investigation by Israeli authorities.

Israel must be added to UN’s sexual violence blacklist - Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 2025)
Palestinian sexual violence reports blocked from investigation by Israeli authorities.

Zuckerberg approved Meta’s use of ‘pirated’ books to train AI models, authors claim - Milmo, Dan (The Guardian, 2025)
Sarah Silverman and others file court case claiming CEO approved use of dataset despite warnings
Keywords: Artificial intelligence (AI); Business; Mark Zuckerberg; Meta; Technology; Technology sector; UK news; US news

Ex-McKinsey partner pleads guilty to destroying records on opioids - the Guardian (The Guardian, 2025)
Martin Elling pleads guilty to destroying records on advice provided to Purdue Pharma on how to ‘turbocharge’ sales.
Keywords: Opioids; Opioids crisis; US crime; US news

AI, Human Collaboration Are Transforming University Archives - Abby Sourwine (GovTech, 2025)
Colleges and universities are important record keepers for history and research. With the help of artificial intelligence, archivists can transcribe, search for and interact with records in new ways.

Uphold media freedom and protect journalists in the West Bank - ARTICLE 19 (ARTICLE 19, 2025)
The Palestinian Authority must comply with international human rights law and protect these freedoms while ensuring the safety of journalists.

Moving Ahead to a Crimes against Humanity Treaty - Dicker, Richard (Human Rights Watch, 2025)
It has taken two years of consideration, discussion and debate, but the agreement necessary to draft an international treaty to prevent and punish Crimes Against Humanity has finally been reached.

Uncovering Iraq’s mass graves: the painstaking search for missing loved ones - Mamo, Alessio (The Guardian, 2025)
The country has as many as one million missing people after decades of conflict. Forensic teams face huge challenges to document human remains as families wait in hope of closure.
Keywords: Global development; Iran; Iraq; Islamic State; Middle East and north Africa; Saddam Hussein; War crimes; World news

National Archives knew that victims were in files of potential Nazi collaborators in WW2 - NL Times (Netherlands Times, 2025)
The National Archives already knew last year that the names of innocents or even victims appear in a sensitive archive with files about Dutch people who were accused of collaborating with the German forces during the Second World War. Yet the institution only published a warning after the media reported on this, NU.nl reported.

Archive of civil rights icon Myrlie Evers-Williams to go on display - Sally H. Jacobs (The Washington Post, 2025)
The collection is among the largest received by Pomona College in recent years. Its donor is Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, who was assassinated by a white supremacist outside their Mississippi home in 1963. His death inflamed the then-nascent civil rights movement.

Venezuela’s Opposition Leader Is Forcibly Detained and Then Released - Turkewitz, Julie (The New York Times, 2025)
During her detention, an aide said, Maria Corina Machado “was forced to record several videos.” She has garnered enormous support for her opposition to Nicolás Maduro.
Keywords: Caracas (Venezuela); Demonstrations, Protests and Riots; Machado, Maria Corina; Maduro, Nicolas; Political Prisoners; Politics and Government; Venezuela; Vente Venezuela (Political Party)

U.K. Special Forces Allowed to ‘Get Away With Murder’ in Afghanistan, Inquiry Told - Landler, Mark (The New York Times, 2025)
Evidence released by an official inquiry into alleged war crimes painted a disturbing picture of an elite fighting force with a culture of impunity.
Keywords: Afghanistan; British Broadcasting Corp; Classified Information and State Secrets; Defense and Military Forces; Great Britain; International Relations; Jenrick, Robert; Ministry of Defense (Great Britain); WikiLeaks

U.K. Special Forces Allowed to ‘Get Away With Murder’ in Afghanistan, Inquiry Told - Landler, Mark (The New York Times, 2025)
Evidence released by an official inquiry into alleged war crimes painted a disturbing picture of an elite fighting force with a culture of impunity.
Keywords: Afghanistan; British Broadcasting Corp; Classified Information and State Secrets; Defense and Military Forces; Great Britain; International Relations; Jenrick, Robert; Ministry of Defense (Great Britain); WikiLeaks

