The High Court of Botswana has ruled that the government's eviction of Bushmen inhabiting the Kalahari desert is "unlawful and unconstitutional." The suit was brought by 239 members of the San tribe with the aid of the...
Outgoing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for greater efforts to protect human rights worldwide in a speech marking International Human Rights Day . Annan on Friday acknowledged that the UN has often...
The Russian State Duma has effectively extended a national moratorium on the death penalty until 2010 by postponing until then the establishment of jury trials in Chechnya , the only territory in...
Legislation extending the mandate of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) passed both houses of the US Congress last week at the end of its current session, and the agency will continue to monitor US...
The Maryland Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on Monday in a case challenging a 1973 state law banning same-sex marriage . Plaintiffs, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy...
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has announced an 18-month timetable for lifting the state of emergency that Egypt has lived under since 1981. The administration of President Hosni Mubarak will...
The US Department of Justice urged a federal appeals court Monday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the NSA's domestic surveillance program pursuant to the state secrets privilege. In a brief submitted to the US Court of Appeals for the...
A California appeals court has ruled that a 2005 referendum authorizing the transfer of land, on which a 29-foot cross commemorating veterans sits, to the federal government did not violate the California constitution . The land,...
In two separate rulings on Friday, Chinese courts rejected the appeals of a journalist and rights activist who challenged the government. In a five-minute session, the Beijing High Court rejected an appeal by Zhao Yan , a...
The Central African Republic (CAR) has violated international law by arbitrarily detaining people, holding detainees for extended periods without charges and trials, and maintaining prisons in degrading conditions, according to a study released Thursday by Amnesty...
