[R]epressive legal environments institutionalize discrimination, limit funding and in effect obstruct the participation of men who have sex with men and transgender people in protecting themselves and their families, friends and communities from HIV. In the context of HIV and in the context of human rights, we must continue to vigorously defend and promote rights based HIV, health and development policies and programme responses - this necessitates working to remove punitive laws and discriminatory practices.

The report comes one month after the launch of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, created by the UNDP and the UNAIDS Secretariat [official websites] in order to better understand the role played by the law [JURIST report] in facilitating universal access to AIDS prevention and treatment. The commission is charged with developing "actionable and evidence-informed recommendations" to create national legal environments with effective and efficient HIV/AIDS responses. The commission is composed of an international panel of experts that is expected to complete its inquiry by December 2011. UNAIDS has repeatedly urged policy changes in the 51 countries and areas that still bar entry to individuals with HIV/AIDS. In April, the Chinese government lifted a ban on entry [JURIST report] for individuals with HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases. The US lifted its 22 year-old entry ban [JURIST report] in January when the Centers for Disease Control [official website] removed HIV/AIDS from its list of communicable diseases of public significance. UNAIDS strongly opposes any laws that restrict movement based on HIV-positive status, holding that such restrictions are discriminatory and do not prevent HIV transmission or protect public health.

The district court has ruled in favor of the government in 15 habeas corpus cases [JURIST news archive], while Guantanamo detainees have prevailed in 38 cases. Earlier this month, a court of appeals overturned a decision granting habeas relief [JURIST report] to detainee Mohammed al-Adahi, ruling that the evidence, viewed as a whole, supported the conclusion that al-Adahi was part of al Qaeda [JURIST news archive]. Also this month, the appeals court affirmed a lower court ruling denying habeas corpus relief [JURIST report] to Guantanamo detainee Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah [JURIST news archive], ruling there was sufficient evidence to consider him part of al Qaeda. In May, the district court ordered the release [JURIST report] of Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohammed Hassen [NYT profile]. Hassen had been initially detained in March 2002 following a raid in Faisalabad by Pakistani security forces. He has maintained throughout his detention that he had traveled to Pakistan to study the Qur'an [text] at Salafi University and had no knowledge of al Qaeda prior to his detention.

The advisory proceedings [materials], which began in December [JURIST report], included arguments from 29 additional countries, including the five member-states of the UN Security Council [official website], debating whether Kosovo's unilaterally proclaimed secession complied with international law. In an effort to further the legitimacy of its independence, Kosovo began operations of its own judicial system in 2009. In March of that year, more than 100 Serbian judges, prosecutors and legal professionals prevented the opening [JURIST report] of the first EU-backed trial in Kosovo by protesting in front of the Mitrovica court house. A panel of three judges had been set to preside over a criminal case involving two Serbian defendants. As Serbia and Kosovo's Serbian population have refused to accept Kosovo's independence, the demonstration was intended to bar the EU from holding trial [B92 report] in Kosovo except under UN laws. The trial court was established by EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) [official website], an EU mission designed to guide Kosovo toward independence in accordance with the Rule of Law.

The Kenyan government announced in November 2008 that it was taking initiatives to eliminate torture [JURIST report] and other inhumane treatment after the UN Committee on Torture [official website] released a report [text] on violence that occurred in the country in late 2007 and early 2008. The report highlighted cases of gender-based violence and gang rapes by police and other security forces, and discussed police corruption among other rights-related problems. Kenyan Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs Martha Karua said that since 2003 the government has closed torture chambers, amended its criminal laws and made it easier to citizens to report abusive acts. The previous month, a commission established [JURIST report] by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [BBC profile] to review the events following the 2008 presidential election released a report recommending the establishment of an international tribunal [JURIST report] to try those involved. Kibaki created the commission to ease the domestic and international tension that was a result of the controversial election [JURIST report], including threats from 13 nations to cut off aid to the Kenyan government [JURIST report].

Such tactics are unlikely to resolve, and may even aggravate, the longstanding grievances that prompted the protests in the first place, undermining prospects for long-term stability in the region. China urgently needs to investigate the protests and their aftermath, and open the region to media and international monitors. It also needs to examine the conduct of its security forces, which eyewitnesses consistently say used disproportionate force; deliberately brutalized and mistreated Tibetans[;] ... and deprived detainees of minimum guarantees of due process of law, including formal notification of where, or why, they were held.

In March 2009, HRW reported that the Chinese government has not accounted for hundreds of Tibetan protesters [JURIST report] arrested in connection with the March 2008 demonstrations, revealing a thorough review regarding the numbers of arrests, detentions and trials of the protesters. There were allegedly several hundred protesters still in custody and documents have revealed that, contrary to information supplied by the Chinese government, several demonstrators died after the March 2008 demonstrations. To date there has been no public information regarding the trials of the remaining demonstrators. In June 2008, the Chinese government released more than 1000 demonstrators [JURIST report] detained by authorities during the demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet, two days after Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] called on China to free all detainees who engaged in peaceful protest [JURIST report]. Chinese officials have blamed the exiled Dalai Lama [personal website] for organizing the protests.

