Washington Center For Human Rights
From DC to the World
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe release of the 2025 Opinion on the risks of money laundering (ML) and terrorist financing (TF) by the European Banking Authority (EBA) is considered a critical point in the development of a new anti-money laundering system in the EU. Publication of the Opinion dated July 28, 2025, addresses vulnerabilities that arise when financial technology […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingIn 2025, the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) established a remuneration program to the tune of 200 million dollars to the victims of sex trafficking that occurred through Backpage.com between 2004 and 2018. The fund is the largest restitution initiative ever made to trafficking survivors as part of prosecution of Backpage executives with the finances […]
CategoriesTerror FinancingIn July 2025, Tether, issuer of the world’s most circulated stablecoin USDT, froze $1.6 million in assets linked to a Gaza-based terror financing network. The move seized wallets attributed to BuyCash Money and Money Transfer Company, a monetary organization based in Gaza and already involved with unlawful transmission of finances to listed terrorist groups. The […]
CategoriesanalysisOn April 16, 2025, the UK Supreme Court unanimously decided that the terms “woman,” “man,” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 are not based on legal gender identification, but rather on biological sex at birth. This decision overruled previous interpretations that had allowed transgender individuals with Gender Recognition Certificates (GRCs) to be recognized legally […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingCreated by artist Molly Gochman in 2014, the Red Sand Project developed into a popular global initiative that gives visibility to the human trafficking victims ignored by the systems created to serve them. When the participants pour red sand into cracks in the sidewalk, it becomes a powerful connotation of so many people that slip […]
CategoriesWar CrimesA case judgment rendered by the International Criminal Court in July 2025, condemning Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissonia, marked one of the most significant ones on the court record in recent years. The two men who were former leaders of the Christian anti-Balaka militia were convicted of planning and facilitating systematic acts of war crimes […]
CategoriesSlaveryThe system of identifying and assisting the victims of modern slavery in the UK has been linked to the areas of immigration law resulting in several outcomes that tend to make the entire process of protecting vulnerable people more challenging instead of helpful. The main component of this process is the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingOn July 22, 2025, Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) imposed disciplinary sanctions on three financial institutions after conducting an investigation into significant breaches of their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) procedures. Indian Overseas Bank, Hong Kong Branch (IOBHK) was given a penalty of HK$8.5 million, which included a public reprimand, which was the highest […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingIn 2025, Morgan Stanley, one of the most successful global financial institutions, with a significant operation in the wealth management and investment banking sector, faces a thorough regulatory inquiry over its ease of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the self-regulatory organization of the US financial system, has launched an investigation into […]
CategoriesWar CrimesThe Washington Centre (Human Rights) gives serious concern and condemnation after the reported arrest and interrogation of two Israeli people in Belgium that happened on July 20 and 21, 2025. The six men accused of having ties to Israeli military action in Gaza were arrested on the basis of Belgium’s universal jurisdiction scheme- a move […]
CategoriesWar CrimesOn 20 and 21 July 2025 Belgian law enforcement agencies received worldwide coverage, when two Israeli citizens were arrested and questioned based on claims that they had participated in war crimes during their military combat activity in Gaza. This is the first known instance that Israelis have been questioned formally in Europe in relation with […]
CategoriesSlaveryThe Royal Exchange, Manchester, which had once been described as the centrepiece of the British industrial abilities, has returned into the spotlight of the increasing criticism of the colonial history of the United Kingdom. A wave of recent academic research has revealed that the city’s commercial rise, particularly through the Royal Exchange, was deeply intertwined […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingAs an independent human rights policy institute, the Washington Centre of Human Rights (WCHR) is dedicated to accomplishing justice and safeguarding already disadvantaged communities, a highly chastened war against human trafficking that has been on the increase across North Texas and especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area. With reference to recent cross-agency law enforcement […]
CategoriesanalysisIn June 2025 the Philippine Court of appeals ordered the immediate freeing of 81-year-old Prudencio Calubid jr., retired technician who had spent six months in jail on the basis of charges in a gross case of mistaken identity. In December 2024 he was arrested in his house in Olongapo City with a government bounty of […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingNorth Texas of 2025 has been known to be one of the most critical public safety issues concerning Human trafficking. The Dallas Police Department (DPD) has experienced a massive upsurge in cases of human trafficking in the last four years with 49 instances in 2021 as compared with 157 cases in 2023. These are not […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe European Union is entering a fresh period of a fight against money laundering (AML) regulation reform catapulted by years of scandals and holes in enforcement. The EU hopes that with the introduction of the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) in 2025, a harmonized rulebook in operation now, sanctions in coordination and oversight in one […]
