Egypt has been in the process of restructuring its government since protests led to the resignation of Mubarak [JURIST report] last year. Last month, an Egyptian court ordered the suspension of a constitutional panel [JURIST report], which consisted of about 100 people charged with writing the country's new constitution because Egyptian lawyers alleged its members were not chosen constitutionally. Egypt is also in the process of trying Mubarak for assisting in the killing of protestors last year. His trial ended in February, and a judge has set the verdict date [JURIST reports] for June 2.

One of the most contentious provisions of the law is that it will outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Given the hostility facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in Moldova, including hate speech by politicians and public officials, it is imperative that this provision remain in the law. As the High Commissioner has repeatedly stressed, acts of discrimination and violence against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people are violations of international human rights law and must be outlawed.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile], has been vocal in her support [JURIST report] of this law's implementation since her visit to the Eastern European nation last November. Moldova has taken several steps in recent years to become a more democratic nation. Last year the country joined the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] after becoming the 114th signatory to the Rome Statute [JURIST report] in October 2010. During her visit last year, Pillay observed that the "country is clearly on the road to strengthening its democracy, and aims at a number of ambitious reforms" despite the current lack of human rights enforcement for certain segments of the population.

The Sri Lankan government has faced various allegations of human rights violations and war crimes by civil rights organizations and the UN since the end of its civil war in 2009. In November the Sri Lankan government was subjected to criticism for its failure to investigate [JURIST report] issues of torture for past human rights violations and to enforce laws against continued torture and ill-treatment by government officials against civilians. In April 2011 a UN panel of experts on Sri Lanka found credible allegations of war crimes [JURIST report] committed during the country's war with the LTTE, warranting further investigation. In June 2010 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official website] called for an international inquiry [JURIST report] into the conduct of the Sri Lankan government during its civil war.

The decision to allow the construction of dams in Patagonia has been a controversial one. In April the Supreme Court of Chile ruled [JURIST report] that a hydroelectric dam by HidroAysen [project website, in Spanish], a private Chilean venture, in Patagonia did not violate the constitutional rights of the environmental groups opposing the project. In June 2011 a Chilean appeals court ordered the temporary suspension [JURIST report] of the USD $10 billion HidroAysen project, approving three petitions challenging government authorization of the dam construction and granted the plaintiffs' petition for injunction. The court lifted the temporary suspension [Reuters report] in October 2011 allowing work on the project to move forward and spurring a constitutional challenge by environmentalists.

A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit dismissed the claims [JURIST report] against CACI International Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. [opinions, PDF] September, holding that federal law protecting civilian contractors acting under the control of the US military in a combat situation preempted the plaintiffs' tort claims based in state law. US military personnel have also been accused of torturing detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. Army Spc. Charles Graner [JURIST news archive], the convicted ringleader of abuses committed at the prison, was released [JURIST report] last August for good behavior after serving more than six-and-a-half years of his 10-year sentence. Graner was convicted [JURIST report] in 2005 of conspiracy, assault, maltreating prisoners, dereliction of duty and committing indecent acts and received the longest sentence of the six others involved in the abuses. In June, the DOJ initiated a grand jury investigation [JURIST report] into the torture and death of a detainee at Abu Ghraib. Manadel Al-Jamadi was captured [JURIST report] by US Navy SEALs in 2003 and held in Abu Ghraib as a "ghost detainee," or unregistered prisoner, for his suspected involvement in the bombing of a Red Cross center in Baghdad that killed 12 people. The US military has never revealed the exact circumstances of his death, which was ruled a homicide [JURIST report]. Reports show he died while suspended by his wrists, which were handcuffed behind his back.