An international group of human rights lawyers on Tuesday petitioned the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to condemn to the detention of Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng , missing for more than a year. The group is seeking a declaration that Gao's detention is a violation of international law. According to the petition, [...]

JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law says a recent effort by a conservative advocacy website to besmirsch the reputations of current DOJ lawyers who previously represented detainees should not distract the US government from criminally prosecuting DOJ lawyers from the past administration who made torture possible…. I recently [...]

India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha , on Tuesday approved a bill to ensure that one-third of seats in parliament are reserved for women. The Women's Reservation Bill , introduced Monday, would increase the number of women serving in the 543-seat legislature, which currently has no gender quota, from 59 to at least [...]

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Martin Scheinin on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to hold civilian trials for accused 9/11 conspirators, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed . Scheinin called the military commissions system "fatally flawed" and said that reforming the system would not help. Meanwhile, UN Special Rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak also [...]

China and India agreed Tuesday to endorse the non-binding Copenhagen Accord , which calls for self-imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions . Some 100 countries have already agreed to be associated with the non-binding accord, which arose from the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) held in Copenhagen in December. China and India, nations that are [...]

Myanmar's military junta on Tuesday unveiled the first of five laws that will set the stage for the country's first election in 20 years. The Union Election Commission Law, the first of the five laws enacted Monday to be published in state-run newspapers, states that the military government will appoint the five-member commission that will [...]

The Thai Cabinet on Tuesday approved the invocation of the Internal Security Act (ISA) to allow for increased security measures in anticipation of large anti-government protests. The law will provide more power to security forces and allow for the movement of protesters to be restricted through the imposition of curfews, checkpoints, and restrictions on the [...]

Utah Governor Gary Herbert (R) signed a bill into law on Monday that would allow a woman to be charged with criminal homicide if she arranges for an illegal abortion. Bill HB 462 defines abortion and states that "he killing or attempted killing of a live unborn child in a manner that is not an [...]

The Nigerian government must investigate the recent killings of more than 200 Christian villagers and prosecute those responsible, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday. Attacks blamed on Muslim herders took place near the city of Jos over the weekend, in apparent retaliation for violence between Muslims and Christians in January. HRW called on acting President [...]

The Sri Lankan Parliament voted Tuesday to extend the country's current state of emergency until after next month's parliamentary elections. The measure, passed by a vote of 93-24 , was opposed by the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana, the country's main opposition party. President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved parliament in February to prepare for the April elections, but, [...]