61 years ago today, marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge were met with tear gas, batons and brutality ⚡️
The images shocked the world and changed it: rights are won in the streets before they are written into law.
And we lost Jesse Jackson #RIP
#BloodySunday #Selma
“If a government attacks its own people, silences journalists, and curtails freedom, there are consequences…” except if it happens in Azerbaijan 😵💫
Tonight, Barack Obama spoke to the American people.
Don’t we all miss him?
This ⚠️⤵️
68 years old = the average age of the four first known candidates to become UN Secretary-General.
⚠️ 10 years older than the average age of when previous UNSGs took office.
#NothingToAdd
To friends of human rights, pay attention ⚠️
Abandoning international law now will harm generations of Iranians to come writes @amandaghahremani.com in the Toronto Star: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...
The commander of the world’s largest military rejecting the law in war is a risk for everyone⚡️
The War Crimes Act codifies jus in bello. US Naval Academy teaches it. Pentagon has a rulebook on it. Pete Hegseth acts as if none of it exists 🇺🇸
➡️ US Law of War Manual: media.defense.gov/2023/Jul/31/...
It has nothing to do with the UN.
The UN doesn’t decide on the composition of the delegations of member states and hence can’t decide on who chairs what specific meeting of the Security Council on behalf of the presidency 🇺🇸
So: there are now videos going round of @hillaryclinton.bsky.social’s deposition linked to the Epstein files.
Is she not a force? 💪
To my human rights friends hesitating today: Iran’s rulers are brutal. But an illegal war does not deliver human rights.
@alexneve.bsky.social explains from a Canadian perspective with global resonance why we can defend human rights in Iran *and* the UN Charter: www.alexneve.ca/blog/we-can-...
They say this war is for the Iranian people ⚡️
Then start with Evin. Start with the political prisoners who have spent decades behind its walls 🇮🇷
Iran’s rulers are brutal. But “regime change” is never guaranteed. Civilian victims are.
The circumstances make my trip to Canada this week even more relevant 🇨🇦
Canada has a role to play in today’s fractured order. I will be discussing this with civil society and lawmakers.
➡️ Ryota Jonen makes a strong case
www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...
Another war ⚡️
Another war that appears to be in breach of international law. And it did not need to be started: diplomacy was under way this week in Geneva to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme 🇮🇷
Iran’s system is brutal. But regime change is never guaranteed; civilian victims are.
@shawnasolidarity.bsky.social
And the jurisprudence served way beyond th jurisdiction of the United Kingdom 🏫⚖️ ⤵️
Today, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders; the United States abstained
After weeks of @SecRubio’s State Department manoeuvres, this abstention reads like a choice to blur the line between aggressor and victim
It’ll stay on US’s record 🇺🇦⚡️🇺🇸
Not an answer on how is it that there has never been a women Secretary-General, but a path on how it could happen this year 💜
progresschange.org/notes-from-t...
Read @passblue.bsky.social's “Russia’s War on Ukraine: Certain Crimes and Possible Punishments“ 🇷🇺⚡️🇺🇦
passblue.com/2026/02/22/r...
Skopje strategy days with inspiring civil society people 💪
Three takeaways: security needs rule of law 🛡️; people need proof we help protect their future 👥; and when multilateral spaces go soft, we build new alliances 🗣️
Thanks to @ecnl.bsky.social for bringing us together. Until next time.
Ukraine has passed a point of no return, 4 years into Russis'a war of aggression 🇺🇦⚡️ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/22/o...
About the arrest of Andrew:
King Charles: “The law must follow its course.”
President Donald J. Trump: “It’s very very sad thing.”
Nothing to add 🛑
A very frank and thoughtful interview with an admirable President Zelenskyy 🇺🇦⤵️
The democratic world has rarely seen something like this.
#OnThisDay we are witnessing the erosion of what once was meant by “leader of the free world.”
With the Board of Peace, the United States positions itself at the centre of a new alignment of autocrats ⚡️
Donald Trump delivers remarks during the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace on 19 February 2026. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
We were among the first to analyse the Board of Peace Charter.
An institution built to circumvent the rules-based multilateral system; with the participation of those who ignore rules and obligations under international law.
Trump’s Club of Autocrats is meeting today in Washington DC ⚡️
This ⚠️
Human rights are being targeted, and the conditions under which they are defended have dramatically changed. They can serve as a compass, a framework for protection, accountability, resistance ⚖️⤵️
Honoured to be part of and to be mobilising this growing community: +120 human rights defenders 💪
#StayTunes with Human Rights Compass:
➡️ We'll publish the Top 10 Global Human Rights Trends on Thursday ⚖️🌍🕊️
Insane step by the @ec.europa.eu: rewarding Orbán right before the elections in Hungary 🇭🇺⚡️🇪🇺
Europe (EU and @coe.int) need to learn to stand up to the threat from within, hold illiberals and autocrats to account, and use institutional mechanisms to defend rights, principles, and values.
You've just made my point… Serbia's Vucic and NATO Secretary General are standing. That's exactly what I meant with US-delegates ✌️
1️⃣ 🇪🇺 remained seated, 🇺🇸-delegates gave standing ovation (Irish Times)
2️⃣ US brought large delegation. That alone can change the optics of any applause moment in a big hall (Reuters)
3️⃣ Strong civil society presence in Munich speaking about climate, gender, women, human rights, democracy, peace ✌️
Just unfair to @commissionerhr.coe.int—the office & the person occupying it.
I know one thing about Michael O'Flaherty and his predecessors: they stand up to power, don't applaud abuse of power.
➡️ Reporting indicates 🇪🇺 largely stayed seated, 🇺🇸-delegates applauded www.irishtimes.com/world/europe...
