Chilean lawmakers on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill that recognizes civil unions between same-sex couples. The legislation will now go to President Michelle Bachelet next, who is expected to sign it. The bill’s passage will give same-sex couples many of the rights granted to married couples, such as the ability to inherit each [...]
The Supreme Court of Panama voted Wednesday to open a corruption probe against former president Ricardo Martinelli. All nine judges of the court voted to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of Martinelli inflating contracts. Allegations are based on testimony by former head of the National Assistance Program Giacomo Tamburelli, who said he was [...]
South Carolina Circuit Court judge John Hayes III on Wednesday overturned the 54-year-old convictions of nine African American student-activists jailed during the civil rights movement. Arrested while undertaking a lunch counter sit-in, the “Friendship Nine”—Clarence Graham, Mack Workman, Robert McCollough, David Williamson, John Gaines, Thomas Gaither, WT Massey, James Frank Wells and Willie McCleod—were removed [...]
JURIST Guest Columnist Jacob Huebert, of the Liberty Justice Center, discusses a new Illinois eavesdropping law and argues that the Illinois legislators should repeal the law as it violates constitutional principles and individual freedoms… For a few weeks in late 2014, the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein spoke out Tuesday against the excessive force used by security personnel to control political protests in Egypt. The violent security response has led to the death of at least 20 people and includes a report of a peaceful female protestor in central Cairo being shot [...]
A Texas state judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss criminal charges against former governor Rick Perry . The charges came after Perry threatened to veto $7.5 million dollars in funds if Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg did not resign her position after an arrest for driving under the influence. Perry’s lawyers argued that the [...]
Mexican officials issued final findings Tuesday into the disappearance of 43 students with Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam announcing at a press conference that the students were killed after being seized by police in southern Guerrero state. The investigation has led to the arrest of nearly 100 people in connection with the disappearance, including gang [...]
A group of UN human rights experts on Wednesday welcomed a decision by the government of the Netherlands to offer aid to municipalities that provide emergency shelter to homeless migrants. The UN experts described the decision as a welcome change from the Netherlands’ refusal to support those who aided this group. The experts stated “e [...]
An Amnesty International (AI) report released Wednesday called on the UN Security Council to impose sanctions and encourage accountability through International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments and prosecutions to end the cycle of human rights violations and war crimes being committed in Libya. The report focuses in particular on the situation in Benghazi , which has [...]
France’s highest court ruled Wednesday that a same-sex French-Moroccan couple may legally marry . Although Morocco refuses to recognize marriage between two men, France legalized same-sex marriage in 2013. The case was originally brought after a French city hall refused to marry the couple, arguing that the union was blocked by a 1981 agreement between [...]
