The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar , Tomas Ojea Quintana, on Thursday applauded recent government efforts to encourage a culture of respect between clashing political and religious sects but recognized the need for increased government action on a wide array of issues. While restrictions on Christianity have been removed [...]
The UN Human Rights Committee declared Thursday that Australia’s indefinite detention of 46 recognized refugees on security grounds amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. The refugees, who have been detained for at least two-and-a-half years, brought their complaints to the Committee when they were unable to challenge the legality of their detention in Australian [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Thursday against the state of Texas, the Texas Secretary of State and the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, seeking a declaration from the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas that a voter photo identification law violates Section 2 of the [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled Tuesday that federal district court surpassed its jurisdiction in 2011 by permanently blocking a law requiring online retailers to collect Colorado’;s 2.9 percent sales tax on purchases. The law also required non-collecting online retailers whose gross sales in Colorado exceed $100,000 to mail annual notices [...]
The Council of Europe on Wednesday expressed concern over the UK reaction to the exposure of the US surveillance program, asking for further information. British authorities allegedly threatened legal action against The Guardian and forced employees to destroy computer equipment, including hard drives and memory chips containing information leaked by Edward Snowden. In an open [...]
The Supreme Court of Chile on Wednesday approved the extradition of former Argentine judge, Otilio Romano, for human rights crimes. Romano fled to Chile two years ago to avoid trial for his alleged involvement in more than 100 crimes against humanity while working as a prosecutor during the 1976-1983 Argentine “Dirty War” . Romano denies [...]
Widespread police corruption in Liberia is denying Liberians equal and impartial justice and impeding the country’s postwar development, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday. HRW based its report on conversations with more than 120 victims of police corruption and examination of multiple criminal activities committed by corrupt police officers, ranging from charging crime victims for [...]
The National Security Agency (NSA) obtained up to 56,000 unauthorized communications by misrepresenting the scope of its collection activities when it requested permission to collect documents, according to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinion declassified Wednesday. The NSA sought approval to gather “upstream documents,” email chains that contained multiple lines of communication, under Section [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Tuesday awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages to a victim of torture at the hands of a Somali military colonel some 25 years ago. Judge George Smith determined in November that constitutional law professor Abukar [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Oklahoma (ACLU-OK) filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the Oklahoma County District Court seeking the removal of a Ten Commandments monument placed prominently in the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City. The ACLU cites the constitutional prohibition on using state property to support particular religions [...]