CategoriesTerror FinancingWith numerous convictions on terrorism funding that have taken place in Nigeria recently, the viability of the strategy that the country is employing to counter Boko Haram violence and other forms of extremism has once again become the topic of a debate. In July 2025, 44 cases of prison sentences of 10 to 30 years […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingThe human trafficking struggle can be impersonal and faceless, easily collapsing to a message in the newspaper or a number in the report. However in July 2025 the city of Lakewood, Ohio launched a project that questions this distance in a radical, creative manner: the QR Quilt. This is an art that integrates technology to […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingIn July 2025 the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) fined one of the local banks AED 3 million (which is approximately 817,000 US dollars) because of numerous violations of the United Arab Emirates anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) laws. This enforcement action is the latest in a string of high-profile […]
CategoriesanalysisThe fresh wave of evictions that is hitting Assam in the middle of the year 2025 has sparked renewed debate regarding the constitutional protection and the properties rights and citizen rights of the aboriginal and minority groups. During June and July alone, thousands of state residents were evicted off properties, which were declared as encroachments […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingThe human trafficking business in the United States is still on the edge- dark, undocumented, and complicated. Each year thousands are tricked into working or sex against their will. To address this protracted crisis, two Congressmen, Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Lucy McBath (D-GA), introduced the bill entitled Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act at the […]
CategoriesWar CrimesThe International Criminal Court (ICC) has also shown great concern on the fact that there have been persistent war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur in Sudan. Ever since war broke out again in December 2023, Darfur has plunged into lawlessness. More than 40 000 are believed to have died and almost 13 […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingIn 2025, human trafficking continues to loom long over West Africa. Economic turmoil, lack of border checks, war and the digitalization of communication have enabled the traffickers to expand their activities with expanding finesse. The trend in which 40 Ghanaians have been rescued out of a compound in Ondo state in Nigeria since it is […]
CategoriesanalysisIn its Universal Periodic Review (UPR), Kuwait’s human rights record was examined officially under international scrutiny on May 7, 2025, by the UN Human Rights Council. Kuwait is in the fourth cycle of the UPR session and the meeting highlighted the advances, backsliding and opposition on the current reforms. The Kuwaiti representatives at Geneva were […]
CategoriesanalysisIn 2025, Afghanistan is still recovering after one of the biggest mass returns in the recent past. More than 1.4 million Afghans have been coming back, involuntarily in most cases, both Iran and Pakistan. Such returns are not occurring in a flash of quietness or optimism. They are taking place against the background of a […]
CategoriesMedia CensorshipA decree issued by the Ministry of Health of North Macedonia on July 6, 2025 triggered a debate at the national level on the freedom of the press, censorship, and the correct position of state communication in the crisis. The order was in response to an emergency at a sports and health center that was […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe government of New Zealand came out in a forceful crackdown on illegal money with a 5,000 NZD (roughly 3,000 USD) limit imposed on international money transfer in the middle of the year 2025. The limit is included in the overall review of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) system of the […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingThailand is facing a growing menace of call centre rackets and human trafficking and smuggling networks that have become serious frontiers of national security. On July 10, 2025, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) retreated to its pledge of the five-point plan of issuing terrorism in a bid to stamp out these criminal activities. The […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingIn July, 2025 Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) levied a total of S27.45 million (US21.5 million) in fines against 9 financial institutions that categorically violated anti-money laundering (AML) regulatory laws. This was the second-largest regulatory fine in the history of the city-state that followed only those associated with the 1MDB scandal.It followed a far-reaching investigation […]
CategoriesanalysisIn July 2025, the Inter-American court of human rights released one of the most significant decisions it could ever make: an advisory opinion that sees the climate crisis as an official human rights emergency. The opinion holds that states, for the first time in the Americas, have a positive law duty to mitigate and adapt […]
CategoriesanalysisRussia started an unprecedented and quite doubtful step; on July 3, 2025, an official recognition of the Taliban as the legitimate Afghan Government was made. In a ceremony described by the Russian Foreign Ministry as “normalization of diplomatic procedure,” the Taliban flag was raised over the Afghan embassy in Moscow. The Taliban envoy Jamal Nasir […]
CategoriesanalysisIt was one moment which sparked the protests gripping Serbia in 2025. November 1, 2024 happened when a newly repaired train station canopy in Novi Sad collapsed and this resulted in the deaths of 16 people and an additional injury. The first response of the government was to say that the incident was a technical […]
CategoriesanalysisOn 4 July 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) voted by wide margin against the resolution by Eritrea to end the mandate on the human rights situation in Eritrea. It was a clear indication that the world will not allow one of the long-running human rights crises in Africa to go unnoticed as […]
