The Third Committee of the UN General Assembly on Monday approved a resolution calling for a global ban on female genital mutilation (FGM). The committee’s resolution calls on the UN’s 193 member countries to enact and enforce legislation to protect women and girls from female circumcision and other genital mutilation procedures and to end impunity [...]
El Salvador should address the continued challenges to the independence of its judicial system, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Gabriela Knaul stated on Monday. Her mission was to examine El Salvador’s progress at implementing and fulfilling its human rights obligations regarding the independence of judges and lawyers and those [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist David Harris of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law discusses his new book, which looks at the tendency of law enforcement to resist advances in scientific knowledge that undermine more “traditional” methods of police investigation…
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Tuesday that the euro zone’s permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) , is in line with European law, following a referral from the Ireland Supreme Court. The referral arose from a claim made by a member of Irish Parliament that the ESM, an amendment to the [...]
Ericsson, the Swedish telecom network equipment maker, on Tuesday announced that it filed suit against Samsung in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for patent infringement. The suit follows a disagreement between the two companies for the renewal of licenses for telecommunications patents. The negotiation lasted for nearly two years after [...]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Pakistani judges on Tuesday to stop using contempt of court powers as a mechanism for silencing the media’s critique of the judiciary. Since 2009 when the independent judiciary was restored, Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the provincial high courts have reportedly attempted to muzzle the media’s criticism of [...]
Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday signed a law on conducting national referendums. Pursuant to the law, referendums can be used to approve altering the wording of the constitution, to amend the constitution and to repeal a law amending the constitution. They can also be used to resolve territorial issues of Ukraine. Opposition parties have [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday remanded Liberty University v. Geithner to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit . The court ordered the lower court to re-consider the case in light of National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius . The Fourth Circuit previously dismissed the suit as untimely. The suit’s original [...]
The US Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases on Monday. In Vance v. Ball State University the court considered whether an employer can be held vicariously liable for harassment by supervisors who oversee the daily work of the alleged victim, and if that potential liability is limited to those having firing and hiring power. [...]
The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has accused a group of Islamist radicals of committing crimes against humanity in Nigeria. According to the OTP’s 2012 Report on Preliminary Examination Activities , there is a reasonable basis to conclude that Boko Haram , an Islamist militant group that endeavors to [...]
