UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday urged Yemen to accept the international prohibition against granting amnesty for human rights violations . Yemen is currently considering passing legislation which would grant amnesty for a period during which human rights violations may have taken place. She stressed that victims deserved justice and “amnesties [...]
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An investigative commission in Afghanistan issued a statement on Saturday alleging the abuse of prisoners held by the US military at prisons in their country. The commission called for the transfer of all prisoners held by the US military to Afghan custody. The detainees held by US forces are a combination of Afghan nationals and [...]
The federal government filed a brief on Friday before the US Supreme Court arguing that the minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , which requires almost every US citizen to obtain health insurance by 2014 or face a tax penalty, is constitutional. The government is attempting to keep the [...]
The Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and 12 other human rights groups issued a statement on Friday urging the government of Tunisia not to extradite former Libyan prime minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi , warning that he would be “at a real risk for torture” if he [...]
Retired Turkish general Ilker Basbug, formerly the leader of all of Turkey’s armed forces, was arrested on Friday for his alleged involvement with the Ergenekon network. The group allegedly planned to assassinate prominent members of Turkey’s Christian and Jewish minority groups, blame Islamic terrorists for the deaths and use this to delegitimize the ruling Justice [...]
The FBI (FBI) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an official update of the federal government’s definition of rape to include the violation of “any person” rather than the previous definition that only covered women. The previous definition had been unchanged for 85 years. The new definition, “The penetration, no matter how slight, [...]
Internet restrictions passed in February 2010 are set to go into effect in Belarus on Friday, amid international criticism. The law creates several tiers of limitations on the Internet. Anyone who owns a shared connection, or a CyberCafe, must monitor all users to insure that they do not visit a “blacklisted” site, or, in some [...]
The Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act (JVCA) took effect Friday after being signed into law by US President Barack Obama last month. According to the House Judiciary Committee Report , the purpose of the law is to clarify federal jurisdiction statutes to avoid wasting judicial resources. The core of the JVCA’s changes address [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Thursday filed a challenge to Michigan’s new law prohibiting public employers from providing medical or other fringe benefits to their employees’ domestic partners. Governor Rick Snyder signed the legislation last month. The ACLU claims the law unlawfully discriminates against same-sex couples who cannot legally marry in Michigan, violating [...]
An Iowa District Court on Wednesday ordered that the Iowa Department of Public Health must include both names of married same-sex parents on children’s birth certificates. Melissa and Heather Gartner sued the Iowa Department of Public Health after officials refused to include the name of their child’s non-biological parent on the child’s birth certificate unless [...]
