The Kenyan Interim Independent Constitutional Dispute Resolution Court ruled Wednesday that prisoners of sound mind will be allowed to vote in a referendum on the country's proposed constitution . Kenya's current constitution bans convicts from voting in presidential, parliamentary and civic elections, but convicts from Kenya's Shimo La Tewa Prison petitioned the court to allow [...]

A Pakistani court on Wednesday reimposed a ban on the video sharing network YouTube after content deemed offensive to Muslims resurfaced on the website when a previous ban was lifted last month. The court also restricted access to Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, Google, Islam Exposed, In The Name Of Allah, Amazon and Bing . The court [...]

The Kenyan Parliament on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to legislation that would create severe penalties for human traffickers, including life imprisonment for repeat offenders. The Counter-Trafficking in Persons Bill, 2010 was unanimously approved by the parliament, and will now be considered again by the body before being sent to President Mwai Kibaki for approval. The [...]

The Spanish Senate on Wednesday approved a motion calling on the Spanish government to ban the use of full face veils in public places. The motion, passed by a vote of 131 to 129, would ban use of both the burqa and niqab . The motion was approved one week after Spanish Justice Minister Francisco [...]

Libya has made some progress with regards to human rights, but the situation remains "dire," according to a report released Wednesday by Amnesty International (AI) . The report details Libya's rise in prominence within the international community and warns other countries against turning a "blind eye" to the human rights situation within Libya in order [...]

A group of 55 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on Tuesday urged the Thai government to end its state of emergency . The statement comes after the UN Human Rights Council unanimously elected Thai Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow to the presidency, along with electing the Cuban ambassador to the vice-presidency. The two countries will hold these positions for [...]

The UK Metropolitan Police on Tuesday launched an investigation into whether Google violated privacy laws while collecting information over Wi-Fi networks for its Street View maps . The probe was initiated in response to a complaint filed by Privacy International (PI) , which claims that the information gathered in an independent audit published by Google [...]

The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday strongly rejected the appointment of a UN panel to investigate allegations of human rights abuses during the last months of the Sri Lankan civil war . UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the formation of the panel on Tuesday in order to investigate alleged wartime abuses of civilians by both [...]

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar confirmed Tuesday that the Department of Justice will appeal a federal court decision to issue a preliminary injunction against a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling . The ban was issued last month by the Obama administration in response to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill . Salazar stated [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday urged the Indonesian government to release secession activists and adhere to international standards of free speech . The report, "Prosecuting Political Aspiration: Indonesia's Political Prisoners," criticized the Indonesian government for its treatment of people imprisoned for peaceful political expression related to the Papuan and Moluccan secession movements. According to [...]