Swiss citizens voted on Sunday to amend the Swiss Civil Code to legalize same-sex couples’ right to marry and to adopt children. Voters accepted the proposal in a 64 to 36 percent vote. The Swiss Federal Council and Parliament called for a referendum and endorsed same-sex marriage. They explained that although same-sex Swiss couples could [...]

California prosecutors on Friday charged Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) — one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the US — with involuntary manslaughter, finding a connection between the utility’s equipment and the deaths of four people in the 2020 Zogg Fire. “We have sufficient evidence to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that is [...]

A panel of three judges from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit lifted Monday a temporary injunction that halted a New York City mandate requiring all teachers to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. A preliminary injunction on the mandate was denied on Thursday, but a temporary injunction pending expedited review by the three [...]

JURIST EXCLUSIVE – Law students and lawyers in Afghanistan are filing reports with JURIST on the situation there after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Here, a law student in Kabul offers his latest observations and perspective. For privacy and security reasons we are withholding his name and institutional affiliation. The text has been [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet told the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday that she continues to be alarmed by “persistent allegations” of widespread and systematic torture of protestors in Belarus. She called on Belarus’ neighbors to protect asylum seekers after four people died near the Polish border last week amid [...]

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Monday he was seeking approval to resume his investigation of war crimes in Afghanistan. Karim A.A. Khan had originally been authorized by the ICC to investigate “alleged atrocity crimes” in March. However, the government of Afghanistan at that time had asked his office to defer the [...]

The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday a notice of proposed rulemaking to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In a press release, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said, “the Biden-Harris Administration continues to take action to protect Dreamers and recognize their contributions to this country.” The new rule would “preserve and fortify” DACA, modify the [...]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its yearly crime statistics report Monday. The Bureau reported that “for the first time in four years, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation increased when compared with the previous year’s statistics” and cited a 5.6 percent rise in violent crime. In 2019, the rate of [...]

The South Pacific Ocean nation Vanuatu announced Saturday its intention to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the rights of present and future generations to be protected from the adverse consequences of climate change. Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Bob Loughman warned that the climate crisis is [...]

Under a recent notification released by India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021 came into force Friday. The amended law allows for medical termination of pregnancy in certain situations between the twentieth and the twenty-fourth week. This specific situation was not covered by the Medical Termination of [...]