Two Japanese whaling groups filed suit Friday against US-based anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington . The Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) and the Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha claim that the SSCS and its founder Paul Watson are preventing them from engaging in what [...]

Former Yugoslav intelligence officer Dragomir Pecanac was convicted Friday on a charge of contempt for failing to testify before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) . The charges were brought against Pecanac in October when he failed to comply with a subpoena to testify as a witness in the trial against Zdravko [...]

A lesbian couple filed suit Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Hawaii challenging the state’s denial of same-sex marriage . Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie (D) signed a same-sex civil unions bill into law in February. The legislation, set to go into effect on January 1, 2012, extends the same rights, benefits, [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist David Cassuto of Pace Law School says the Belo Monte project that has been embroiled in litigation for decades has gained momentum and even a sense of inevitability despite widespread protests and threats of violence from the indigenous tribes whose lands and lives are at risk, but overcoming legal hurdles does not [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments Thursday on two consolidated issues regarding Proposition 8 , California’s same-sex marriage ban. The first was an appeal from a refusal by the US District Court for the Northern District of California to vacate former US district court judge Vaughn Walker’s decision striking [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights , James Anaya , on Thursday urged Argentina to strengthen protection of human rights, rights to education and land ownership for indigenous groups as well as to establish sorely needed dialogue with government. His comments came after an 11-day visit to Argentina including meetings with both indigenous communities and [...]

Former Serbian general and alleged war criminal Ratko Mladic , after previously refusing to enter a plea in any of the charges against him, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges linked to the execution of more than 30 Muslim prisoners in the eastern town of Bisina in July 1995. The presiding judge at the [...]

The UK Home Office Government Equalities Office on Thursday announced the UK’s first ever government action plan promoting transgender equality . The plan stated that there was a 14 percent rise in transgender-related hate crime between 2009 and 2010 and that only two EU member states explicitly address transgender hate crimes in their hate crime [...]

Malawian Justice Minister Ephraim Chiume said Thursday that President Bingu wa Mutharika has ordered the Malawi Law Commission to review several controversial laws, including a law banning homosexual acts. Chiume stated that the review was in response to public criticism . Commentators suggest that the purpose of the review of the ban on homosexual acts [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Sikander Ahmed Shah of Lahore University of Management Sciences Department of Law and Policy says that whether US drone strikes in Pakistan are illegal hinges on the nature of consent given and whether actions exceed that consent …