US President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that he would issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on his first day in office. Trump called the TPP a “potential disaster for our country” and said he will instead focus on negotiating “fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back [...]
Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned the life sentences of former president Mohamed Morsi and 16 other members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi had been convicted for conspiring with the Palestinian Hamas and other foreign militant groups. The court ordered a retrial in the matter, though a new hearing date is yet to be [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled Monday that Republican redistricting in the state was unconstitutional gerrymandering. The court stated that Act 43 , enacted by the Wisconsin Legislature in 2011, directly influenced the the results of the 2012 and 2014 elections. According to the court, 12 Wisconsin [...]
A group of UN human rights experts expressed concern Monday over countries attempting to retroactively block a mandate of an independent expert to investigate sexual orientation and gender identity-based rights abuses. The resolution was approved by the member states of the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in June. The challenge came from a bloc of African [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Jody H. Lehrer, of Northeastern Institute of Cannabis , discusses the national movement towards the legalization of cannabis… With increasing frequency states are enacting laws, either through legislators or through voter initiatives, that are chipping away at long standing prohibitionary policies against cannabis possession that still exist undisturbed at the federal level. [...]
A report released Monday by the Global Commission on Drug Policy recommends “no penalty whatsoever” for low-level possession and consumption drug offenses. The commission of 23, which includes former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Paul Volcker, is headed by former president of Switzerland [...]
The UN Human Rights Committee has ordered the Sri Lankan government to provide Canadian Roy Samathanam with “adequate compensation” for his unlawful detention and torture. The committee determined that Sri Lanka needed to locate and prosecute those responsible for Samathanam’s torture. Samathanam called the finding “a measure of justice.” A UN human rights experts said [...]
The Catholic Church in Rwanda on Sunday issued an apology for its role in the Rwandan Genocide in a statement read aloud to parishioners. The Church acknowledged that many members engaged in wrongdoing, including the planning, aiding and execution of innocent people in Rwanda and also acknowledged that many were slain in the churches in [...]
A proposed Israeli law legalizing more than 100 outposts in the occupied West Bank would violate Israeli and international law, stated a UN Special Rapporteur on Monday. Michael Lynk , Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, warned that the legalization of the outposts could spell the demise of the [...]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled statewide initiatives to combat hate crime and protect civil rights on Sunday. While addressing the congregation at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church he proposed the addition of a hate crimes unit in the state police as well as legislation to increase protection against discrimination against public school students. Cuomo also [...]
