JURIST Guest Columnist Christopher Cardona, John Marshall Law School Class of 2014, discusses Kenya’s recent withdrawal from the ICC and what that could mean for other ICC member states…

The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on Thursday rejected an appeal by former Liberian president Charles Taylor of his convictions for war crimes committed during the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone . According to press release from the court, Taylor’s lawyers appealed his convictions on 42 grounds, arguing that the Trial Chamber [...]

Twenty-one same-sex couples on Wednesday filed suit asking the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to affirm the legality of their marriage licenses, which were issued by a county clerk who believed the state’s same-sex marriage ban was unconstitutional. The couples claim that the state’s same-sex marriage ban violates both the state and federal constitutions, and the suit [...]

The US government on Wednesday signed a UN Arms Trade Treaty that regulates global trade in conventional arms. US Secretary of State John Kerry , while signing the treaty on behalf of the US government, stated that the signature would affect US manufacturers and exports only minimally given the already strict export controls for weapons. [...]

Sri Lanka must continue to work to improve its human rights record, according to an oral report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay filed Wednesday with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) . The report noted the large military presence in certain regions and lack of civil administration and economic activity, despite [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Wednesday welcomed the establishment of a national human rights commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but said that rights abuses continue in the east. Pillay’s report attributed the recent violence in the east to state security forces, the guerrilla group 23 March Movement (M23) [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Wednesday expanded a lawsuit seeking the recognition of same-sex spouses on death certificates. Judge Timothy Black ruled in July and September that the surviving same-sex spouses of two decedents should be listed as spouses on death certificates because their marriages were [...]

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) on Monday filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) accusing the US government of committing human rights violations in Vieques island, part of Puerto Rico. The petition was filed on behalf of 10 Vieques residents who have cancer or have relatives suffering from cancer. Vieques was [...]

A three-judge panel for the US District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled Tuesday that the Obama administration would be allowed to join the ongoing challenge to Texas’ voter redistricting maps. The ruling will allow the administration to argue for bringing oversight of Texas’ voting law back under the court. This oversight was [...]

A new report by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation (IFC) on Tuesday revealed that most countries still have legal disparities that prevent women from engaging in economic activity. The report determined that in 90 percent of all surveyed 143 economies, there was at least one legal difference adversely affecting women. Among the countries, [...]