RSF appelle les nouvelles autorités à mener sept actions prioritaires pour mettre en œuvre leurs promesses en matière de liberté de la presse - Reporters sans Frontières (Reporters sans Frontières, 2025)
En ce début d’année 2025, le ministre de l'Information du gouvernement de facto de la Syrie a promis d'œuvrer pour la liberté de la presse dans le pays. Reporters sans frontières (RSF) salue cet engagement, tout en rappelant aux autorités leurs responsabilités envers les journalistes enlevés, tués et disparus depuis le début de la révolution en 2011. L’organisation les appelle à mettre en œuvre sept recommandations prioritaires, avec, en premier lieu, la libération des 20 journalistes toujours détenus par les groupes rebelles.

RSF calls on Syria’s new authorities to adopt seven priority measures in line with their promises to safeguard press freedom - Reporters without Borders (Reporters without Borders, 2025)
On the first day of 2025, the Information Minister of Syria's new de facto government promised to improve press freedom in the country. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes this commitment while reminding the authorities of their responsibility for the journalists who were killed, abducted, or who disappeared since the start of the revolution in 2011. RSF calls on this transitional government to immediately implement seven recommendations, starting with the release of the 20 journalists still held by rebel groups.

Call for the archives of the new Syria to be safeguarded and made accessible - Ginouvès, Véronique (Archives de la recherche & Phonothèque, 2025)
On the morning of the regime’s fall, Syria experienced a historic moment. Citizens flooded the prisons, govertemental institutions and the former presidential palace – now renamed the People’s Palace. The general atmosphere was marked by euphoria and collective celebration, driven by the hope of finding information about their missing loved ones. However, this popular surge quickly led to disorganization, which partly prevented the recovery and organization of the former regime’s administrative documents for their preservation.

National archive warns of mistakes in list of WWII collaborators - Pascoe, Robin (DutchNews.nl, 2025)
The Dutch national archive has warned that some of the names included in a new listing of people suspected or convicted of collaborating with the Nazis during World War II may have been added in error. The list of some 425,000 names has been public since last week, and demand for more information has been so high that no more appointments are currently being made for people who want to view the actual files. However, according to the Telegraaf, some...

Dutch online archive identifies suspected WW2 Nazi collaborators - Campenhout, Charlotte Van (Reuters, 2025)
A Dutch project called 'War in Court' digitally released a list of names of nearly half a million suspected wartime Nazi collaborators on Thursday after the expiry of a law that had restricted public access to the archive.

ICC welcomes Ukraine as a new State Party - International Criminal Court (International Criminal Court (ICC), 2025)
Today, 1 January 2025, the Rome Statute, founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), enters into force for Ukraine. Ukraine formally becomes the 125th State Party to the ICC, and the 20th State from the Eastern Europe region.

La CPI se félicite de l’admission de l’Ukraine en tant que nouvel État partie - International Criminal Court (International Criminal Court (ICC), 2025)
Aujourd’hui, le 1er janvier 2025, le Statut de Rome, traité fondateur de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI), entre en vigueur pour l’Ukraine. L’Ukraine devient officiellement le 125ème État Partie à la CPI, et le 20ème État de la région Europe orientale.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Court Report 2024 - ECCCC (ECCCC, 2024)
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) made strides in the second year of residual functions, significantly advancing judicial reclassification, outreach programs and legacy initiatives. A major milestone in 2024 was the reclassification of thousands of confidential documents from Case 002, making nearly 24,000 records accessible to the public.

Tech law in 2025: a look ahead at AI, privacy and social media regulation under the new Trump administration - Lu, Sylvia (The Conversation, 2025)
The Trump administration has different interests and priorities than those of the Biden administration for regulating technology. For some issues like AI regulation, big changes are on tap.

