An independent UN human rights expert on Thursday urged South Korea to adopt an anti-discrimination law . UN Special Rapporteur on racism Mutuma Ruteere said an anti-discrimination law is particularly important because of increasing globalization, with many foreign workers coming to Korea for employment opportunities: “As Korean society becomes more exposed to foreigners and migrant [...]

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The US Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked Wisconsin from enforcing its voter ID law . The order vacates a September 12 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which stayed an injunction on the law’s enforcement. Thursday’s decision, issued without comment, came as the result of an emergency request filed [...]

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A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Thursday ruled that a Texas voter ID law violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the US Constitution because it is racially discriminatory and places a substantial burden on the right to vote. The law requires voters to obtain one of [...]

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The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on Thursday overturned the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin’s decision that upheld a state statute prohibiting night hunting outside of Native American tribal reservations. Although state jurisdiction over Native Americans is limited, the district court’s decision was based on “the right to [...]

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Speaking at the Geneva presentation of a report by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Moving Away from the Death Penalty , UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic urged the international abolition of the death penalty. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon released a statement in support of the sentiment, [...]

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Lawmakers in South Sudan on Wednesday passed a controversial bill that gives security forces the right to arrest suspected criminals without a warrant. The bill was passed into law in its fourth reading after a three-hour debate. The leader of the minority Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) party Onyoti Adigo walked out during the [...]

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States that have toughened voter identification laws have experienced steeper drops in election turnout than those that have not, including disproportionate falloffs among black and younger voters, according to a nonpartisan congressional study released on Wednesday by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) . By June of this year, 33 states had enacted voter photo [...]

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