[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that the state of New York has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) [text; materials] by segregating mentally ill New York City residents in private homes under poor conditions. Disability Advocates, Inc. (DAI) [advocacy website] brought the suit in 2003 [NYT report] arguing that Judge Nicholas Garaufis should enjoin the practice of sending mentally ill people into these homes. While Garaufis stopped short of issuing the injunction, he did direct the state to come up with a remedial plan by mid-October, finding:

Following a five-week bench trial, DAI has proven by a preponderance of the evidence that its constituents, approximately 4,300 individuals with mental illness, are not receiving services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The adult homes at issue are institutions that segregate residents from the community and impede residents' interactions with people who do not have disabilities. DAI has proven that virtually all of its constituents are qualified to receive services in "supported housing," a far more integrated setting in which individuals with mental illness live in apartments scattered throughout the community and receive flexible support services as needed. DAI has also proven that its constituents are not opposed to receiving services in more integrated settings. Therefore, DAI has established a violation of the integration mandate of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act.

[JURIST] The German Bundestag [official website, in German] approved a bill [text, PDF, in German] Tuesday that will allow Germany to ratify the EU reform treaty, known as the Lisbon Treaty [EU materials; text]. Although both houses of Germany's parliament had previously approved the treaty [JURIST report], the German Constitutional Court [official website] ruled [judgment; JURIST report] in June that the treaty could not be ratified without certain parliamentary reforms ensuring Germany's sovereignty. The Bundestag passed the bill [DW report], which was drafted [JURIST report] in August, by a vote of 494-46 with two abstentions. The bill must still be approved by the Bundesrat [official website], Germany's upper house of parliament, which will cast its vote September 18, and then signed into law by President Horst Koehler [official profile, in German].

Efforts to ratify [JURIST news archive] the treaty in all of the 27 member countries required for approval have met some obstacles. Although the treaty has been approved in 23 countries, Irish voters rejected [JURIST report] the treaty last June, leading Czech President Vaclav Klaus [official website] to refuse to sign the measure, despite approval [JURIST report] by the Czech Senate [official website]. Last July, Polish President Lech Kaczynski [official website] refused to sign [JURIST report] the treaty despite parliamentary approval, calling it "pointless" in light of the Irish rejection. Ireland agreed in June to hold a second referendum [JURIST report] after EU leaders agreed to certain concessions [presidency conclusions, PDF].

[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website] announced Tuesday that international co-prosecutor William Smith [official profile] recommends investigating [press release] five more potential war criminals in what would be the court's final investigations. The announcement came a day after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed hope [JURIST report] that the Court would cease to prosecute those suspected of war crimes during the Khmer Rouge [BBC backgrounder] regime due to security concerns. According to court rules, the names of the five suspects were not released. The release stated:

Based on a preliminary investigation, the Second Introductory Submission requests judicial investigation of eight (8) distinct factual situations of murder, torture, unlawful detention, forced labour and persecution. The factual allegations in this Introductory Submission, if proved, would constitute crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and violations of the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code. The Third Introductory Submission requests judicial investigation of thirty-two (32) distinct factual situations of murder, torture, unlawful detention, forced labour, and persecution. The factual allegations in the Third Introductory Submission, if proved, would constitute crimes against humanity, violations of the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code and genocide.

[JURIST] British officials met Tuesday with lawyers for victims of Irish Republican Army (IRA) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] bombings in the 1980s and 90s to discuss seeking compensation from Libya. The meeting came after Prime Minister Gordon Brown [official website] said Sunday that that British government would support efforts to win compensation [NYT report] from the Libyan government, which is accused of providing the IRA with explosives. Brown said that although the British government will not negotiate directly with Libya, it will establish a foreign office dedicated to getting compensation for the victims. Brown's statement is an apparent reversal of policy, as the Sunday Times of London reported that they had obtained documents showing that Brown did not support [Times report] seeking victims' compensation.

