The German 2nd Chamber of the Second Senate Monday rejected a constitutional complaint surrounding the decision against the National Socialist Underground (NSU) in their recent trial. Their complaint challenged the Munich Higher Regional Court’s decision by claiming that the defendant’s constitutional rights had been violated by not granting her a fair hearing. The Munich regional court [...]

The New Zealand (NZ) Parliament Wednesday approved the Plain Language Bill promoting the use of plain English in official documents and websites. The bill is now awaiting Royal Assent. The bill promotes plain English under the premise that “comprehensible information from government organisations is a basic democratic right”. By legally requiring plain English in official [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday alleged that Sri Lanka’s proposed Bureau of Rehabilitation Bill puts citizens at great risk of human rights abuses. The bill, submitted to Parliament on September 23, allows for the compulsory detention of any “drug dependant persons, ex-combatants, members of violent extremist groups and any other groups of persons” into military staffed “rehabilitation [...]

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) Thursday ruled that workplace bans affecting religious wear do not amount to discrimination under certain circumstances. A Muslim woman, referred to as L.F., brought a discrimination claim against a company called SCRL based on the Belgian General Anti-Discrimination Law. SCRL refused to consider L.F.’s internship application [...]

The Parisian Court of Appeals Monday commenced the trial of Kunti Kamara on charges of crimes against humanity, torture and acts of barbarity. Kamara allegedly committed these acts as a member of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) in 1993 and 1994 during the First Liberian Civil War. He denies all allegations. [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday heard the case of Delaware v. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, a consolidated case involving approximately $150 Million dollars in unclaimed money. The court is asked to interpret “money order” as used in 12 USC §§ 2501-03 and Disposition of Abandoned Money Orders and Travelers Checks Act of 1974. The case, consolidated with [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Monday opened a trial against Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, alleged leader of the Séléka rebel group, for crimes humanity and war crimes in violation of the Rome Statute. Said allegedly committed these crimes in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR) in 2013. Said pleaded not guilty to all charges. The ICC [...]

Amnesty International Wednesday reported that the Egypt presents a “deeply misleading picture” of the nation’s human rights crisis. Amnesty found patterns of violations including “unlawful killings, mass arbitrary detention and repression of freedom of expression.” The group asserts that Egypt wrongly justifies the violations on the grounds of public security. Egypt’s National Human Rights Strategy [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Monday reported that authorities in Jordan use vague laws to criminalise key civil freedoms like the freedoms of speech, association and assembly in an effort to quash political dissent. HRW investigated a total of 30 cases and found evidence that authorities are use abusive legal frameworks to charge citizens who peacefully [...]

The French Republic on Wednesday invoked Article 63 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. A press release from the Hague announced that the French Republic filed the declaration of intervention for the case ‘allegations of genocide under the convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation)’. [...]