The Communist Party of China (CPC) announced a blueprint for judicial reform in a communique issued Thursday at the conclusion of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee . According to the communique, the CPC will institute legal reforms aimed at giving judges more independence and limiting the influence of local officials [...]
The UN Human Rights Committee urged China on Thursday to ensure universal suffrage in Hong Kong, including both the right to vote and the right to stand for election without unreasonable restrictions. Currently, the Chinese government plans to allow only Beijing loyalists to stand in 2017 elections, which has led to thousands of people protesting [...]
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was sued Monday for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) . The lawsuit, brought by a former college athlete against the NCAA and NCAA Division 1 Member Schools, alleges that defendants both jointly agreed and conspired to violate the wage and hour provisions of the FLSA and that [...]
The Supreme Court of Japan on Thursday ordered a retrial on a woman’s claims that she was demoted due to her pregnancy. A physiotherapist asked her employer for a less strenuous job position for the duration of her pregnancy. However, after she had the baby and returned to work, the physiotherapist was not reinstated to [...]
Female migrant domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are facing abuse and exploitation , Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Thursday. The group pointed to UAE’s visa sponsorship program, coupled with the lack of laws to protect domestic laborers, as the salient causes for the current situation. The 79- page report describes how migrant [...]
The Cambodian government on Wednesday released the findings of a survey showing the magnitude of violence against children throughout the country. Cambodia’s Violence Against Children Survey, the first survey of its kind in East Asia and the Pacific region, was conducted in 2013 by the National Institute of Statistics of the Ministry of Planning and [...]
A UN human rights expert on Wednesday urged UN member states to make a greater effort to tackle domestic corruption, stating that a clear link exists between torture and corrupt practices. The chairperson of the UN Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT) , Malcolm Evans , presented the SPT’s annual report to the General [...]
Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday released a report detailing the military cover-up that occurred after June 30, when 22 criminal suspects were executed by soldiers in an empty warehouse in the municipality of Tlatlaya. Official reports detail an alleged confrontation between the soldiers and the civilians. However, the Office of the UN [...]
A court in Kuwait on Wednesday convicted 13 people of challenging the country’s ruler by reciting a speech from Musallam Al Barrack , a leading opposition figure. After giving a speech during an October 2012 anti-government protest, Barrack was arrested for insulting leader Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah . Such criticism of the [...]
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA) does not protect legal medical marijuana users from being charged with driving under the influence (DUI). The court reviewed the appeal submitted by Travis Darrah, a legal medical marijuana license holder, and decided the Arizona Revised Statutes allowed the court to [...]
