[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea Vitit Muntarbhorn [official profile] said Monday that the North Korean human rights situation is continuing to deteriorate. Presenting his report [text, PDF] to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website], Muntarbhorn noted that any attempt to halt human rights violations in North Korea would require Security Council (SC) [official website] action. The rapporteur also said he has not been admitted to North Korea and has thus relied on reports from UN agencies, concerned rights groups, and refugees in making his assessment. Muntarbhorn also stated that sanctions [Guardian report] imposed on North Korea in an effort to promote denuclearization have fallen short of improving the country's human rights situation. North Korean diplomat Choe Myong Nam rejected [press release] the special rapporteur's allegations.

In October, Muntarbhorn criticized [JURIST report] North Korea for human rights violations. Muntarbhorn said that North Korea was responsible for a broad range of human rights violations [UN press release], including torture, public executions, and widespread hunger. In March 2009, Muntarbhorn told the UNHRC that he found egregious human rights violations [JURIST report] in North Korea. In October 2008, Muntarbhorn urged [JURIST report] North Korea to improve its treatment of prisoners and unsuccessful defectors, as well as to cooperate in locating kidnapped foreign citizens. In January 2008, Muntarbhorn made similar comments during his visit with a special UN envoy to Japan [JURIST report] to assess the impact of the North Korean rights situation on that country. North Korea has frequently been accused of human trafficking, press repression, and "actively committing crimes against humanity" [JURIST report].

[JURIST] The Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern [official profile], on Sunday proposed [Atheist Ireland press release] holding a referendum later this year to remove the criminal offense of blasphemy from the Irish Constitution [text, PDF]. Blasphemy is a punishable offense under section 40 of the constitution, but the language of the text had been deemed too vague to hold any prosecutions. Ireland's Defamation Act of 2009 [text], which went into effect in January, redefined blasphemy as publishing or uttering "matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion" and imposed a penalty of a fine of up to 25,000 euros for those convicted. The Irish public has been very critical [Irish Times report] of the controversial law. Earlier this year, advocacy group Atheist Ireland [advocacy website] publicly challenged the law on their website by posting 25 potentially blasphemous statements [text] from both religious and public figures. The group praised Ahern's proposed referendum:

We reiterate our position that this law is both silly and dangerous: silly because it is introducing medieval canon law offence into a modern plularist republic; and dangerous because it incentives religious outrage and because its wording has already been adopted by Islamic States as part of their campaign to make blasphemy a crime internationally.

[JURIST] The former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka [JURIST news archive] on Monday criticized the government's treatment of detained opposition leader General Sarath Fonseka [BBC profile]. Sarath Nanda Silva, who retired from the Sri Lankan Supreme Court last year, accused [AFP report] the government of using the military justice system to prevent Fonseka from participating in the upcoming elections scheduled for April 8, and of violating Fonseka's civil rights. Silva's charge implicates Fonseka's presence in the military, rather than civilian system, which he says provides no recourse for Fonseka. Silva also said that Fonseka's arrest was made in violation of the country's constitution [text]. The military has charged Fonseka with mixing politics with the military, and improperly awarding procurement contracts. Fonseka's court-martial hearing begins on Tuesday [BBC report]. Fonseka is also scheduled for a hearing before the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on April 26, where he will challenge his detention.

Also Monday, Sri Lanka criticized [Reuters report] a US State Department report [JURIST report], released last week, which accused Sri Lanka of violating its citizens' civil rights. Last month, the Sri Lankan Supreme Court rejected a petition to release Fonseka, who was taken into custody [JURIST reports] in early February. Also in February, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa [official profile], who defeated Fonseka in the January election, dissolved parliament and called for early parliamentary elections [JURIST report] in an attempt to harness momentum from his victory to gain more seats in parliament for his political party, Freedom Alliance. The Sri Lankan Supreme Court ruled last month that Rajapaksa's second term [JURIST report] will begin in November. Fonseka has disputed [Al Jazeera report] the election results, citing vote counting irregularities and violence.

