US threat to international justice; Philippines withdraws from the International Criminal Court; Oyub Titiev's veredict happening today in Chechnya; crucial week for EU-China relations; joint call on European leaders to end the containment policy for asylum seekers in Greece; EPP should expel Fidesz; and the reasons why the US needs the Equality Act.

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The United States has threatened the International Criminal Court (ICC) and, by doing so, it imperils accountability for grave international crimes. Last week, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo announced that the US will impose visa bans on the ICC's personnel involved in potential investigation of US citizens and may possibly be used to deter ICC investigations against citizens of US allies. 

Also this weekend, the Philippines has officially withdrawn from the ICC, which has been pledging to pursue an investigation on the widespread killings by police in the Philippines.

Today a Chechen court will issue the verdict against Oyub Titiev, a human rights defender with the Russian group Memorial. The bogus drug possession case against Titiev, based on fabricated evidence, is politically motivated and aims to stifle reporting on human rights abuses in Chechnya.

This is a crucial week for EU-China relations, which will be discussed by European ministers of foreign affairs and heads of state ahead of a summit in April. Last week a group of NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, sent them a letter explaining why human rights should be their top priority

Three years after the EU-Turkey deal, a group of humanitarian, human rights and volunteer NGOs call on European leaders to end the unfair and unnecessary containment policy which is preventing asylum seekers from leaving the Greek islands

It's time for the European People Party's members to expel Fidesz, Orbán's political party, from their shared center-right political bloc in Europe. Political groups should vote for his expulsion in the upcoming Political Assembly on March 20.

And here are the reasons why the US needs the Equality Act. 

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