Although the commission has plenary authority over the rates of compensation, a system of checks and balances was established with the Legislature in the Michigan Constitution of 1963. Specifically, an increase in the rate of compensation authorized by the commission may be rejected or reduced by the Legislature "by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to and serving in each house" provided the vote occurs within 60 calendar days of the transmitted increase."The [L]egislature may not reduce rates of compensation below those in effect at the time of the transmission of increases authorized by the commission." The Civil Service Commission has the sole authority to fix rates of compensation. By enacting 2010 PA 185 ... the Legislature acted to reduce the compensation of classified civil servants by three percent without an accompanying agreement with the unions or the CSC. The sole authority to fix rates of compensation of classified civil servants is vested with the CSC.

States facing monumental budget deficits have struggled to find the political consensus to reduce spending. In June, the Wisconsin Supreme Court [official website] upheld the Budget Repair Bill [JURIST report] overruling the Dane County Circuit Court finding [JURIST report] that legislators had violated the "open meetings" rule. Ruling 4-3, the court stated that the lower court Judge had "invaded the legislature's constitutional powers." The more controversial legislation in Wisconsin requires state employees to contribute a percentage of their salaries to their pension and health care premiums, and eliminates the ability of public employee union members to collectively negotiate anything but wage increase, which will be capped by the Consumer Price Index.

In June, the director-general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [official website] Irina Bokova [official website] condemned Syria [JURIST report] for its human rights violations and repression of journalism and free speech. Bokova called for the government to restore citizens' access to cell phones and the Internet and to stop "acts of aggression" against journalists. Last week, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] adopted a resolution [draft text, PDF] ordering an investigation into crimes against humanity in Syria and urging the Syrian government once again to halt its violent crackdown against peaceful protesters. The UNHRC convened a special session to discuss the possibility of an investigation after a Fact-finding Mission in Syria published a 22-page report concluding that Syrian government forces cracking down on the opposition may be committing crimes against humanity [JURIST report].

In June, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) [official website] selected five appointees [JURIST report], one woman and four men, to serve on the nation's first Supreme Court. The list of nominations was submitted to Kibaki for direct appointment because Article 166(1)(b) of Kenya's Constitution exempts the appointees from questioning by the Parliament of the Republic of Kenya [official website]. Kibaki signed a new constitution [JURIST report] into law in August 2010 as part of a reform movement aimed at curbing vast presidential powers. Kenya's new constitution includes numerous checks on presidential authority, among which are the creation of a supreme court and senate. The new constitution was approved [JURIST report] by popular referendum earlier that same month. The creation of a new constitution was part of a power-sharing agreement [JURIST report] reached in 2009 between Kibaki and opposition leader Prime Minister Raila Odinga [official website] that brought to an end the civil unrest that followed the contested election.

The Iranian government has faced significant international scrutiny for its handling of the post-election protests and treatment of thousands arrested as a result. Aside from the repeated pleas form the US, Amnesty International labeled human rights violations committed by the Iranian government following the election among the worst of the past 20 years [JURIST report]. Human rights groups have also called on the UN General Assembly [official website] to appoint a special envoy [JURIST report] to investigate allegations of rights violations. Alleged human rights abuses of detainees include sexual assault, beatings and forced confessions [JURIST reports]. Many of those detained after the protests have been freed, but more than 80 have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms and five have been sentenced to death.

There are those who were arrested, and investigations proved that they were the victims of individual behavior and were ill-treated in custody. This is not tolerated by God and we do not condone it. ... The last few months were painful for all of us, and even though we all live in the same country, some have forgotten about the inevitability of coexistence.

In June, Khalifa announced that an independent commission will investigate human rights violations [JURIST report] related to the country's pro-democracy protests. Earlier that month, the OHCHR announced that Bahrain agreed to permit a UN commission [JURIST report] to investigate human rights violations related to protests. In April, human rights organizations including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Doctors Without Borders (DWB) [advocacy websites] criticized Bahrain for rampant human rights abuses [JURIST report] related to anti-government protests. Six opposition leaders were arrested [JURIST report] in March after the government, backed by foreign troops from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) [official website], violently dispersed protesters in the capital of Manana. Days earlier, Khalifa declared [JURIST report] a three-month state of emergency [decree text, in Arabic] in response to growing unrest in the island nation. The state of emergency came just days after a group of 22 Bahraini lawmakers, part of an independent pro-government bloc, called on the King to impose martial law [JURIST report] under articles 36 and 123 of the Bahraini Constitution [text, PDF]. In February, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] called for an end to violence against protesters [JURIST report] in the country, referencing attempts to quell protests sweeping across the region.

The COE report alleges that Thaci was the leader of the KLA Drenica Group, a criminal network that controlled the heroin trade and the black market trafficking of kidneys of executed Serbian and Albanian war prisoners. News of the report's accusations prompted the government to respond [press release], denying the allegations and calling them an attempt to harm Thaci's reputation following his party's victory in the nation's parliamentary elections last year. Claims of Kosovo's involvement in human organ trafficking originated in 2008 when former prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] Carla Del Ponte [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] alleged in a book [JURIST report] about her time at the tribunal that roughly 300 Serbian and other non-Albanian prisoners were victims of organ trafficking during the war. That year, Serbian prosecutors condemned Albania's refusal to initiate [JURIST report] an investigation into allegations of organ trafficking in Kosovo. Albanian Prosecutor General Ina Rama refused to cooperate with Serbian war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic [official website] and said that her country would only pursue the allegations if the ICTY decided to reopen its investigation.