[JURIST] US Attorney General nominee Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] in confirmation hearings [materials; transcript] Thursday that he believes waterboarding [JURIST news archive] constitutes torture and that it could take a long time to close the Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] prison despite the incoming Obama administration's pledge to do so. In his opening statement [text] to committee members he nonetheless pledged to pursue three general goals if confirmed:

First, I will work to strengthen the activities of the federal government that protect the American people from terrorism. Nothing I will do is more important.

I will use every available tactic to defeat our adversaries, and I will do so within the letter and spirit of the Constitution. Adherence to the rule of law strengthens security by depriving terrorist organizations of their prime recruiting tools. America must be a beacon to the world. We will lead by strength, we will lead by wisdom and we will lead by example.

Second, I will work to restore the credibility of a Department badly shaken by allegations of improper political interference. Law enforcement decisions and personnel actions must be untainted by partisanship. Under my stewardship, the Department of Justice will serve justice, not the fleeting interests of any political party.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip have done much to stabilize the Department and restore morale. For that, Judges Mukasey and Filip deserve the gratitude of the American people and they have my personal gratitude. But there is more work to do.

Third, I will reinvigorate the traditional missions of the Justice Department. Without ever relaxing our guard in the fight against global terrorism, the Department must also embrace its historic role in fighting crime, protecting civil rights, preserving the environment and ensuring the fairness of the marketplace.

My decisions were not always perfect. I made mistakes. I hope that enough of my decisions were correct to justify the gratifying support I have received from colleagues in law enforcement in recent weeks. But with the benefit of hindsight, I can see my errors clearly and I can tell you how I have learned from them.

[JURIST] UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband [official profile] said Thursday in a Guardian editorial [text] that the "war of terror" embraced by the US and UK governments in recent years was a "misleading and mistaken" term and that terrorism should be fought

by championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society. We must uphold our commitments to human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad. That is surely the lesson of Guantánamo and it is why we welcome President-elect Obama's commitment to close it...

The call for a "war on terror" was a call to arms, an attempt to build solidarity for a fight against a single shared enemy. But the foundation for solidarity between peoples and nations should be based not on who we are against, but on the idea of who we are and the values we share. Terrorists succeed when they render countries fearful and vindictive; when they sow division and animosity; when they force countries to respond with violence and repression. The best response is to refuse to be cowed.

[JURIST] Sudanese authorities on Wednesday detained prominent political opposition figure and Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi [BBC profile] in response to al-Turabi's calls for President Omar al-Bashir [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to turn himself over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website]. Turabi, the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP), was expecting to be detained [Sudan Tribune report] after telling reporters Monday that Bashir is responsible for war crimes in Darfur [JURIST archive]. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] has condemned [press release] Turabi's detention, calling it "arbitrary."

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [offical profile] applied for an arrest warrant for Bashir [JURIST report] in July, charging him with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The warrant was condemned [JURIST report] by the Arab League [official website, in Arabic] and criticized [JURIST report] by South African President Thabo Mbeki [official profile]. In December, ICC judges gave Moreno-Ocampo until January 26 to provide supplemental information about a September 2007 attack [BBC report] on an African Union [official website] base in Haskanita. The events at the ICC were preceded by a Security Council statement in June urging Sudan to work with the ICC [JURIST report] to "put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur." Sudan is not a party to the ICC, but must cooperate to fulfill its obligations under Council Resolution 1593 [text], which established jurisdiction over the Darfur situation. Hundreds of thousands of people have allegedly been killed in Darfur by Sudanese military and janjaweed [Slate backgrounder] militia forces.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] on Wednesday upheld [opinion, PDF] a Georgia law that requires voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to vote. The suit [complaint, PDF] was filed by two elderly voters in Georgia, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [advocacy website], and other civil rights groups that argued that the legislation makes it difficult for minorities, the elderly, and the impoverished to participate in elections. In the opinion, Judge Bill Pryor affirmed the district court's decision, saying:

The inability to locate a single voter who would bear a significant burden provides significant support for a conclusion that the Photo ID requirement does not unduly burden the right to vote. The insignificant burden imposed by the Georgia statute is outweighed by the interests in detecting and deterring voter fraud.

[JURIST] The Venezuelan National Assembly [official website, in Spanish] on Wednesday approved a constitutional amendment [press release and text, in Spanish] eliminating presidential term limits. The amendment must now be approved by voters in a referendum likely to be held on February 15. The amendment, which would allow President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to seek re-election in 2012, was passed by an Assembly made up of a majority of Chavez supporters. The amendment has been called illegal by the political opposition that claims that previous attempts at an amendment have already been rejected by voters in 2007.

Last month, a petition signed by almost five million people [JURIST report] endorsing the amendment was given to the National Assembly, while thousands of members of Chavez's United Socialist Party gathered in Caracas to show support. In 2007, the constitutional reforms proposed by Chavez were rejected by a narrow margin of 51 to 49 percent. Chavez acknowledged that his proposed reforms, which would have allowed him to stand indefinitely for re-election, handpick local leaders under a new political map, create new types of communal property, and to suspend civil liberties during states of emergency, were "quite profound and intense," and noted that he may have been too ambitious in his proposals. Chavez touted the constitutional changes as necessary to advance Venezuela's socialist revolution. Opposition politicians accused Chavez [JURIST report] of using the constitutional reforms to consolidate his power.

[JURIST] The Kazakhstan Parliament [official website] on Thursday approved legislation designed to ensure that there is representation from at least two political parties [Gazeta report] in the lawmaking body. The election law reform measure is seen as a way to enhance democracy in Kazakhstan 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. The new law [AP report] will allow the party that wins the second most votes to obtain seven seats in parliament, whether or not they meet the 7 percent threshold currently required to hold a seat. Other reforms that were passed include lowering the number of members required to form political parties to 40,000, down from 50,000, while requiring the signatures of at least 600 individuals from each province. Critics contend that elections reform in Kazakhstan has not met the assurances [RFE report] the country gave in order to overcome opposition to its taking over as chair of the OSCE.

In December, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] released a report [text, PDF; JURIST report] detailing how Kazakhstan has fallen short on its pledges to reform election laws before it takes over as head of OSCE. 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. 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].

[JURIST] International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] on Wednesday said that the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate possible war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. Moreno-Ocampo's statement came after calls by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) [advocacy website] for the UN Security Council [official website] to refer Israel to the ICC [press release] for an investigation. Moreno-Ocampo said the court currently lacks jurisdiction over Israel because it is not a member state. The ICC could obtain jurisdiction over Israel if it is referred by the Security Council or if Israel voluntarily accepts jurisdiction.

On Tuesday, European Union Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel [official profile] said that Israel is not respecting international human rights law [JURIST report] in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution [JURIST report] condemning the Israeli occupation in Gaza [press release] and demanding the immediate withdrawal of military forces. The council also decided to dispatch a fact-finding mission to investigate possible human rights violations. Last Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an independent investigation [statement text; JURIST report] of possible war crimes and human rights violations in the ongoing conflict [BBC materials] between Israel and combatants in the Gaza Strip. She called on Israel to respect the bounds of international law regarding the protection of civilians [Fourth Geneva Convention text], even if the Gaza combatants do not, stressing that Israel's responsibility to fulfill its international obligations is completely independent from the compliance of Hamas with its own obligations under international law.