Myanmar’s government on Monday formed the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) to promote and safeguard the country’s constitutional rights. Members of the commission include former government officials, diplomats, academics, doctors and lawyers, some of whom have made statements in the past defending the country’s human rights record. The commission has been met with skepticism [...]
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Tuesday convicted ex-Yugoslav army chief Momcilo Perisic for crimes against humanity and war crimes , committed during the wars in Bosnia and Croatia, sentencing him to 27 years in prison. He was found guilty of 12 out of 13 charges, including aiding and abetting murders [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Leonard Baynes of St. John’s University School of Law says that in order for a lawyer to be an effective advocate for their client and for social justice, they must advocate to the public as well as the courts. He demonstrates this by introducing a series of articles written by his students [...]
Judd Baroff, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2012, is the author of the first article in a ten part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development under the direction of Professor Leonard Baynes. Baroff writes on reforming US education policy through the introduction of high school [...]
The trial of former French president Jacques Chirac opened in his absence on Monday after Judge Dominique Pauthe of the 11th Criminal Court of Paris agreed to continue the proceedings without him. Chirac and his legal team filed documents with the court on Friday claiming Chirac is too ill to face his corruption trial , [...]
Violence broke out in the Egyptian court where the corruption and murder trial of former president Hosni Mubarak resumed on Monday for a third session. As the first witness for the prosecution began testimony during the trial’s third hearing, plaintiffs and their lawyers clashed with Mubarak supporters . The witness was a police official who [...]
UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday gave a speech on the situation in Libya , announcing an investigation into collusion between MI6 , the overseas British Security Service, and the Libyan Security Services regarding the treatment of former Guantanamo Bay detainees. Accusations of M16 sending detainees to knowingly be tortured by Libyan security services [...]
The trial of former Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde began on Monday, on charges that he was grossly negligent for failing to stop the nation’s banking collapse during the 2008 financial crisis . Court convened in the Landsdomur, a special court to try cabinet ministers, with Haarde’s lawyers requesting a dismissal of all charges, which [...]
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) reported on Saturday that more detainees have joined a hunger strike in protest of ongoing trials related to recent pro-democracy protests. The nearly 20 jailed doctors face charges in relation to protests and have begun fasting in objection to “continued detention of the doctors and other detainees at [...]
Panamanian lawmakers approved a bill Saturday that requires runoffs in close presidential elections. The bill mandates that if no candidate amasses 50 percent of the vote after the election, a second round of voting would take place . A presidential election is currently won by a mere majority vote. Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli praised the [...]
