[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] heard oral arguments [day call, PDF; briefs] Monday in two cases. In Kansas v. Colorado [oral arguments transcript, PDF], the Court heard arguments on whether the Supreme Court must abide by Congressional rules regarding expert witness costs when the case falls under the Supreme Court's original and exclusive jurisdiction. The Court has constitutionally mandated original jurisdiction [Article 3, § 2 text] over the case because it is a dispute between two states. In 2001, the Court ruled [opinion] that Colorado was liable for millions of dollars in damages and interest for diverting water from the Arkansas River into Colorado farm lands. The dispute continued, and in 2004, the Court ordered a special master to further investigate the situation [opinion]. The special master determined that US law [28 U.S.C. § 1821(b) text] caps a witness' attendance fee at $40 per day, but lawyers for Kansas have argued that the legislative intent behind the statute was meant to bind only lower courts and that the Supreme Court is statutorily unlimited in awarding fees [28 U.S.C. § 1911 text] in cases of original jurisdiction.

The Court also heard arguments in the case of 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett [oral arguments transcript, PDF], in which the court is considering whether an employee may bring a statutory anti-discrimination suit when the employee's collective bargaining agreement prohibits such suits in favor of arbitration. In 2003, the employer of the three plaintiffs, all union members older than 50 years, changed their jobs to positions they described as less desirable. The plaintiffs alleged age discrimination [Age Discrimination in Employment Act text] and brought suit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) [official website], which rejected the age discrimination argument. The plaintiffs then filed suit with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, which found that the arbitration requirement in the collective bargaining agreement was unenforceable because it deprived the plaintiffs of the right to an appropriate judicial forum. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the ruling [text, PDF]. Lawyers for the appellants said during oral arguments that the National Labor Relations Act [text] allows general collective bargaining, but lawyers for the plaintiffs responded that the right of unions to bargain collectively does not trump all individual rights.

[JURIST] The UN Human Rights Council [official website] adopted a resolution [text, DOC; materials] Monday condemning human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo [ICC materials] at the close of a special session [official website] on renewed violence in the country. The Council singled out abuses in the eastern province of North Kivu, including sexual violence and the recruitment of child soldiers. It adopted by consensus [Reuters report] a draft submitted by Egypt on behalf of an African group, rather than a draft proposed by France on behalf of the EU. UN Watch, [advocacy website] which testified at the special session, criticized [press release] the council for failing to reinstate an independent monitor and commence a fact-finding mission to investigate abuses.

At the opening of the session Friday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] urged [statement text] accountability for abuses as a prerequisite to quelling six years of fighting involving local militias. In October, the International Criminal Court (ICC) reasserted its jurisdiction [JURIST report] over Congo war crimes issues. UN officials on the ground have also warned [JURIST report] of possible war crimes and genocide being committed by militias attacking civilian populations.

[JURIST] Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg [official profile; JURIST news archive] said Monday that human rights standards have been undermined by the "war on terror." Hammarberg focused on blacklists created by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 (1999) [text, PDF], the EU common position 2001/931 [text, PDF], EU Regulation 2580/2001 [text, PDF], and revisions made to EU Regulation 2580 [text, PDF]. Under these resolutions, persons suspected of involvement with terrorism can have their financial assets seized without being afforded a trial. They can submit a request for removal from the list to the UN Sanction Committee but only the country of which they are a citizen can assert any formal rights relating to the seizure. Hammarberg wrote in a column [text] posted on the COE website:

The 'war on terror' has gravely undermined previously agreed human rights standards. The counter-terrorism measures taken since 9/11 must now be thoroughly review and changed, not only in the United States and other affected countries, but also in inter-governmental organisations [sic]. Innocent victims must have their names cleared and receive compensation and steps must be taken to prevent similar injustices in the future. Those suspected of association with terrorism must not find themselves on so-called 'black-lists' without any prospect of having their case heard or reviewed by an independent body.

[JURIST] The Spanish Foreign Ministry [official website] expressly allowed the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] to use Spanish resources in transporting terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay, according to a 2002 internal Foreign Ministry memorandum [PDF text, in Spanish] released by Madrid's El Pais [report, in Spanish] newspaper on Sunday. According to the document, an official for the ministry granted a CIA request to allow the US to use Spanish air space and military bases for flights between Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The Ministry, now under new leadership since the government of conservative Prime Minister José María Aznar was replaced in 2004 by that of socialist Rodríguez Zapatero, said it would investigate [AP report] whether the country had actually granted the permission. The Spanish government has previously conceded that CIA flights may have stopped on its soil [JURIST report], but denied that it had granted permission for such planes to transport prisoners.

Spain made a similar pledge to investigate [JURIST report] extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] flights that may have passed through the country in 2005 after the European Union (EU) [official website] threatened it with sanctions [JURIST report]. At the time, Spain denied knowledge of any such flights.

[JURIST] US President-elect Barack Obama officially announced [transition materials and transcript] on Monday that he is nominating former Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] official Eric Holder [professional profile; JURIST report] as the next US attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate, Holder will be the first African American to lead the DOJ. Holder served as Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton Administration and led Obama’s VP selection team during the election. Obama said:

Eric Holder has the talent and commitment to succeed as Attorney General from his first day on the job, which is even more important in a transition that demands vigilance. He has distinguished himself as a prosecutor, a Judge, and a senior official, and he is deeply familiar with the law enforcement challenges we face– from terrorism to counter-intelligence; from white collar crime to public corruption.

Eric also has the combination of toughness and independence that we need at the Justice Department. Let me be clear: the Attorney General serves the American people. And I have every expectation that Eric will protect our people, uphold the public trust, and adhere to our Constitution.

