South Korea will join the European Union and Japan in supporting a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution condemning North Korea's human rights practices, according to a South Korean foreign ministry official Tuesday. The resolution will be submitted to the UNGA's Third Committee this week, and is expected to address issues including public executions and punishment [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Saturday warned that Colombia faces continued human rights struggles, as she concluded a fact-finding mission to the country. Pointing to continued hostage takings, arbitrary arrests, and especially extrajudicial executions by the military as major struggles, Pillay told reporters: An offense becomes a crime against humanity if [...]
The Alaskan Personnel Board on Monday released a report finding that governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin did not violate state ethics rules when she fired former public safety commissioner Walter Monegan. Monegan had alleged that Palin violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act (EBEA) by using her office to pressure him to fire [...]
A US military commission sentenced Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul to life in prison Monday following his Friday conviction for conspiring with al Qaeda, soliciting murder, and providing material support for terrorism. Al Bahlul, a 39-year old Yemeni citizen, went on trial at Guantanamo Bay late last month. The verdict in al Bahlul's case [...]
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has urged the Mexican Senate to change a law requiring those who file criminal complaints to verify their immigration status. CNDH said Sunday that the country's General Law of Population , which requires the verification, denies undocumented immigrants fundamental protections in violation of the UN Universal Declaration of Human [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in the case of Wyeth v. Levine , in which the court will consider whether the drug labeling requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act preempt state products liability laws. A state jury initially found in favor of a Vermont woman who brought a negligence [...]
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss Armed Forces on Monday began their second annual Senior Workshop on International Rules Governing Military Operations (SWIRMO) , designed this year to teach senior military officials from 51 countries how to apply the rules of war during military training and conflict. The two-week workshop [...]
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has rejected a release request by former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan . Samphan is charged with crimes against humanity for his involvement in the regime's alleged genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians who died between 1975 and 1979. He had argued that [...]
Members of the Pakistan lawyers' movement Monday renewed their demands for the reinstatement of all superior court judges dismissed last November 3 following then-Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule , and threatened more anti-government protests if their demands are not met. At a mass rally of lawyers in Rawalpindi held to mark the [...]
The Indonesian Supreme Court on Monday rejected last-minute appeals filed by relatives of the three men sentenced to death for their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings , with a judge saying the men had exhausted their rights of appeal. Lawyers for the three convicted members of the southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah [...]