Netherlands to open archive on people accused of wartime Nazi collaboration - Boztas, Senay (The Guardian, 2024)
Some descendants are apprehensive but a historian says making 30m pages of records public is ‘important step’.
Keywords: Europe; Holocaust; Netherlands; Second world war; World news

WHO continues to urge China to share data five years after COVID-19 - UN News (UN News, 2024)
“We continue to call on China to share data and access so we can understand the origins of COVID-19,” WHO said. “This is a moral and scientific imperative. Without transparency, sharing, and cooperation among countries, the world cannot adequately prevent and prepare for future epidemics and pandemics. “

How ‘Trophy’ Videos Link Paramilitary Commanders to War Crimes in Sudan - Varghese, Sanjana; Reneau, Natalie; Koettl, Christoph; Byrd, Aaron; Walsh, Declan (The New York Times, 2024)
Visual evidence collected and analyzed over months by The New York Times identifies the commanders leading an opaque paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, as fighters under their watch commit atrocities across Sudan.
Keywords: Darfur (Sudan); International Criminal Court; Nuba Mountains (Sudan); Rapid Support Forces (Sudan); South Kordofan (Sudan); Sudan; Sudanese Armed Forces; your-feed-visual-investigations

Disgruntled police in Northern Ireland responsible for IRA leaks after Good Friday agreement - Booth, Robert (The Guardian, 2024)
Newly released Irish archives include leaks from UK government and RUC’s attempts to undermine Sinn Féin
Keywords: Good Friday agreement; IRA; Ireland; Mo Mowlam; Northern Ireland; Politics; UK news

Massive layoffs endanger dictatorship memorial sites, workers say - Iglesia, Facundo (Buenos Aires Herald, 2024)
Paula Eugenia Donadio, a representative of state-workers union ATE, told the Herald that the layoffs endanger the functioning of dictatorship memorial sites run by the secretariat. The memorials are repurposed former clandestine detention centers that operated during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. According to human rights organizations, these centers were instrumental in the forcible disappearance of over 30,000 people.

Why speech could be a target for the anti-abortion movement in 2025 - Sherman, Carter (The Guardian, 2024)
The anti-abortion movement is looking at ways to control information about how and where to obtain abortions
Keywords: Abortion; Health; Roe v Wade; Society; US news; Women; World news

Mourning Turkey’s Last Progressive Radio Station - Genc, Kaya (Foreign Policy, 2024)
Acik Radyo featured diverse voices, angering the Erdogan regime.

Syria’s Paper Trail of Atrocity Must Be Preserved - Shaif, Rawan (Foreign Policy, 2024)
Amid the chaos of Assad’s fall, vital documents may be lost.

From Nuremberg to now: How a war crimes trial in Sweden is changing legal history - Maxim, Julius (Politico, 2024)
Prosecutors are using “universal jurisdiction” to hold companies to account for their operations overseas.

Preserve Evidence of Mass Atrocities - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2024)
The transitional Syrian authorities should urgently take steps to secure and preserve evidence of atrocities committed under the government of former President Bashar al-Assad, including key government and intelligence documents as well as the sites of atrocities and mass graves.

A radical way to teach contested history - Pidd, Helen (The Guardian, 2024)
Helen Pidd visits Lancaster Royal grammar school to see the work of Parallel Histories, an education charity which helps young people make sense of contested history
Keywords: Education; History; Schools

Journalists who were unlawfully spied on have ‘no doubt’ UK reporters are still targeted - Siddique, Haroon (The Guardian, 2024)
Belfast-based Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey won landmark victory that PSNI’s surveillance was unlawful
Keywords: Espionage; London; MI5; Media; Metropolitan police; Northern Ireland; Police; UK news; UK security and counter-terrorism; World news

UNAIDS - partnerships for country led and country owned data system: A transformative approach - UNAIDS (UNAIDS, 2024)
​There is an urgent need to address inequities in global health practices, including how data are collected and used. In the case of HIV data, UNAIDS has consistently strived to strengthen partnerships with countries to support them in their data journeys, from collecting to using HIV data.

