The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion in the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Friday to halt enforcement of a controversial Alabama immigration law that expands restrictions on undocumented immigrants. The law requires school officials to verify the immigration status of children and parents, authorizes police to detain an individual [...]
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their efforts in promoting women’s rights. Sirleaf, known as the “Iron Lady,” is the president of Liberia and the first woman elected to head of state in Africa . Gbowee is a founder [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday again refused to hold the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in contempt for destroying videotapes of detainee interviews following the events of 9/11 . Judge Alvin Hellerstein previously ruled on this issue in August. The case against the CIA, [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday ruled that challengers of the $3.4 billion settlement agreement in the American Indian trust class-action lawsuit will not be required to put up a bond before proceeding with appeals, clearing the way for appeals of the settlement to begin. Six notices [...]
Homicide rates in Central American countries, including El Salvador and Honduras, are reaching a “crisis point,” according to a Thursday UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report detailing global rates of homicide. The report found that young men in Central and Southern America, Central and Southern Africa and the Caribbean are at the greatest [...]
The new chief prosecutor, Army Brig. General Mark Martins , on Wednesday indicated future military commissions at Guantanamo will be more transparent and fair to defendants. In addition to congressionally mandated changes like restrictions on the use of evidence obtained through torture or coercion, Martins highlighted a new website where more court documents will be [...]
The Sri Lankan Special Envoy of the President on Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, announced on Thursday the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted the National Action Plan for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. The five-year plan fulfills Sri Lanka’s pledge made in 2008 as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) . According to [...]
Defense counsel for three Kenyan leaders charged in the International Criminal Court (ICC) with inciting violence after the December 2007 Kenyan elections argued Wednesday that prosecutors had not fully investigated evidence that they planned to present at trial. Defense counsel argued that witnesses for the prosecution were motivated by greed and that the charges against [...]
The EU Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general Juliane Kokott on Thursday issued an opinion stating that an EU law forcing foreign airlines using EU airports to pay fees for greenhouse gas emissions is lawful . Kokott said that the carbon emission fees do not violate international law, as several US and Canadian airlines have [...]
JURIST Special Guest Columnist Andrea Prasow of Human Rights Watch says that Obama has corrected course from the worst of the Bush-era detainee abuses but the US should implement public procedural safeguards to ensure detainees are not transferred to countries where they face a risk of torture… A cache of documents recently uncovered by Human [...]
