JURIST Guest Columnist Frank Barile, St. John’s University School of Law Class of 2013, is the author of the fourth article in a 15-part series from the staffers of the Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development. Barile explains the negative impact of a new Florida law on welfare law and policy…

UN investigators testified before the UN Human Rights Council on Monday that human rights violations in Syria committed by both sides of the conflict are growing in number and severity . Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic Paulo Pinheiro stated that both sides of the Syrian conflict are [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned human rights violations in Mali on Monday and called for international action to address the problems. Pillay stated that two militant Islamic groups, Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Ansar Dine, are recruiting child soldiers, committing cruel punishments such as amputations and [...]

Myanmar officials on Monday announced amnesty for 514 prisoners. The Ministry of Information did not identify the prisoners who will be freed, but activists have identified several political detainees and foreigners slated to be released . The release announcement comes a week before President Thein Sein is scheduled to travel to New York to attend [...]

Bangladesh’s personal laws governing marriage, separation and divorce overtly discriminate against women, according to a 109-page report published Monday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) . “Will I Get My Dues … Before I Die?”: Harm to Women from Bangladesh’s Discriminatory Laws on Marriage, Separation, and Divorce” documents how the country’s personal laws leave many women [...]

Opposition fighters in Syria are committing war crimes , including torture and extrajudicial and summary executions, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. HRW documented war crimes in the cities of Aleppo, Latakia and Idlib. Although opposition fighters initially assured HRW they would not commit war crimes, when HRW confronted them with information about the violations [...]

An Omani blogger was sentenced to one year of imprisonment by a Muscat court on Sunday and must pay a fine of 1,000 Omani Rials (USD $2,600). The blogger, Mukhtar bin Mohammed bin Saif al-Hinai, was convicted on charges of slander and violating the country’s information technology laws. Al-Hinai is employed by Al-Zaman newspaper, which [...]

A judge for the US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Friday issued a preliminary ruling against Samsung in their complaint that mobile phones and tablet computers imported by Apple infringed on four Samsung patents. The patents in this case covered narrow data processing and user input methods. Samsung asked that the ITC block the import [...]

Nigeria’s High Court in Abuja declined to stop impeachment proceedings against President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday. This means the Nigerian House of Representatives’ impeachment proceedings for non-implementation of the nation’s budget will be allowed to continue according to Nigeria’s Constitution. In bringing the lawsuit, National Chairman of the African Liberation Party , Dr. Emmanuel Okereke, [...]

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on Wednesday signed a cybercrimes law to prevent various electronic offenses including forgery, fraud, identity theft and child pornography. The new crimes are grouped into two sections: Internet Crimes and Commercial Crimes. “Among the punishable acts under the new law include offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer [...]