CategoriesanalysisOn July 6, 2025, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)’s offices based in Nairobi had been violently disrupted. A group of armed men, numbering about 20 entered the compound, beat up activists and journalists as well as looting the equipment as a press conference was about to begin. The KHRC was about to give voice […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe Greek farmers bribery affair has driven the European Union to the point of discrediting its processes of allocating funds, as well as executing its political and agricultural subsidy systems and mechanisms. With revelations of a conspiracy of systematic fraud, top level political corruption and intricate money laundering, as well as systemic weaknesses in the […]
CategoriesTerror FinancingIn 2025, the European Union is going through a significant transformation of a counterterrorism strategy. The essence of this change is a growing propensity of marking activist networks, especially those promoting the rights of Palestinians as a national and continental security menace. The liberalization of EU terror listing has also put groups like Samidoun and […]
CategoriesSlaveryIn July 2025 the decades-old campaign of reparatory justice by Caribbean countries put the focus onto Europe when a large delegation initiated a new effort in Westminster at the same time as it opened one in Brussels. Their target: introducing the question of reparations over slavery and colonialism to the political agenda of former colonial […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingThe March 2025 report released by Interpol indicates that there are at least 66 countries whose respective victims are being trafficked to online scam hotspots. These criminal enterprises have quickly spread to other untapped areas such as West Africa, Central America, and Middle East although the epicentre remains to be Southeast Asia where most reporting […]
CategoriesWar CrimesSince Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, one of the most horrifying patterns to emerge has been the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war. These are not isolated events. They reflect a systemic disregard for international humanitarian law by Russian forces. Ukrainian prosecutors have documented 273 cases of executed POWs, with nearly half of […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe European Union is highly affected by money laundering, which disputes the integrity of the economy as well as the confidence of the people. According to the European Commission estimate, illicit financial flows comprise approximately 1 percent of the EU GDP or approximately 140 billion Euros every year. These numbers testify to the bottoms of […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingThe problems of human trafficking related to online scam centers have developed into a global crisis and are past the boundaries of Southeast Asia to all continents. On a recent crime trend update issued by INTERPOL in mid-2025, it was revealed that victims have been trafficked into these scam operations in as many as 66 […]
CategoriesanalysisThe Syrian war, which started in March 2011, is now in its fourteenth year, a time during which this psychological and physical scar left quite an imprint on the nation and its population. The marks of the war have been entrenched in Syria society even after the downfall of the Assad regime in December 2024. […]
CategoriesMedia CensorshipIn recent months, a coalition of over 110 French journalists has publicly condemned the killing of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces during the ongoing conflict in Gaza. This unprecedented collective response highlights the grave risks faced by media professionals reporting from the region and calls attention to what they describe as a systematic campaign of […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has recently taken a significant regulatory action by revoking the license of Sundus Exchange, a money exchange firm operating in the UAE, and imposing a financial penalty of AED 10 million (approximately USD 2.72 million). This enforcement follows investigations that revealed serious violations of anti-money laundering […]
CategoriesMedia CensorshipKenya recently witnessed a significant escalation in tensions between the government and civil society following a government-imposed ban on live media coverage of nationwide protests marking the one-year anniversary of the deadly 2024 anti-tax demonstrations. The ban, enforced by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), triggered widespread condemnation from activists, journalists, media houses, and legal […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingThe recent guilty plea of Charles Uchenna Nwadavid, a Nigerian national accused of laundering $2.5 million in cryptocurrency stolen from U.S. victims, has once again spotlighted the complex intersection of cryptocurrency, international crime, and online fraud. This case, unfolding in Boston federal court, reveals how digital currencies and peer-to-peer platforms have become tools for sophisticated […]
CategoriesTerror FinancingIn 2025, the South African telecommunications firm MTN Group finds itself at the heart of a heated scandal involving suspicions of cooperation in terror financing linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). U.S. legal actions and legislative scrutiny have spotlighted MTN’s 49% ownership of Irancell, Iran’s largest mobile operator, which courts and authorities have […]
CategoriesHuman TraffickingChild trafficking is a serious and ongoing problem in cities all over the world, and recent incidents in Quezon City, Philippines, have highlighted this secret crisis in stark relief. Two accommodation facilities—Blazingwood Apartelle in Barangay San Agustin and MC Hotel in Novaliches—had been ordered closed by local authorities for their role in child trafficking and […]
CategoriesAnti Money LaunderingA recent money laundering probe in Spain has uncovered a chilling child trafficking racket that reportedly trafficked at least 30 babies over three years. This case highlights the complex and often hidden connections between financial crimes and human trafficking networks. The investigation not only exposed the trafficking of infants but also revealed the sophisticated financial […]
CategoriesWar CrimesThe Washington Centre for Human Rights (WCHR) expresses profound concern over the recent escalation of violence between Iran and Israel, which has been further intensified by the United States’ military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. On June 22, 2025, the U.S. conducted targeted attacks on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan sites, actions described by American […]