And I want to say the goals behind No Child Left Behind were admirable, and President Bush deserves credit for that. Higher standards are the right goal. Accountability is the right goal. Closing the achievement gap is the right goal. And we've got to stay focused on those goals. But experience has taught us that, in its implementation, No Child Left Behind had some serious flaws that are hurting our children instead of helping them. Teachers too often are being forced to teach to the test. Subjects like history and science have been squeezed out. And in order to avoid having their schools labeled as failures, some states, perversely, have actually had to lower their standards in a race to the bottom instead of a Race to the Top. They don't want to get penalized? Let's make sure that the standards are so low that we're not going to be seen failing to meet them. That makes no sense.

In June 2010 the US Supreme Court [official website] denied a petition for certiorari [JURIST report] in Pontiac School District v. Duncan, which challenged whether the NCLB could impose requirements upon school districts without providing funding. As a result of the denial for certiorari, the case was dismissed. At the time, the Obama administration argued against granting certiorari [brief, PDF].

Torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment is a violation of international law. During Jean-Claude Duvalier's presidency, torture was used widely and systematically to extract confessions, to punish and to instil [sic] fear. Most of the information collected by Amnesty International concerning the torture and ill-treatment of detainees comes from the survivors themselves, or in the form of testimonies from fellow prisoners, who saw the marks and injuries of torture on the victims' bodies.

In July, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] Kyung-wha Kang [official profile] spoke on the importance of Haiti improving its human rights record [JURIST report], including trying Duvalier. Stressing the importance of rebuilding after Haiti's recent earthquake, Kang said reform must create a new focus on human rights and equality in the nation. Duvalier, also known as "Baby Doc," is the son of former Haitian leader Francois Duvalier, or "Papa Doc," whom he succeeded as leader in 1971. Following a tumultuous reign, which included accusations of thousands of murders by his regime [HRW report], Duvalier fled Haiti in 1986 and had since resided in France, until his return to Haiti in January. AI announced [JURIST report] that Haitian authorities will investigate crimes committed against humanity allegedly committed under the rule of Duvalier during the 1970s and 80s.

The government is too embarrassed to defend the constitutionality of its policy in open court, so it is inventing new reasons to deny these service members justice. These veterans served their country honorably and deserve the full recognition and benefits that are afforded to other service members. The sums they seek are small to the military, but make a huge difference when readjusting to civilian life.

The DOJ asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit just two days after the repeal [JURIST report] of Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) [10 USC § 654; JURIST news archive] officially took effect [memo, PDF]. With the repeal of the law, the military can no longer prevent gays and lesbians from serving openly among its ranks. The separation pay policy, unlike DADT, can be changed without congressional approval. The repeal of DADT took effect as scheduled despite opposition from some. Four days before the repeal was scheduled to go into effect, two Republican Congressmen sent a letter to Panetta asking to delay the repeal [JURIST report] of DADT. Earlier this month, lawyers for the DOJ asked the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] to overturn a ruling that the DADT policy is a violation of service members' constitutional rights, arguing that the impendency of repeal renders the original court decision moot. In July, the Ninth Circuit ruled that DADT would remain partially in effect [JURIST report] during the 60 days prior to its newly-scheduled repeal. The court effectively reiterated its order issued [JURIST report] the previous week, in which it reinstated DADT but explicitly ordered the military to refrain from investigating, penalizing or discharging any of its members as originally provided for under the policy. Hours earlier, Obama, Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certified DADT's repeal [JURIST report], scheduling the policy to end on September 20. Obama signed the bill to repeal DADT [JURIST report] in December. The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 [HR 2965 materials] was approved in the Senate in December after being passed [JURIST reports] by the House of Representatives the week before. Since the enactment of DADT in 1993, approximately 13,000 servicemen and women have been discharged from the armed forces as a result of the policy.

Earlier this month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] said that at least 2,600 people have been killed in Syria in the crackdown [JURIST report] on anti-government protesters in the country. Last month, Pillay called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the ICC to investigate the violent suppression of anti-government protests [JURIST report]. Pillay's remarks came after the Fact-finding Mission in Syria published its 22-page report concluding that Syrian government forces cracking down on the opposition may be committing crimes against humanity [JURIST report].