Entre 1828 et 1970 | Plus de 3000 enfants morts dans des pensionnats autochtones - AFP (La Presse, 2024)
Au moins 3104 enfants autochtones sont morts dans des pensionnats aux États-Unis, arrachés à leur famille pour être assimilés de force.

En Syrie, la Croix-Rouge espère travailler avec les nouvelles autorités du pays sur la recherche des disparus - Hélène Sallon (Le Monde, 2024)
Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge n’avait pas accès aux lieux de détention gérés par les branches de sécurité du régime, qui pourraient être responsables de la mort de plusieurs centaines de milliers de Syriens.

A Billion Lives Off the Record: The Urgent Need for Legal Identity - Baher Kamal (Inter Press Service, 2024)
Over one billion people worldwide lack legal identity, leaving them unable to access basic rights and services like healthcare, education, and voting

Aplicativos de préstamos kenianos invaden la privacidad de los prestatarios para cobrar deudas - Cecilia Maundu (Global Voices, 2024)
Se necesita más regulación de los préstamos digitales para proteger los derechos de los prestatarios

Kenyan money lending apps invade borrowers’ privacy to recover debts - Cecilia Maundu (Global Voices, 2024)
A report by the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law (CIPIT) at Strathmore University revealed that most lending apps collect far more data than necessary.

Brazil Bans X from Using Children to Power Its AI - Han, Hye Jung (Human Rights Watch, 2024)
This week, Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority banned the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, from using the personal data of its child users in Brazil to train its artificial intelligence (AI).
Keywords: Technology

End Prosecutions Targeting Kurdish Language Activities in Türkiye - Hugh Williamson (Human Rights Watch, 2024)
Rıfat Roni has spent more than a decade as an official court interpreter facilitating communication for Kurdish speakers in legal proceedings. This week, he found himself in the dock facing charges.

Archiving as resistance to genocide denial in Gaza - Kousta, Eleftheria (Waging Nonviolence, 2024)
Law for Palestine members discuss their database of genocidal statements by leading Israeli figures and how it can help defend human rights.

Mujeres en cargos públicos en Macedonia del Norte son blanco fácil de la incitación al odio - Metamorphosis Foundation (Global Voices, 2024)
Los estereotipos arraigados sobre el papel de la mujer en la sociedad suelen ser un arma contra las mujeres que desafían las normas tradicionales o asumen posiciones de liderazgo.

Women in public positions in North Macedonia are easy targets of hate speech - Metamorphosis Foundation (Global Voices, 2024)
Despite visible progress in the fight for women’s rights, increased representation in politics and greater attention to issues affecting women, the tendency to express contempt and insult them persists.

Rights investigators call for protection of evidence, including mass grave sites - Vibhu Mishra (UN News, 2024)
In a landmark mission to Syria, the UN probe into the most serious rights violations committed in the country since 2011 has called on caretaker authorities to take immediate measures to protect mass grave sites and preserve critical evidence.

Special Rapporteur on Torture documents Syrian violations for ICJ case - OHCHR (OHCHR, 2024)
There is a danger that important evidence of torture and other crimes is being lost in Syria, as families of missing people desperately seek news of their loved ones, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards warned today.

Can Syria's devastated cultural heritage be rebuilt? - Stuart Braun (dw.com, 2024)
As Syria's brutal almost 14-year civil war comes to an end, heritage experts are working to protect the remains of the country's battered cultural riches — and to reconstruct them.

