The Syrian government has faced numerous allegations of human rights violations since March when the first anti-government protests started. On Monday the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria reported that the Syrian Arab Republic has committed numerous human rights violations [JURIST report] including torture, sexual violence, use of excessive force and violations of the right to peaceful assembly. Last week, the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Committee approved [JURIST report] a draft resolution [text, PDF] condemning the Syria's human rights violations calling for an immediate end to them. The death toll of Syrian protesters steadily increased since the beginning of the first outbreak of anti-government protests and earlier this month, the number exceeded 3,500 [JURIST report], an increase of 900 from September's number [JURIST report]. The allegations of human rights violations continued to increase as well and last month, Syria was urged [JURIST report] to allow UN human rights experts to conduct investigations into these allegations. In August, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] recommended [JURIST report] the UN Security Council [official website] to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] for the violence against anti-government protests after her demand [JURIST report] to the Syrian government to stop the killings of protesters in March.

2011 saw the movement for greater transparency take on irresistible momentum, as citizens around the world demand accountability from their governments. High-scoring countries show that over time efforts to improve transparency can, if sustained, be successful and benefit their people.

In July Dimitrios Ioannidis of Roach, Ioannidis & Megaloudis, LLC, noted TI's corruption quantification, writing that several recent cases of corrupt practices by US companies operating overseas highlights the need for greater domestic and international enforcement mechanisms [JURIST comment] to prevent such practices. Last year's CPI report noted improvements [JURIST report] over 2009's report in corruption perception in Bhutan, Chile, Ecuador, FYR Macedonia, Gambia, Haiti, Jamaica, Kuwait and Qatar, while that year Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar and Niger dropped in the rankings. This year TI identified Russia, Iran, France, the United Arab Emirates, Poland and Cuba as nations where improvement had been made. Conversely, Haiti, Zimbabwe, India, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, Ireland, Qatar and Costa Rica are nations where perceptions have deteriorated since last year. Along with Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan have continued to bottom the list consistently, going back to CPI reports from 2008, 2007 and 2006 [JURIST reports].

In October the Search Committee for the position of the Prosecutor of the ICC [official website] submitted [JURIST report] its consensus report to the Bureau of the ASP with the shortlist of four names after interviewing eight candidates from a list of 52 potentials. There was one other African on the list, Mohamed Chande Othman of Tanzania, currently Chief Justice of the Judiciary of Tanzania [official website]. Also on the list were Andrew Cayley [official profile] of the UK, International Co-Prosecutor at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and Robert Petit of Canada, Counsel, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes [official website] Section of Canada's Department of Justice. As its first Prosecutor, Argentinian Ocampo has been widely praised for his promotion of the work of the ICC. During his tenure he has launched seven formal investigations, begun three trials and issued arrest warrants for Sudanese president [JURIST reports] Omar al-Bashir [case materials; JURIST news archive] and other military leaders wanted for human rights violations. However Ocampo has also been criticized [JURIST report] for the ICC's slow progress in achieving results, particularly in failing to bring a larger number of senior government officials to trial for various atrocities.

Obviously we'd rather not be in a situation where we're forced to take the Government to court but unfortunately for taxpayers the Government has taken us down the legal path. [The government] will now waste millions of taxpayer's dollars on legal fees defending plain packaging even though ... there is no proof it will reduce smoking rates. As a legal company selling a legal product we have consistently said we will defend our valuable intellectual property on behalf of our shareholders as any other company would.

This is not the first suit brought in Australia as a result of the new law. In late November, Philip Morris Asia Ltd. (PMA) [corporate website] initiated legal proceedings [JURIST report] on behalf of its Australian subsidiary Philip Morris Ltd. [corporate website]. While Australia is the first country to enact such stringent laws, tobacco packaging is an issue in the US as well. In early November a judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] granted a temporary injunction [JURIST report] to block the implementation of new requirements imposed by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) [HR 1256 text]. Additionally, four tobacco companies [JURIST report] sued the US government in August claiming that new cigarette labeling regulations violated their First Amendment rights. In 2009, US President Barack Obama signed the FSPTCA into law [JURIST report], granting the FDA certain authority to regulate tobacco products. The legislation increased warning label requirements, prohibited marketing "light cigarettes" as a healthier alternative and allowed for the regulation of cigarette ingredients.

