Simone Gbagbo, the wife of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo , will be tried in an Ivory Coast court on charges of crimes against humanity, according to a government statement released Friday. In a special cabinet meeting Friday the government declined to transfer Simone Gbagbo to the International Criminal Court (ICC) , where she [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged the government of Nepal to appoint qualified new members to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in order to best ensure the protection of Nepali citizens. Despite notice by then-commissioners, along with an outcry from many citizen groups, the government allowed the terms of all commissioners to lapse [...]
UN officials on Thursday urged member states to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its three optional protocols at the upcoming 2013 treaty event, which will be held at its New York headquarters. The US, Somalia and South Sudan are the only three states that are not party to the convention. [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday accused governmental surveillance centers of invasion of privacy and reliance on racial and religious profiling in their Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and urged the centers to adopt stricter standards of reporting. Commonly known as “fusion centers” , these government surveillance units were established by Congress after the [...]
An Argentine judge on Wednesday issued warrants for four former Spanish officials accused of human rights violations during the Francisco Franco regime . Under international law , individuals accused of human rights abuses may be investigated and tried elsewhere if the country in which the violations occurred does not do so. Citing to international law [...]
The Obama administration on Thursday petitioned the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari to review the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) “contraception mandate.” The legal question about the provision was not discussed before the court when it upheld the Act in the June 2012 ruling . The petition [...]
Halliburton pleaded guilty in US federal court on Thursday to charges that it had destroyed evidence in connection with its role in the BP oil spill in 2010. The company admitted that it had tampered with a protected computer , erasing 3D models of the affected wells, in order to destroy evidence of its role [...]
Zimbabwe’s high court on Thursday ordered the release of 21 activist members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who had been detained for over two years in connection with the death of police officer Petros Mutedza. The individuals are among 29 activists, referred to as the Glen View 29, who have been imprisoned in [...]
The Texas 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin overturned the conviction of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) on Thursday, concluding that the state failed to prove proceeds of criminal activity in its money laundering charges against DeLay. A three-judge panel voted 2-1 to overturn the conviction, holding that the evidence presented by the [...]
Arizona’s Department of Transportation announced on Tuesday that the existing ban on driver’s licenses for immigrants participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) would be extended to anyone whose deportation has been deferred. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona, a litigant in the lawsuit challenging the original ban, the [...]
