Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday called for Mexico to address the failure of its investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from a teacher’s college in Ayotzinapa, Mexico last September. HRW argues the Attorney General’s Office should investigate claims of abuse and obstruction of justice lodged by an expert group appointed by the Inter-American [...]
President Obama on Monday issued an executive order that requires federal contractors to provide at least seven days of paid sick leave to employees. Obama announced his intent during a Labor Day speech in Boston, where he simultaneously urged Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act , which would provide similar sick leave for all [...]
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced a new department-wide policy that increases the number of instances in which US law enforcement must obtain a search warrant to use cell-site technology. Law enforcement agents use cell-site technology to locate cellular devices by acting as a cell-tower; so that cellular devices in the nearby [...]
Amnesty International (AI) said Sunday that the Swazi government is continuing to use repressive laws as a way of silencing those opposed to the government and suppressing freedom of expression. AI made these statements on the day of the forty-seventh anniversary of Swaziland’s independence, noting that such laws include the the 1938 Sedition and Subversive [...]
Thailand’s military-backed legislature, known as the National Reform Council, on Sunday rejected a draft of a new constitution. The draft was rejected by a vote of 135-105, with seven abstentions, which will likely delay elections planned for next year until at least 2017. A new 21-member drafting committee must now be appointed to write a [...]
The Washington Supreme Court ruled Friday that voter-approved initiative 1240 , which allowed 40 charter schools across the state, is unconstitutional. The court determined that the schools cannot receive public funding because the state superintendent has no control over the curriculum or day-to-day activities at the schools. A group of Washington School Administrators and the [...]
A Chilean appeals court on Saturday upheld the convictions of two men for the killing of two Americans in 1973. The Appeals Court of Santiago affirmed the seven-year sentence of General Pedro Espinoza Bravo and the two-year sentence of Rafael Gonzalez Berdugo. The men were charged after the murders of documentary filmmaker Charles Horman and [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Arvind Narrain of ARC discusses the intricacies of the definition of family in the international human rights arena and what this means for LGBTI people, women and children… A significant development in the 29th Session of the Human Rights Council was the passing of a deeply controversial resolution to ‘protect the family’. [...]
Former Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina declared his innocence Friday at his hearing for corruption charges. Judge Migues Angel Galvez suspended proceedings until Tuesday. Molina resigned on Thursday amid corruption charges related to an alleged multimillion dollar customs fraud in Molina’s administration. Molina was publicly charged for his role in propagating a scheme in which [...]
The Hungarian National Assembly on Friday passed a number of emergency measures to address the recent mass migration into Europe. The bill declares a state of emergency in Hungary and establishes strict punishments, including jail time, for immigrants that violate its provisions. The new provision sets out criminal punishment for attempting to cross or damage [...]
