A UN human rights expert provided a report to an international conference in Thailand on Wednesday regarding discrimination of the lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community. In that report, the expert from the UN Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) provided five key steps to end discrimination and violence against the global LGBTI [...]
The Rwandan government on Wednesday announced that it has launched an investigation into the possible involvement of 20 French military officials in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Richard Muhumuza, Rwanda’s Prosecutor General, said that the inquiry is focused on 20 individuals and that more information is required from them. There have long existed tensions between Rwanda [...]
Judges for the US District Court for the Middle District Court of North Carolina ruled Tuesday that North Carolina must redraw congressional districts by March 15, 2017, and hold special primary and general elections by next fall. The order follows afterthe court found 28 districts’ elections to be unconstitutional due to racial gerrymandering. The ruling [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Roger Byron, Esq. Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute discusses how Felix v. City of Bloomfield illustrates inherent flaws in the Lemon v. Kurtzman Establishment Clause test … The late Justice Antonin Scalia once described the infamous Lemon v. Kurtzman test for analyzing Establishment Clause matters as a “ghoul” from a “late-night [...]
A spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern Tuesday about possible crimes against humanity committed against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority. The UN has found, “a wide range of human rights violations and abuses against the Rohingya, including arbitrary deprivation of nationality, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, threats to life and [...]
US Central Command concluded on Wednesday that airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition near Dayr az Zawr, Syria, in September did not violate international law. According to Russian sources , the strike killed 60 soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad . The soldiers were misidentified as Islamic State (IS) fighters by the Combined [...]
The Dutch House of Representatives voted in favor of a proposed partial ban on facial covers on Tuesday, including niqabs and burkas worn by many Muslim women. Of the 12 political parties represented in the Netherlands, nine have endorsed the ban, which could be signed into law as early as this week. The ban would [...]
A judge for the Dane County Circuit Court on Tuesday denied an attempt to have a recount of votes from the presidential election counted by hand. The recount is set to begin Thursday. Green Party candidate Jill Stein had filed the request after protesting the validity of the state’s electronic tabulating machines and claiming they [...]
The Hong Kong Court of Appeal ruled against two elected, pro-independence politicians from taking local office Wednesday. Yau Wai-ching and Sixtus Leung were barred as a result of a political protest launched during their inaugural oaths. The oaths were deemed unfulfilled when the pair pledged their allegiance to the “Hong Kong Nation” as opposed to [...]
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižniek , expressed concern Tuesday over three counter-terrorism measures proposed in the Netherlands, which the Ccommissioner believes have the potential to violate human rights. In a letter by the commissioner to Dutch officials, Muižniek acknowledged the threat presented by potential terrorism. He went on to communicate his [...]