[JURIST] Government officials in Zimbabwe [JURIST news archive] said [Herald report] Monday that they will disregard a South African Development Community Tribunal [official website] ruling [JURIST report] that ordered Zimbabwe to halt its Land Reform Program [official website]. The tribunal held that the program's seizure of white-owned farms was racially motivated and therefore contrary to the Southern African Development Community [official website] treaty [DOC text], but Zimbabwean Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa [government profile] was quoted in Monday's Harare Herald as saying the program was justified because it corrected past racial disparities which had favored white farmers. Mutasa said the government would continue to operate the program and seize any remaining white-owned farms.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has been harshly criticized [Guardian report] for his farm program, which since 2000 has sought to redistribute white-owned land among the nation's indigenous farmers. In February 2006, Mutasa said that, following controversial constitutional reforms, there are no longer any white farmers operating legally in Zimbabwe [JURIST report]. Many observers attribute Zimbabwe's disastrous economic circumstances - including an inflation rate exceeding 231,000,000 percent [Guardian report] - to the policy, under which previously productive farms have become barren under new inexperienced owners.

[JURIST] The government of Switzerland [official website; JURIST news archive] on Sunday announced that voters in a referendum have approved a measure [official materials, in German] making the country's heroin assisted treatment program (HAT) [official website] permanent. Sixty-eight percent [results, in German] of 2.26 million voters approved the permanent legalization of heroin [AP report] while voting against a proposal for the decriminalization of marijuana [official materials, in German] by 63.2 percent [results, in German]. The key difference between the two legalization schemes was scope. The legalization of heroin is limited to 21 outpatient clinics and two prisons where distribution is tightly controlled by prescriptions and given only to addicts who have been unsuccessfully treated elsewhere. In contrast, the proposed amendment to the federal constitution concerning marijuana [Swiss Federal Assembly website, in German] would have broadly legalized the consumption, growing, and sale of cannabis for personal use.

The HAT program began as a Swiss National Cohort Study [official website] in 1994, concluding in 1996. The study showed that the lives of the addicts in treatment at government-run centers improved dramatically. The patients in the initial study moreover reduced their dependence on crime as a source of income from 70 percent to 10 percent after eighteen months. The Netherlands and Germany [BBC report] have initiated similar pilot studies following the Swiss success.

[JURIST] The Central Criminal Court of Iraq (CCCI) on Sunday ordered the release of Ibrahim Jassam Mohammed, an Iraqi freelance photographer working for Reuters [news website] held by the US military. The court order, supplied to a Reuters' attorney [Reuters report], said the US military had no evidence to support Jassam's continued imprisonment. Jassam has been held since September in a military prison near the Baghdad airport after being detained after a raid [Reuters report] on his home in Mahmudiya.

Press groups have called upon the US military to act more quickly when reviewing cases involving journalists covering the Iraq war. A joint statement [text] on Jassam's case issued in November by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Iraqi-based Journalistic Freedom Observatory [advocacy website, in Arabic] noted that "Since the start of the US armed intervention in Iraq in March 2003, the worldwide press freedom organisation has recorded arrests of 12 people working for Reuters, all of whom have subsequently been released and their cases closed without further action." Currently, the US has the right to hold indefinitely anyone that it deems a threat until the UN mandate [UN press release] authorizing US presence in Iraq which expires on December 31, 2008. Last week, the Iraqi parliament approved a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [JURIST report] that limits the US military's ability to detain uncharged persons after its January 1, 2009 implementation.

[JURIST] Kazakhstan has fallen short on its pledges to reform election laws before it takes over as chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) [official website], Europe's main security and human rights body, in 2010, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said in a report [text, PDF] released Monday. The report focused on two fundamental areas of ensuring an open and free system of elections - the rights to freedom of expression and assembly and the failure of Kazakhstan to live up to its promises of reform in those areas. The report quoted the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) [official website] as saying that the elections "did not meet a number of OSCE commitments, in particular with regard to elements of the legal framework and to the vote count and tabulation" and "interrupted an ongoing dialogue on election legislation." The report added that proposed electoral law changes sent to parliament earlier this month fail to address the fundamental problems such as term limits for the President, his unchecked powers to dissolve parliament, his ability to appoint a third of the members of the upper chamber and choose the chair and two members of the seven-member Central Election Commission.

Some of the criticism of Kazakhstan's electoral practices has stemmed from the December 2005 election in which President Nursultan Nazarbaev [official website; BBC profile], in office since 1991, was re-elected with 91 percent of the vote. International observers raised concerns of fraud [JURIST report] after that poll, which opposition parties unsuccessfully challenged [JURIST report] afterwards. In August 2007 parliamentary elections the ruling party, Nur Otan [party website, in Russian], won 88 percent of the vote. Kazakhstan has never had elections considered fair and free by Western monitors.

[JURIST] A Myanmar court on Friday sentenced two reporters to seven years imprisonment for allegedly undercutting the country's military junta by possessing reports deemed seditious. Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung were found in February with a copy of a UN special rapporteur's human rights report on Burma [text, DOC], along with videotapes of last year's pro-democracy demonstrations (Independent backgrounder) during a raid of the offices of The Myanmar Nation, the now-closed newspaper for which both reporters worked. The two were sentenced [AP report] on a charge of breaking section 17/20 of the military-controlled country's Printers and Publishers Registration Act [text, DOC], and received the maximum penalty allowed [RWB press release] allowed under that law. The sentencing came on the same day as another Myanmar court sentenced 13 members of the 88 Generation Students [BBC backgrounder] to six years imprisonment for undermining stability.

The sentences are the latest in a string of harsh jail terms [JURIST report] handed out to Myanmar dissidents which have been condemned by human rights groups [Global Justice Center press release, PDF; JURIST report], Western governments, and the UN [JURIST report] as making a mockery of the military junta's announced plans [VOA report] to renew democracy in the country.