The Obama administration continues its push to close the Guantanamo Bay facility, despite missing its self-imposed one-year deadline [JURIST report] in January. The administration has run into several hurdles in closing the prison, including opposition from members of Congress and the suspension of detainee transfers to Yemen [JURIST report]. The number of detainees at Guantanamo has been significantly reduced as the administration continues to transfer detainees to a growing list of countries including Germany, Italy, Maldives, Georgia, Albania, Latvia, Switzerland, Slovakia, Somaliland, Palau, Belgium, Afghanistan and Bermuda [JURIST reports].

Gonzales' successor, Michael Mukasey [professional profile] appointed the special prosecutor [JURIST report] in September 2008 to determine whether criminal charges were warranted in connection with the firings. The move was recommended in a report [text, PDF] by investigators at the DOJ. The report was one of several internal assessments of the role politics played in DOJ hiring and firing practices. In July 2008, the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility offices concluded that DOJ officials made illegal hiring decisions [JURIST report] based on applicants' political and ideological beliefs. In November 2009, the House Judiciary Committee [official website] released testimony and e-mails [JURIST report] purporting to show that Bush administration political adviser Karl Rove [personal website] was involved in the firings. Citing executive privilege, Rove refused to testify in July 2008 [JURIST reports].

Kenya had previously been ranked as the most corrupt country in the region, with a 2009 rate of corruption at 45 percent. In 2008, two judges of Kenya's High Court were fired from their positions [JURIST report] after two investigatory tribunals found them guilty of corruption. In 2007, Kenyan lawmakers approved a bill [JURIST report] that would have limited the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) [official website] to investigating crimes committed after 2003. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] refused to sign the bill [JURIST report], which would have made it impossible for the commission to continue investigations into some of the country's most notorious corruption cases. In a report issued by TI in 2007, lawyers were ranked among the most corrupt groups [JURIST report] in Kenya.

I receive this bill in the name of the whole society in Argentina, even on behalf of those that disagree with it. In a few years this debate will be absolutely anachronistic. ... I think [this] constitute[s] a major milestone on the road to equality. ... [W]e have not really passed a law, we have enacted a social construct and a good social construct is diverse, it is plural, broad and does not belong to anyone but those who built it: society.

The legislation faced strong opposition from the Catholic Church [official website], which organized protests outside of the capitol building during debate on the bill, gathering more than 60,000 people [AP report]. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio [official website] criticized the legislation, stating that it interfered with a child's right to be raised by a mother and father. Freedom to Marry [advocacy website], a US-based same-sex marriage advocacy group, described the passage as a "human rights achievement" [press release] demonstrating Argentina's movement to "true democratic values." Recent polling has shown that 70 percent [NYT report] of the Argentine public support the legislation. Same-sex marriage is recognized in jurisdictions in Mexico and the US, and is recognized nationwide in Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and South Africa [JURIST reports].

Earlier this month, the Obama administration asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the original six-month drilling moratorium [JURIST report], arguing that the ban should be upheld because the government would likely win its appeal of the lower court's ruling. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] originally asked the court of appeals to stay the preliminary injunction [JURIST report] in June, on the basis that another deepwater spill could overwhelm the ongoing efforts to clean up the spill with catastrophic results. Lawyers for the DOJ also claimed that that the district judge abused his discretion [Reuters report] in issuing the injunction. More than 120 million gallons of oil have leaked already from the rig's broken pipe and has now surpassed the Exxon Valdez oil spill [JURIST news archive] as the worst in US history.

In the last ten years Botswana has become one of the harshest places in the world for indigenous peoples. If Bushmen are to be denied water on their lands when it is freely provided for tourists, animals, and diamond mines, then foreigners should be asked if they really want to support this regime with their visits and jewellery [sic] shopping.

The tribe was evicted from the game reserve from 1997 to 2002 and forced to reside in settlement camps. The Bushmen contend the eviction was the result of the government attempting to make room for diamond claims and tourist areas, whereas the government cited the Bushmen's negative effect on conservation as the motivation behind the relocation. The borehole was sealed in 2002 in an additional effort to drive the tribe from the land. In 2006, the High Court ruled [JURIST report] that the government's eviction was "unlawful and unconstitutional" and allowed the Bushmen return to the area. Spokesmen for the tribe announced in January [JURIST report] that they plan to take the land dispute issue to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) [official website; JURIST news archive] because the government continues to ignore court orders granting land rights. In March, Bolivian President Evo Morales [BBC profile] called upon the UN to declare access to safe drinking water a basic human right [JURIST report].