Tunisia has been cracking down Ben Ali and his relatives since the ousted president fled the country amidst the protests that ended his 23-year autocratic rule. Ben Ali has claimed that he was "duped" into leaving [AFP report] the capital Tunis, according to a statement released through his lawyer, and that he was trying to get his family out of the country after assassination threats and that the plane left him in Saudi Arabia despite orders to wait for him. In February, the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [official website] submitted a formal request to Saudi Arabian authorities to extradite Ben Ali following the filing of additional charges of money laundering and possession of unlicensed weapons. The Tunisian Constitutional Council officially announced that Ben Ali had permanently left the office of the presidency in January, after he declared a state of emergency [JURIST report] during the nationwide protests that resulted in more than 200 deaths.

Ocampo revealed the possibility of new sex-related charges [JURIST report] in November. Also last month, Ocampo said that the ICC would allow Libya to conduct the trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi's son. Ocampo had traveled to Libya [JURIST report] to discuss details of Saif al-Islam and al-Senussi's trials with Libyan officials and decide where they should be held. Saif al-Islam was captured by Libyan opposition forces last month after arrest warrants were issued [JURIST reports] by the ICC for him, his father and al-Senussi in June. Muammar Gaddafi was killed [JURIST report] by opposition fighters in October.

Tymoshenko's prosecution has been highly controversial [JURIST comment] and has drawn harsh criticism internationally. In November the Ukrainian Parliament voted against [agenda text] hearing amendments that would have effectively freed [JURIST report] Tymoshenko by fining her rather than imposing a criminal sentence for the financial crimes of which she was convicted. The EU condemned [JURIST report] her conviction as politically motivated and has indicated that it could harm Ukraine's bid for EU accession. In June, Tymoshenko filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the European Court of Human Rights alleging violations of the European Convention of Human Rights [text, PDF]. The complaint argued that the charges against Tymoshenko are politically engineered by current Yanukovych. Tymoshenko's government was dissolved in March 2010 after she narrowly lost the presidential election to Yanukovych. Tymoshenko had alleged that widespread voter fraud allowed Yanukovych to win the election. In August, the Kiev Appeals Court refused Tymoshenko's appeal of her detention for contempt charges [JURIST reports]. Tymoshenko's government was dissolved in March 2010 after she narrowly lost the presidential election to Yanukovych. Tymoshenko had alleged that widespread voter fraud allowed Yanukovych to win the election.

New tobacco warning labels have also drawn scrutiny in Australia, where Philip Morris has filed a complaint [JURIST report] to block new graphic warning label requirements [AUS Health Dept. backgrounder] recently enacted in that country. In 2009, US President Barack Obama [official website] signed the FSPTCA into law [JURIST report], granting the FDA certain authority to regulate manufactured tobacco products. The legislation heightens warning-label requirements, prohibits marketing "light cigarettes" as a healthier alternative and allows for the regulation of cigarette ingredients. Cigarettes and other tobacco products have been subject to strict marketing regulations on both the federal and state levels.

[A]t the time that the Federal judge passed this sentence, he had no idea what was going to happen in either [State] case. But more importantly, with regard to the term of probation, the Federal judge had no idea whether that term was going to be revoked, whether it would be modified, or whether he would receive any sentence of—of imprisonment at all. And in making the judgment on whether those terms should run concurrently or consecutively, Your Honor, 3584(b) directs the Court to look at the factors of 3553(a) in making that determination. And it would be impossible to make that determination under 3553(a) whether the sentence is adequate to deter, whether that sentence protects the public, without knowing what that State term of imprisonment actually is.

In Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper [transcript, PDF; JURIST report], the justices heard arguments on whether a pilot who was convicted and fined for failing to disclose to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that he had HIV, a fact which was illegally revealed by the Social Security Administration (SSA) [official websites] where Cooper sought disability based on his HIV status, can sue the federal government for mental and emotional damages for violating the Privacy Act of 1974 [5 USC § 552a]. The government argued that Congress, by specifically excluding general damages, did not provide for damages for mental and emotional distress or, at least, did not clearly waive sovereign immunity. Asserting the dichotomy of special (or economic) damages versus general damages, inclusive of damages for mental and emotional distress, the government insisted that only damages of pecuniary nature could be recovered from the government under the Privacy Act. The respondent pilot characterized the government's argument as unnecessarily introducing ambiguity into the statute which would undermine the purpose of the Act. The respondent emphasized the text of the Act:

What was authorized in the text, the substantive provision, is actual damages, not special damages. If Congress had wanted to peel off the whole piece and require only economic loss, the more common and routine term of art that is used is special damages. ... In the context of this act, ... Congress does not choose special damages as the term of what it's authorizing, and instead chooses the broader term, "actual damages."