This Update on International Justice is prepared by the International Law and Human Rights Program and provided for informational purposes only. Any opinions expressed in articles contained in this Update are not necessarily endorsed by PGA or any individual/s associated with PGA; nor does PGA or any individual/s associated with PGA vouch for the accuracy of the contents of these articles.
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On August 21, 2025, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticized the U.S. for the "relentless intensification" of sanctions against International Criminal Court officials. These sanctions follow the imposition of sanctions on four other ICC personnel in connection with investigations into alleged war crimes committed by the U.S. and Israel.
On August 19, 2025, French President Macron proposed a peace summit between Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Despite the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Putin, both Switzerland and Austria said that they would be willing to host him for peace talks.
On August 25, 2025, Bangladesh's interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, called for justice and security for the 1.5 million Rohingya refugees sheltered in Bangladesh. Yunus presented a seven-point plan to secure the refugees' safe and voluntary return to Myanmar, and called for renewed momentum in accountability efforts at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court.
On August 26, 2025, Amnesty International called for an investigation into war crimes committed by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon. The army's actions have "rendered entire areas uninhabitable and ruined countless lives."
On August 26, 2025, during a podcast interview, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly acknowledged the Armenian genocide for the first time. The Ottoman Empire committed genocide against Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians during World War I.
On August 28, 2025, Amnesty International reported that families of detainees in Xinjiang continue to suffer from Chinese repression three years after a major UN report found that the Chinese government's treatment of Muslim ethnic minorities in the Uyghur region may amount to crimes against humanity.
On August 26, 2025, United Nations human rights experts expressed concern over Peru's promulgation of an amnesty law for security forces accused of crimes committed between 1980 and 2000. They warned that the law violates international standards, creating an unacceptable form of impunity that undermines decades of progress toward justice, truth, and reparations for victims.
On August 21, 2025, French judges dismissed the case against Agathe Habyarimana, the former First Lady of Rwanda, due to insufficient evidence linking her to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which around 800,000 people were killed.
On August 14, 2025, senior officials from over 30 countries and international organizations issued a joint statement urging an end to the siege of El Fasher in the North Darfur region of Sudan. In July, the International Criminal Court stated that there are "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been, and continue to be, committed in Darfur."
On August 2, 2025, a conflict monitoring group found that, since the beginning of the war in Gaza, nearly nine out of ten Israeli military investigations into cases of alleged war crimes or abuses have been closed or remain unresolved.
On August 12, 2025, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) published its annual report, revealing that its investigators had uncovered systematic torture in Myanmar's military-run detention facilities and a continued pattern of atrocities throughout the country.
On August 14, 2025, Human Rights Watch stated that Israeli forces had unlawfully attacked Iran's Evin prison on June 23, 2025, resulting in severe damage to buildings and the killing and injuring of numerous civilians, constituing an aparent war crime.
On August 14, 2025, Amnesty International urged the Taliban's de facto authorities to put an end to four years of injustice and impunity in Afghanistan by reinstating a formal legal system and the rule of law.
On August 14, 2025, the UN Syria Commission released a report finding that members of Syria's interim government and fighters linked to the former regime had committed widespread and systematic violence in March, killing around 1,400 people, which may amount to war crimes.
On August 1, 2025, the International Criminal Court's appeals judges ordered Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to recuse himself from an ongoing investigation in Venezuela, citing a conflict of interest.
On August 3, 2025, the trial of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina began at the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal. She faces multiple charges of crimes against humanity for the deaths of at least 1,400 anti-government protesters last year.
On August 4, 2025, Italian judges dismissed the case against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had been under investigation for releasing a Libyan police officer despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
On August 8, 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) unsealed an arrest warrant for Libyan national Saif Suleiman Sneidel, who is accused of committing war crimes, including murder and torture, in eastern Libya.