[JURIST] The US military on Monday transferred Camp Taji [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], one of the two remaining detention facilities under US control, to Iraqi authorities. Located approximately 25 kilometers north of Baghdad, Taji currently houses about 2,900 detainees [AP report] held on arrest warrants, detention orders, or as convicted prisoners. About 100 detainees will remain in US custody. During the ceremony transferring Camp Taji, Brigadier General David Quantock, United States Forces-Iraq [official website] deputy commanding general for detainee operations, praised [AFP report] the Iraqi staff currently running the facility. Quantock added that Camp Cropper [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive], the only remaining US-run detention facility, would be transferred to Iraqi control on July 15.

The US began to scale back its Iraq detention facilities in September when Camp Bucca [GlobalSecurity backgrounder; JURIST news archive] in Southern Iraq was closed [JURIST report] pursuant to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [text, PDF]. According to the agreement, all US troops must be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011, and the US must release all prisoners or transfer them to the control of Iraqi authorities. The Iraqi government must have arrest warrants or detention orders to accept transferred prisoners into Iraqi facilities, otherwise risking release. In anticipation of prisoner releases and transfers [JURIST report], the US opened a new facility in February to train Iraqi corrections officers [press release]. A fourth US-run prison, Abu Ghraib [JURIST news archive], was transferred back to Iraqi control [JURIST report] in 2006 following the release of photographs depicting prisoner abuse by US military personnel.

[JURIST] The Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) [official website, in Chinese] on Sunday approved an amendment to the electoral law mandating equal representation for rural and urban citizens. The electoral reform was adopted [Xinhua report] at the close of the Third Session [official website, in Chinese] of the Eleventh National People's Congress and was hailed [People's Daily report] by the People's Daily, a publication of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China [official websites], as having a "great significance to the improvement of the people's congress system and the development of the socialist democracy, as it could better demonstrate equality among people, regions and ethnic groups." The electoral reform also bans family members of candidates from acting as ballot counters and has been described as key to equal rights [Xinhua reports] by government officials. The NPC on Sunday also approved the Government Work Report [text], which predicts an 8 percent increase in GDP for 2010, along with the 2010 budget, including a 7.5 percent increase in defense spending over last year, and the work reports of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate [official websites, in Chinese].

The electoral reforms were first proposed [JURIST report] at the start of the annual session last Monday. China's prior electoral law provided four times as many congressional representatives to residents of urban districts than residents of rural ones. This ratio was an improvement over the previous one that had been in place since 1953, which provided eight times as many representatives [PTI report] for urban districts over rural ones. Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee Wang Zhaoguo [People's Daily profile, in Chinese] explained [text] the need for the reform at the beginning of the session by pointing to the growth of the Chinese urban population since the last reform, which has grown from 13 percent in 1953 to nearly 30 percent in 1995, and in 2009 was nearing 50 percent. Despite reforms, China continues to face international criticism over human rights issues. China's human rights record was criticized in the US annual rights report for its repression of Tibetan and Uighur minorities, prompting Chinese criticism of the US rights record [JURIST reports] on issues of crime, racial discrimination, and poverty. China has also received criticism for its treatment of rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng [advocacy website; JURIST news archive], who was last seen in public on February 4, 2009.

[JURIST] Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court [official backgrounder] ruled Sunday that female judges can serve on the State Council (Maglis id-Dowla), an administrative court system with jurisdiction over cases involving the state. In its ruling, the court emphasized the equality of all citizens [AP report]. Last month, the general assembly of the State Council voted [JURIST report] to bar the appointment of female judges to the court. The council's supervisory committee later overruled that bar, which led Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif [official profile] to ask the Supreme Court to rule on the issue. Sunday's ruling stated that the general assembly did not have the authority to determine who can serve on the court and that only the supervisory committee can approve new judges. The supervisory committee is expected to review the issue [AFP report] later this month.

Last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] condemned [press release] the general assembly's vote and argued that all judicial positions should be open to women. In 2007, 31 Egyptian women were selected [JURIST report] as judges by Egypt's Supreme Judicial Council, and later appointed by presidential decree despite ongoing resistance from the nation's conservatives. Council chief Mukbil Shakir selected the judges from a pool of state prosecutors who had passed a test for the positions. The move marked the first time in Egypt's history that women were named to preside over criminal or civil cases. In 2003, Tahany el-Gebaly became the nation's first female judge [Arabic News report] as a member of the Egyptian constitutional tribunal.