Brazil’s National Truth Commission announced Monday that it will limit its inquiry to human rights abuses committed by the government under Brazil’s military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. There were some within the nation that hoped that the commission would also look at abuses by leftist guerrilla groups that were in conflict with the regime. [...]

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa pledged on Wednesday to fulfill the 158 recommendations included in the UN Universal Periodic Review regarding human rights abuses against political opposition. Al Khalifa said Bahrain would begin accepting peaceful political opposition . It is unclear if Bahrain will change how it handles dissent [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Arizona on Tuesday lifted an injunction that barred enforcement of 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 [...]

Legislation intended to legalize same-sex marriage in Australia was overwhelmingly voted down on Wednesday. The Marriage Amendment Bill 2012 , introduced to the House of Representatives by Labor MP Stephen Jones , was rejected by a vote of 42-98. The legislation failed despite 64.3 percent of the population supporting the bill, according to a survey [...]

The independent media rights group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) , warned Ukrainian lawmakers on Wednesday against passing a bill that would criminalize libel. The bill, which passed on its first reading this week, would establish fines and other punishments, including prison and correctional labor sentences, for spreading false information about another person. RSF warns that [...]

Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen on Tuesday filed an appeal of a ruling that struck down a controversial law limiting the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions. The appeal comes just four days after Judge Juan Colas of the Dane County Circuit Court held that the collective bargaining law, known as the Budget [...]

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Tuesday vacated the decision of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court upholding the state’s new voter identification law and remanded for further consideration. The Supreme Court’s order, issued per curiam, suggests that it may be logistically impossible to implement the law by the November election, due to conflicts with the Pennsylvania [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples spoke Tuesday on the plight of women and girls in oft-neglected indigenous peoples’ communities. In a dialogue with the leaders of several nations, James Anaya made several recommendations to increase awareness of the issue of treatment of women and girls that he highlighted in his [...]

Judge Raymond Lohier of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday ordered a stay of a permanent injunction that blocked portions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) , allowing for their enforcement pending appeal. The order came after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion for emergency stay [...]

The Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) on Tuesday released a report detailing the unrest and deaths caused by the 2010 anti-government protests led by the “red shirt” movement. The protests were said to have killed 92 people and injured around 1,700. The report renounced the military tactics used to engage the protesters, but [...]