The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) signed an agreement on Monday detailing the upcoming power transfer in Kosovo , which will mean new responsibilities for the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) . The memorandum covers EULEX's duties regarding judicial, policing and other operations. Serbia, which has vehemently opposed independence for Kosovo, denounced [...]

Russian officials on Monday confirmed that the nation will file a complaint against Georgia with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and said that the government is considering filing another complaint with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) . The filings would be related to war crimes allegedly committed against ethnic Russians in the breakaway region [...]

The Supreme Court of California ruled Monday that gay and lesbian patients cannot be denied medical treatment because of doctors' religious beliefs. The issue came before the court in a case where a lesbian couple who were denied an artificial insemination procedure by a clinic claimed the refusal violated anti-discrimination provisions in California's Unruh Civil [...]

Rahinah Ibrahim v. Department of Homeland Security, et al., US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, August 18, 2008 . Read the full text of the decision . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

Pakistan's ruling coalition on Tuesday failed to reach an agreement on reinstating the judges who were ousted last year by President Pervez Musharraf . Officials had originally projected that a plan would be established Tuesday for restoring the judges within the next few days, and Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) head Nawaz Sharif has [...]

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Monday called on Russia to take action against growing instances of ethnic violence and Neo-Nazi activity within its borders. CERD said that Chechens, Roma, and other ethnic and religious minorities are the most common victims and noted allegations that Russian police frequently refuse to [...]

The government of Peru on Monday instituted a state of emergency in the northern region of the country, banning public gatherings, limiting travel, and increasing police presence for 30 days. The measure comes in response to large protests held by indigenous groups who oppose a new law reducing the majority by which a tribe must [...]

A Sudanese court on Monday sentenced eight Darfur rebels to death, including the half brother of Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Khalil Ibrahim. Abdul Aziz Ashur and others were found guilty on charges related to a May rebel attack on the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, in which at least 200 people died. In June, [...]

JURIST] The president of Human Rights Watch , mediation advisors, and other NGO leaders have recently begun to more openly criticize prosecutorial and other judgments made by International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo . Moreno-Ocampo has already received sharp criticism from both the League of Arab States (LAS) and the African Union (AU) for his [...]

Richard Scott, head of the Canadian Judicial Council conduct committee , warned on Sunday that judges should exercise caution in agreeing to head up extra-judicial public inquiries designed to address politically controversial issues. Scott, who is also the chief justice of the Manitoba Court of Appeal , said that by straying too far from their [...]