Security Council Debates Use of Artificial Intelligence in Conflicts, Hears Calls for UN Framework to Avoid Fragmented Governance - United Nations (UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, 2024)
Rapidly evolving artificial intelligence (AI) is outpacing human ability to govern it, even threatening human control over weapons systems, the United Nations chief warned during a Security Council briefing today, urging Member States to swiftly establish “international guard-rails” to ensure a safe, secure and inclusive AI future for all. “Artificial intelligence is not just reshaping our world — it is revolutionizing it,” underscored Secretary-General António Guterres. AI tools are identifying food insecurity and predicting displacements caused by extreme events and climate change, detecting and clearing landmines, and soon will be able to spot patterns of unrest before violence erupts.

Humanity’s fate can’t be left to algorithms, UN chief tells Security Council - Vibhu Mishra (UN News, 2024)
The UN Secretary-General on Thursday urged the Security Council to act decisively to establish international guardrails for artificial intelligence (AI), warning that delays could heighten risks to global peace and security.

En Azerbaiyán, autoridades vuelven a atacar a periodistas, en nueva oleada de detenciones - Arzu Geybullayeva (Global Voices, 2024)
En una nueva oleada de detenciones, las autoridades detuvieron a periodistas y activistas por contrabando y extorsión.

In Azerbaijan, authorities are again targeting journalists, in a new wave of arrests - Arzu Geybullayeva (Global Voices, 2024)
The authorities in Baku insist none of the criticisms are true, instead accusing those critical of the regime of double standards, bias and meddling in the country's internal matters.

A pro-China rapper blows whistle on Beijing's influencer network in Taiwan - Oiwan Lam (Global Voices, 2024)
Chen Po-yuan, an insider of a pro-China influencer network in Taiwan, publicly revealed the operation of mainland Chinese state agencies within the self-ruled region.

Rapero prochino denuncia red de influenciadores de Pekín en Taiwán - Oiwan Lam (Global Voices, 2024)
"Si seguimos cooperando con el Partido Comunista Chino... nos convertiremos en el próximo Sinkiang"

Bulgaria trying to force out Syrian asylum seekers after fall of Assad - Tondo, Lorenzo; Kassam, Ashifa (The Guardian, 2024)
NGO finds Syrians subjected to interrogations and reportedly pressed into signing return documents
Keywords: Bulgaria; Europe; European Union; Refugees; Syria; World news

Bulgaria trying to force out Syrian asylum seekers after fall of Assad - Tondo, Lorenzo; Kassam, Ashifa (The Guardian, 2024)
NGO finds Syrians subjected to interrogations and reportedly pressed into signing return documents
Keywords: Bulgaria; Europe; European Union; Refugees; Syria; World news

Getting serious about AI rules: Lack of enforcement capacity puts EU at risk - Voss, Axel (Euractiv, 2024)
In half a year, common EU rules start to apply to the most advanced AI models, crucial to supporting downstream industry and protecting citizens against systemic risks. The AI Office in the European Commission, however, is massively understaffed for the task, counting so far only around 85 staffers – out of which only around 30 team members are specifically tasked with the implementation of the AI Act.

AI-based-technologies for trustworthy solutions against disinformation - AI4TRUST - Euractiv's Advocacy Lab (Euractiv, 2024)
The AI4TRUST project aims to combat misinformation and disinformation in the EU by creating a trust-based environment that integrates the automated monitoring of social and news media with advanced AI-based technologies to enhance the work of human fact-checkers.

Spain introduces bill to combat online fake news - France-Presse, Agence (The Guardian, 2024)
Minister calls bill demanding digital platforms publicly correct false information ‘good news for democracy’
Keywords: Digital media; Europe; Internet; Media; Pedro Sánchez; Social media; Spain; World news

Commission opens TikTok investigation over Romanian presidential elections disinformation - Hartmann, Théophane (Euractiv, 2024)
The Commission could eventually fine TikTok up to 6% of its global worldwide turnover for failure to comply.

Liberian Warlord-Politician’s Death and the Search for Justice - Michelle Reyes Milk (Human Rights Watch, 2024)
Liberia’s Prince Y. Johnson, who rose to prominence first as a warlord and then politician, was implicated in serious abuses during the country’s two civil wars between 1989 and 2003.