Tuesday's meeting comes on the heels of the controversy surrounding the release [JURIST report] to Libya of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi [BBC profile] who was recently diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. In November, Libya made its final deposit [JURIST report] to a $1.5 billion fund for US terrorism victims that will be used to settle claims for victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive] over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the 1986 bombing of the La Belle disco [BBC backgrounder] in Berlin, Germany. Libya has also made payments to compensate British victims of the Lockerbie bombing, but no agreement has ever been reached to compensate victims of the IRA attacks.

[JURIST] Mexican President Felipe Calderon [official website, in Spanish] on Monday accepted the resignation [text] of Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora [official profile], a key player in Mexico's efforts against drug cartels and drug-related violence. Medina Mora will be replaced by the former attorney general of a northern Mexican state, Arturo Chavez. In his address to the media, Calderon said:

Mr. Medina Mora's work has been instrumental in confiscating record amounts from criminals and in bringing many of the leaders of the main criminal organizations in Mexico to justice. His commitment was crucial to purging police and above all, ministerial corps through Operation Clean-Up. I would also like to highlight his role in promoting the laws that will enable us to create a new legal architecture to consolidate the Rule of Law, such as the Constitutional Reform of the Penal Justice System and the new Organic Law of the Attorney General's Office. I have asked [Media Mora] to continue contributing to the nation through the Mexican Foreign Service in a mission that will be announced in due course. Assistant Legal Attorney General and Head of Special Affairs Juan Miguel Alcantara will temporarily take over, guaranteeing the continuity of operations in the Attorney General's office and resolving the issues involved in it, in accordance with Article 89 of the Organic Law Regulations of the Attorney General's Office. I will propose the designation, according to Article 89, Section 9 of the Constitution, of Arturo Chavez, as the new Attorney General, whose nomination I will submit to Senate for approval.

[JURIST] The administration of US President Barack Obama [official website] has improved government transparency over the Bush administration, but there is more that should be done, according a report [text, PDF; press release, PDF] released Tuesday OpenTheGovernment.org [advocacy website], a coalition of public interest groups. The Secrecy Report Card 09 provides a non-quantitative overview of the first six months of the Obama administration, finding that while promises of openness have been encouraging, in practice there has been room for greater transparency in some instances, concluding that the "record to date is mixed." The report also found that the Bush administration improved secrecy policies during its final year:

The final year of the Bush-Cheney Administration saw slight decreases in secrecy in a number of areas in the executive branch. The record is not clear that there was a concomitant increase in openness. Signs of progress exist in some areas toward more openness, the results of continued determination on the part of the public and its representatives. Congress continues working to identify ways to rein in the use and abuse of categories, such as "Sensitive But Unclassified," and has also taken steps to counter the tendencies of agencies and departments in areas such as over-classification.

[JURIST] Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki [official website, in Arabic; JURIST news archive] on Sunday reiterated calls for the UN to establish an international tribunal to investigate and try suspects accused in the August 19 bombing of the foreign and finance ministries [BBC report] that left close to 100 dead. Meeting with the US envoy in Iraq, al-Maliki also described the worsening situation between Iraq and Syria [AP report], which has refused to hand over individuals suspected of planning the attacks. Al-Maliki's request for an international tribunal echo a letter [Reuters report] sent recently to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that was forwarded to the UN Security Council [official websites], in which al-Maliki asked that an independent international commission of inquiry be set up to investigate the attacks. The Security Council has yet to respond to the request.

The August attacks came less than two months after US troops withdrew from urban centers under the US-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) [text, PDF], which allows US troops to remain in the country until the end of 2011. In the days before the bombings, the Iraqi Cabinet approved a draft bill that would require a referendum [JURIST report] on the SOFA. Under the proposed bill, which must still be approved by the Iraqi Parliament, the referendum would occur during the parliamentary elections, scheduled for January 16. If the SOFA were rejected by Iraqi voters, US troops would have only one year to withdraw, resulting in a January 2011 withdrawal, nearly a year ahead of schedule. No parliamentary vote on the bill has been scheduled.