The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Monday announced that a legal instrument, which grants children access to international human rights protections, will go into effect in April. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure permits children or their representatives to [...]

The trial of four individuals accused of aiding the terrorists who perpetrated the September attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, commenced Wednesday. The Somali Islamist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which at least 62 people died and 175 were injured . The four charged men, Mohammed Ahmed Abdi, Liban [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma ruled Tuesday that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Article II section 35 of the Oklahoma Constitution enacted in 2004 by State Question No. 711 defines marriage in Oklahoma [...]

The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in three cases Tuesday, including a case on the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 and a case on whether certain employee severance payments are taxable. In Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison the court heard arguments on: (1) whether Article III permits the exercise of the judicial [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday criticized Nigeria’s new law on the prohibition of same-sex marriage, calling the legislation a direct violation of basic, universal human rights. Earlier this month Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathon signed the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill into law, placing a 14-year prison sentence upon anyone who [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday struck down Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules that required broadband providers to employ nondiscriminatory practices in the treatment of Internet content. In a 63-page opinion, Judge David Tatel explained how the regulations impermissibly required providers to serve the public indiscriminately, leaving companies [...]

Judge Nan Nash of the New Mexico Second Judicial District Court ruled Monday that patients who are terminally ill and mentally competent have the right to seek aid in dying under the state constitution. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the advocacy group Compassion & Choices on behalf of [...]

Egyptians began voting Tuesday in a two-day referendum on the proposed new constitution, which would replace the one passed under former president Mohammed Morsi. Supporters of the new constitution view the referendum as a grand democratic move and the document itself as vesting them with new rights previously unrecognized. However, critics have claimed that the [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in Mississippi ex rel. Hood v. AU Optronics Corp. that the lawsuit in question is not a “mass action” suit under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) of 2005, reversing the previous holding of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. CAFA allows “mass action” suits, which [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in Daimer AG v. Bauman that DaimlerChrysler AG (Daimler) does not have to face suit in California for alleged human rights violations by a subsidiary that took place entirely in Argentina. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled for Barbara Bauman, who represented 21 Argentine residents, [...]