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Afghanistan to suspend controversial limits on women's rights pending review
Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] said Monday that a law which severely limits the rights of married Shi’ite women in Afghanistan would not be enforced until the country's Ministry of Justice has comple (More) |
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Afghanistan president orders review of controversial law restricting women's rights
Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] said Saturday that he has ordered the review of a law which severely limits the rights of married Shi'ite women in the country. The Shi'ite Personal Status Law was enacted last (More) |
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UN rights committee urges Rwanda to investigate post-genocide killings
The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) on Friday called on the government of Rwanda to investigate reports of killings during and after the uprising by the Rwandan Patriotic Army to end the 1994 genocide . In its concluding observations after revi (More) |
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New Mexico's repeal of death penalty keeps justice not vengeance as guiding legal principle
Tammy Fiebelkorn and Marcia Wilson [Program Manager and Attorney, New Mexico Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty]: "On March 18, 2009, New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson signed a bill into law that repeals the death penalty and replaces (More) |
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Afghanistan president signs law restricting women's rights in re-election bid: report
Afghan President Hamid Karzai [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has signed into law a bill which significantly reduces women's rights, including legalizing rape within a marriage, the Guardian reported Tuesday. Critics allege that Karzai signe (More) |
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New Hampshire House votes to repeal death penalty
The New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 193-174 Wednesday to pass a bill repealing the death penalty . The proposed legislation would amend New Hampshire's criminal code by extending the definition of first-degree murder to encompass (More) |
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Supreme Court rules for state on ineffective assistance of counsel habeas claim
The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled unanimously Tuesday in Knowles v. Mirzayance [Cornell LII backgrounder; JURIST report] that a lawyer’s recommendation that a criminal defendant withdraw an insanity plea does (More) |
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Executions increase in 2008 despite global trend away from capital punishment: report
At least 2,390 people were executed throughout 25 countries in 2008, according to a report [text, PDF; AI press release] released Tuesday by Amnesty International (AI) , up from the reported 1,252 executions in 2007 . China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Paki (More) |
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New Mexico governor signs bill repealing death penalty
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) on Wednesday signed a bill [text, PDF; HB 285 materials] which repealed the use of the death penalty in the state. The bill replaces the use of capital punishment with a sentence of life in prison without t (More) |
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Obama administration to sign UN gay rights declaration: official
The administration of US President Barack Obama intends to endorse a UN declaration that calls for decriminalizing homosexuality, according to an anonymous official quoted in a Tuesday Associated Press report . In December, the Bush administration (More) |
WWI gas attack on Canadians led to first chemical weapons ban
On April 24, 1915, the German army used chlorine gas against Canadian troops at Ypres. Gas was later employed by British and French forces against the Germans.
Learn more about early efforts by the Red Cross to ban chemical weapons and review the June 1925 Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.