General Assembly Adopts 47 Third Committee Resolutions, including Texts on Nazi Glorification, Children's Rights, Palestine Statehood - United Nations (UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, 2024)
The General Assembly adopted 47 draft resolutions and one decision recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, covering a wide range of issues, from countering violence against children and combating the glorification of Nazism to protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples and ensuring the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The draft on combating the glorification of Nazism contained in report A/79/456 elicited debate, triggering a recorded vote before its adoption. By the text, the Assembly expressed concern about the glorification of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism and former members of the Waffen SS organization, including by erecting monuments and memorials and holding public demonstrations in the name of the glorification of the Nazi past.

Authorities using spyware and Cellebrite forensic extraction tools to hack journalists and activists - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2024)
Serbian authorities are using spyware and Cellebrite forensic extraction tools to hack journalists and activists in a surveillance campaign.

Las autoridades utilizan programas espía y herramientas de extracción forense de Cellebrite para ‘hackear’ a periodistas y activistas - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2024)
La policía y las autoridades de los servicios de inteligencia de Serbia están utilizando programas avanzados de espionaje telefónico, junto con productos forenses para teléfonos móviles, para atacar ilegítimamente a periodistas, activistas ambientales y otras personas en una campaña de vigilancia encubierta, según ha revelado un nuevo informe de Amnistía Internacional.

Les autorités utilisent des logiciels espions et les outils criminalistiques d’extraction de données Cellebrite pour pirater des journalistes et des militantes - Amnesty International (Amnesty International, 2024)
Les services de police et du renseignement serbes utilisent un logiciel espion avancé, ainsi que des outils de criminalistique mobile pour cibler illégalement des journalistes, des militant·e·s écologistes et d’autres individus dans le cadre d’une campagne de surveillance secrète, révèle un nouveau rapport d’Amnesty International.

Serbia used Israeli firm’s tech to enable spy campaign, Amnesty says - Euractiv.com with Reuters (Euractiv, 2024)
According to Amnesty, Serbia received phone-cracking devices as part of a broader package of assistance designed to help Serbia meet the requirements for EU accession.

Serbia used Israeli firm’s tech to enable spy campaign, Amnesty says - Euractiv.com with Reuters (Euractiv, 2024)
According to Amnesty, Serbia received phone-cracking devices as part of a broader package of assistance designed to help Serbia meet the requirements for EU accession.

The Fragile Balance: Leon Langdon on Free Speech and Combating Religious Hatred - Jacobsen, Scott Douglas (International Policy Digest, 2024)
Leon Langdon discusses Humanists International's advocacy at the UNHRC, focusing on protecting freedom of expression, combating blasphemy laws, and addressing challenges to religious tolerance and minority rights

Online safety or censorship? Malaysia’s parliament passes two contentious media bills - Mong Palatino (Global Voices, 2024)
“These measures risk transforming Malaysia’s digital spaces into stricter and highly regulated environments, stifling open discourse and innovation while entrenching state control over the internet.”

¿Seguridad o censura en línea? Parlamento de Malasia aprueba dos polémicos proyectos de ley sobre medios - Mong Palatino (Global Voices, 2024)
Las autoridades insisten en que las reformas facilitarán detener a los ciberdelincuentes

Digital governance in the era of hybrid warfare, with Estonia’s digital minister - Santana, Giada (Euractiv, 2024)
In this episode, host Giada Santana is joined by Estonia's Justice and Digital Affairs Minister Liisa Pakosta to discuss Estonia's digital transformation and the challenges of securing a fully digital state in an era of escalating cyber warfare.

States should ask "Where is Sombath?" at upcoming review of human rights record - International Federation for Human Rights (International Federation for Human Rights, 2024)
On the 12-year anniversary of the unresolved enforced disappearance of Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone, we, the undersigned civil society organizations and individuals worldwide, urge United Nations (UN) member states to express their concern over this continuing crime and to call for the prompt resolution of Sombath’s case at the upcoming review of the human rights record of Laos.

