Uruguay’s Chamber of Deputies voted on Tuesday to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, subject to several conditions, by a vote of 50-49. Cuba and Mexico are the only other countries in the region that have decriminalized abortion . A woman would have to go before a gynecologist, psychologist and a social [...]

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on Tuesday found three members of Sierra Leone’s former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) guilty of contempt . Santigie Borbor Kanu and Hassan Papa Bangura were convicted of two counts of “interfering with the administration of justice by offering a bribe to a witness” and for attempting to [...]

The German Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ) on Tuesday outlined a plan to legalize circumcisions of infant boys after a controversial ruling banning the practice was handed down earlier this year. The Cologne state court ruled in June that circumcising young boys based on religious traditions is prohibited even if the parents consent to the [...]

Independent UN human rights Rita Izsak called Wednesday for Bosnia and Herzgovina (BIH) to do more to promote minority rights and unity. Izsak emphasized the need to encourage integration among the minority groups at all levels of society, specifically when dealing with education. She discussed the potential linguistic restraints in educating the groups together, but [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday denied a request for a new injunction against a controversial provision of Arizona’s immigration law requiring law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of persons they stop or arrest if there is a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the US illegally. [...]

The US Supreme Court added six cases to its docket on Monday, including a rare grant of certiorari in two pro se cases. In Levin v. United States , the court will consider whether 10 USC § 1089 properly immunizes government medical personnel against battery suits. The statute, also known as the Gonzalez Act, states [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) on Tuesday asked the US Supreme Court to review the validity of patents on two genes associated with breast and ovarian cancers owned by a Utah company, Myriad Genetics . The patents at issue concern BRCA1 and BRCA2 , isolated human genes that [...]

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Massachusetts (ACLUM) on Tuesday filed suit to obtain records and information regarding the use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) by federal law enforcement and agencies. The suit was filed in the US District Court of Massachusetts against the US Departments of Justice and Homeland [...]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Monday for the implementation of measures to allow women greater access to justice systems. In his statement to leaders of around 80 nations during the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law , he described women as “champions for justice” who can be of great assistance [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled Monday that Florida does not have to provide 96 hours of early voting for the November elections. Under a 2004 version of the state’s early voting statute, the early voting period lasted 12 to 14 days with 96 hours of early [...]