In October, defense lawyers for accused Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen [BBC profile] for interfering with the UN-backed war crimes tribunal. Nuon's lawyers accused the prime minister of criminally conspiring to block some of the defense witnesses from testifying [Reuters report] and consequently interfering with his right to a fair trial. In September, the ECCC ordered the trials be split into a series of smaller trials [JURIST report]. The ECCC said that the separation of trials will allow the tribunal to deliberate more quickly [press release] in the case against the elderly defendants. The first trial will focus on the beginning two phases of population movement and allegations of crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution not on religious grounds and forced disappearances associated with the first phases of population movement. Subsequent trials will focus on the third phase of population movement, genocide, persecution based on religious grounds and violation of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 [ICRC backgrounder].

The ICC has been heavily involved in prosecuting crimes against humanity in Africa. In December the ICC urged international cooperation [JURIST report] in executing arrest warrants for suspects accused in the Darfur conflict [ICC materials]. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir [ICC materials; JURIST news archive] is currently at-large and faces seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as three charges of genocide [JURIST reports]. Also in December, former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo [BBC profile] was brought into custody and appeared before the ICC [JURIST report] to face charges of murder, persecution, inhumane acts, and rape and other forms of sexual violence allegedly committed during 2010's post-election violence [JURIST news archive] in the Ivory Coast. In November the ICC indicated that it would allow Libya to conduct the trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi [JURIST report], son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [BBC profile], despite concerns over whether he could possibly receive a fair trial. In August the ICC concluded its first war crimes trial [JURIST report], the trial of Democratic Republic of Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga [ICC materials; BBC profile] for enlisting child soldiers and committing large-scale human rights abuses in Congo's violent Ituri district. In June Kenya appealed [JURIST report] the ICC's refusal to transfer two cases against high-ranking Kenyan officials for their alleged involvement in the violence after the 2007 Kenyan elections [JURIST news archive]. The Kenyan men facing charges in the ICC, the "Ocampo Six," are accused of inciting violence after the 2007 Kenyan elections which resulted in more than 1,100 deaths, 3,500 injuries, hundreds of rapes and up to 600,000 individuals being forcibly displaced.

The judgment against Chevron was upheld in January by a three-judge panel of the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios in Lago Agrio, Ecuador. The $18 billion fine, one of the largest in the history of environmental contamination suits, was originally set at $8.6 billion [JURIST report] but was more than doubled for Chevron's refusal to pay "moral reparations" to the Ecuadorian government, as required by the original ruling. The Amazon Defense Coalition [advocacy website], plaintiffs in the suit, have responded that the first judgment was a reaffirmation of how Chevron's greed and criminal misconduct in dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the river has led to death and disease. Damages were initially awarded in February by the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios which found that Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, polluted large areas of the country's rain forest.

We note that our decision does not signal the death knell of the City's efforts, if it wishes to pursue them, to restrict access of registered sex offenders to the City's public libraries. ... Like the Supreme Court, we "generally will not strike down a governmental action" for failure to leave open adequate alternative channels of communication "unless the government enactment will foreclose an entire medium of public expression across the landscape of a particular community or setting.

US courts have seen numerous constitutional challenges to laws placing restrictions on sex offenders. In August, the American Civil Liberties filed a complaint in federal court seeking to block a Louisiana law that limits Internet use for registered sex offenders [JURIST report]. In May 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled that mentally ill sex offenders may be civilly committed [JURIST report] beyond their prison sentences. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in May 2009 that local ordinances prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living near schools, playgrounds, and other public areas were preempted by the state's Megan's Law and, therefore, invalid. In March 2009, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that a South Carolina law requiring convicted first degree sex offenders to submit to a DNA test and pay $250 in processing fees prior to their release does not violate the ex post facto clause of the Constitution [JURIST report]. A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled in February 2009 that the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006 (SORNA), which makes it a federal crime for a sex offender to attempt to move to another state [JURIST report] while failing to register in a nationwide database, is unconstitutional.

The ramifications of this change on the people of DPRK, and on neighboring countries will only unfold in the comings days and months. However, I am hoping that the new leadership in DPRK will use the change in leadership as an opportunity to engage with the international community and secure global confidence. The world is eagerly looking at DPRK to see what lies ahead, and hoping that the authorities will take measures to improve the human rights situation of the people of DPRK.

Darusman criticized North Korea's human rights record in November, focusing on the treatment of prisoners and echoing a UN General Assembly [official website] resolution [text] concerning the country's human rights conditions. In March 2010 the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] adopted a resolution condemning [JURIST report] North Korea for human rights abuses. Earlier in March, the UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn reported to the UNHRC that North Korean human rights situation was continuing to deteriorate [JURIST report]. This report came after Muntarbhorn's previous criticism, in October, 2009, of North Korea's "abysmal" [JURIST report] and ongoing human rights violations, alleging that the authoritarian government was responsible for various abuses, including torture, public executions, extensive surveillance, media censorship, women's rights violations and widespread hunger.