Restore, destroy or leave to rot? Battle lines drawn over west Africa’s architectural heritage - Egbejule, Eromo (The Guardian, 2024)
Uncompleted or abandoned buildings are a regular feature of the landscape. Now calls for restorations are increasing
Keywords: Africa; Architecture; Art and design; Culture; Togo; World news

35,000 registered missing in 13 years of conflict as ICRC helps families seek answers - International Committee of the Red Cross (International Committee of the Red Cross, 2024)
In the past 13 years, the ICRC has registered 35,000 cases of people who have gone missing in Syria. This number reflects the requests of the families who approached the ICRC - we know that in reality the numbers are far greater.

SOS-defenders platform: Expose arbitrary detention of human rights defenders worldwide - International Federation for Human Rights (International Federation for Human Rights, 2024)
A collective of local, regional and international human rights organisations unveils SOS-Defenders, an action platform that exposes the alarming scale of arbitrary detention of human rights defenders worldwide.

Assad’s Fall in Syria Renews Push for Justice on Crimes Committed by His Regime - Bigg, Matthew Mpoke (The New York Times, 2024)
It seems unlikely that deposed President Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia, will be forced to stand trial. That is not deterring activists who have worked for years to document his government’s crimes.
Keywords: Assad, Bashar al-; General Assembly (UN); Human Rights and Human Rights Violations; International Court of Justice (UN); International Criminal Court; Syria; Syrian Network for Human Rights; Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

The 'Smuggler' of Syrian Torture Archives Reveals His True Identity - Camille Tawil (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2024)
For many years, the world only knew them by the aliases Caesar and Sami. Since 2014, these two names have been associated with documenting torture in Syrian prisons. The photos they smuggled out of Syria shook the world and prompted the United States to impose strict sanctions on the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, under what became known as the “Caesar Act.” These horrific photos documenting torture inflicted on detainees in Syrian prisons were used in courts in Western countries to convict Syrian officers on charges of torture and human rights violations.

CFP: Compelling Tensions in Library and Information Science, Library Trends special issue - Cheryl Oestreicher (Publishing in the Archives Profession, 2024)
The field of library and information science (LIS) has compelling tensions similar to those explored by Thomas Kuhn in the fields of science. Many of these tensions have been a part of the discipline and profession for a long time, and others have emerged in the digital age with the explosion of information and the ways to access, manipulate, and share that information.

Preuves de crimes de guerre en Syrie : "Nous avons 283 terabytes d'informations", explique un membre des Nations unies chargé de la collecte - France Info (France Info, 2024)
Le chef des rebelles islamistes syriens a prévenu qu’il n’y aurait pas d'amnistie pour les personnes impliquées dans la torture des détenus.

Bringing Perpetrators of Gross Human Rights Violations to Task - Groundviews (Groundviews, 2024)
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), an independent NGO working since 2013 to protect and promote justice and accountability in Sri Lanka, has submitted more than 60 sanctions and visa ban requests against public and security officials to date as well as a series of universal jurisdiction cases. These have been sent to the governments of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and the EU as well as the UN. The submissions cover gross violations of human rights and significant corruption in respect of the army, navy, air force, police and intelligence officials, Tamil paramilitaries as well as civil servants including judges and former ministers, a press release from the organization said.

New Laws Threaten Free Expression, Privacy - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2024)
El Salvador’s recently approved cybersecurity and data protection laws contain sweeping provisions that threaten media freedom and privacy rights, Human Rights Watch said today.

The Measure of Time: Using Age Determination to Secure Identity and Civil Documentation - IOM (ReliefWeb, 2024)
Four workstations in a corner office at the Nazal health centre in Fallujah are ready to receive their first applicants. A red ribbon and mint green signs are the only markings for this newly established age determination committee, supported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iraq, and the Government of France. This committee will open doors to a new life for thousands of Iraqis in Fallujah, 65 km away from the capital, and offer critical services that were previously out of reach for families displaced by the conflict with Daesh.

Rendez-vous avec Pol Pot - Panh, Rithy (Catherine Dussart Production, 2024)
Kampuchea démocratique (Cambodge) - 1978. Trois journalistes français sont invités par les Khmers rouges à réaliser une interview exclusive du chef du régime, Pol Pot. Le pays semble idéal. Mais derrière le village Potemkine, le régime des Khmers rouges décline et la guerre avec le Vietnam menace d'envahir le pays. Le régime cherche des coupables, menant en secret un génocide à grande échelle. Sous les yeux des journalistes, la belle image se fissure, révélant l'horreur. Leur voyage se transforme progressivement en cauchemar. Librement inspiré du récit de la journaliste Elizabeth Becker dans When The War Was Over.

CIA Official Charged With Leaking Israeli Military Plans - Sharp, Alexandra (Foreign Policy, 2024)
Documents posted on Telegram detailed Israeli weapons, munition, and troop movements ahead of its counterattack against Iran.

CIA Official Charged With Leaking Israeli Military Plans - Sharp, Alexandra (Foreign Policy, 2024)
Documents posted on Telegram detailed Israeli weapons, munition, and troop movements ahead of its counterattack against Iran.

Slovak ombudsman and opposition to challenge information bill in Constitutional Court - Silenská, Natália (Euractiv, 2024)
The bill could lead to arbitrary decisions and inconsistent treatment of requests for information.

The Bibi Files review – tapes and testimony expose paranoia and petulance of Netanyahu family - Bradshaw, Peter (The Guardian, 2024)
Alexis Bloom’s documentary, which shows the Israeli prime minister and his family under police interrogation over corruption charges, reveals their sense of entitlement
Keywords: Benjamin Netanyahu; Culture; Documentary films; Fatah; Film; Gaza; Hamas; Israel; Middle East and north Africa; Palestinian territories; World news

Ukraine’s death-defying art rescuers - Higgins, Charlotte; Alexandrou, Nicola; Bury, Ellie (The Guardian, 2024)
When Putin invaded, a historian in Kyiv saw that Ukraine’s cultural heritage was in danger. So he set out to save as much of it as he could.
Keywords: Museums; Russia; Sculpture; Ukraine

US should declassify what it knows about deadly Colombian Supreme Court attack - Lauren Harper (Freedom of the Press, 2024)
Declassification diplomacy is one of US government’s most distinctive foreign policy tools, and it should be deployed as often as possible

US should declassify what it knows about deadly Colombian Supreme Court attack - Lauren Harper (Freedom of the Press, 2024)
Declassification diplomacy is one of US government’s most distinctive foreign policy tools, and it should be deployed as often as possible

Key US agency that fights foreign influence in jeopardy after funding snub - Gedeon, Joseph (The Guardian, 2024)
Global Engagement Center targeted by Republicans skeptical of alleged censoring of conservative viewpoints
Keywords: Republicans; US Congress; US foreign policy; US news; US politics

Repeal Harmful Internet Laws - Human Rights Watch (Human Rights Watch, 2024)
The Vietnamese government should repeal a draconian new decree tightening control of internet use and the 2018 Law on Cybersecurity.

Syria’s prison records vital for war crimes evidence - Mahmut Geldi (Anadolu Agency, 2024)
Fadl Abdulghani, head of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), emphasized the importance of preserving prison and detention center archives in Syria to uncover the fate of detainees and identify those responsible for torture and other war crimes.

Nicaragua tortured at least 229 political prisoners, rights group says - Reuters (Reuters, 2024)
At least 229 people detained in Nicaragua for political reasons have suffered various forms of torture and other "crimes against humanity" at the hands of the government over the past seven years, a human rights NGO said.