Investigations into the 5th Stryker Brigade have led to additional charges for lesser crimes against seven other soldiers. In May, US Army prosecutors charged Staff Sgt. David Bram with solicitation to commit premeditated murder [JURIST report], failure to report crimes including murder, planting evidence near the body of an Afghan national, unlawfully engaging in murder scenario conversations with subordinates and aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon in related to the January 2010 murder plot. Staff Sgt. Robert Stevens pleaded guilty [JURIST report] in December to shooting two unarmed Afghan farmers following a plea agreement that will allow him to remain in the military after serving a nine-month sentence and testifying against other soldiers accused of terrifying civilians. A military investigation revealed that soldiers from the brigade had been plotting since 2009 to kill unarmed Afghans and stage them to look like casualties of combat. The probe into 12 soldiers regarding the civilian deaths began in May 2010 [JURIST report]. These charges are the latest in a number of incidents involving US soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In April 2010, a military appeals court reversed the conviction [JURIST report] of US Marine Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III for the 2006 killing of an Iraqi civilian, citing lack of a fair trial. Hutchins was serving an 11-year sentence, reduced from 15 years [JURIST report], for his role in the April 2006 kidnapping and murder of an Iraqi civilian. In December 2009, former soldier Steven Green appealed his conviction [JURIST report] for his role in the rape and murder of a 14-year old Iraqi girl. Green was sentenced to five consecutive life terms [JURIST report] in September 2009.

The Secure Communities Program, as well as other aspects of the US immigration detention policy, have been heavily criticized by constitutional and immigration rights groups. In June, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy website] and a coalition of other rights groups rejected [JURIST report] the changes announced by ICE to the program. The groups claimed Secure Communities undermines public safety, invites racial profiling and pulls non-citizens into what they call a "dangerous" system of detention and deportation. In March, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [official website] released a report [JURIST report] arguing that US immigration enforcement agencies are overly reliant on a flawed detention system. The IACHR investigated six immigrant detention centers based throughout Arizona and Texas. The report expressed concern over increased use of detention by the US government, citing a doubling in detention of non-citizens by ICE. It criticized the US government for viewing detention as a necessity and not as an exception in its enforcement. IACHR also found the average 30 day detentions troubling, arguing that it is likely to increase as backlogs of immigration cases increase. The report also criticized the lack of a genuine civil detention system and use of disproportionately restrictive penal and punitive measures during the detention period.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] said in May 2008 that it was investigating possible new war crimes [JURIST report] committed by the LRA in recent attacks on Ugandan villages. In March 2008, the ICC said that arrest warrants issued by the ICC for LRA leaders [JURIST report] remain in effect, despite requests from Uganda that they be withdrawn. The four ICC-issued warrants were executed in 2005 and include LRA leader Joseph Kony and LRA senior member Vincent Otti [BBC profiles]. In 2007, Otti was executed by rebels [BBC report], though official confirmation of his death was delayed until January amid fears that it would disrupt peace talks. Kony, who remains in hiding, is wanted for orchestrating the killing of thousands of civilians and the enslavement of thousands more children over two decades of conflict. The government has said that Kony is willing to face trial at home [JURIST report] but not at the ICC. Uganda established the ICD [JURIST report] in February 2008 to try the suspected war crimes perpetrators. A fifth arrest warrant was initially issued for Raska Lukwiya but was later withdrawn after a July 2007 ICC pre-trial chamber decision.

EULEX has been investigating war crimes [JURIST report] since December 2008. Earlier this month, EULEX charged 10 former members of the KLA [JURIST report], including Fatmir Limaj, with war crimes for their actions during the 1998-1999 war in Kosovo. In May 2010, EU police arrested a former member of the KLA for suspected war crimes violations [JURIST report]. A case came to trial [JURIST report] in March 2009, resulting in a guilty verdict against a Kosovo Albanian for charges of murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm. The trial of two Serbian defendants was derailed [JURIST report] that month by hundreds of Serbian protesters and postponed indefinitely. Earlier this year, the Council of Europe and the UN Security Council [JURIST reports] considered allegations of organ trafficking by the KLA during the war. Kosovo controversially seceded from Serbia [JURIST report] in February 2008 and its new constitution went into effect [JURIST report] later that year.

Since France passed its law in April, several other European countries have proposed or passed similar legislation. In August, an Italian parliamentary commission approved a draft law [JURIST report] that bans women from wearing full-face veils in public. In July, Belgium implemented a law banning women from wearing the burqa [JURIST report] in public, with violators facing the possibility of fines or up to seven days in jail. A French Muslim couple living in the UK filed a challenge [JURIST report] in June in the ECHR over the French ban on full face coverings. Also in June, a Spanish court upheld a city ban on veils in municipal buildings for identification and security purposes. Last October, the French Constitutional Council ruled that the ban conforms with the Constitution [JURIST report]. Also in October, Dutch politician Geert Wilders said that the Netherlands will ban the burqa [JURIST report] as part of the government's plan to form a minority coalition. In August 2010, Austria's conservative Freedom Party [official website, in German] called for a special vote [JURIST report] on whether to ban face veils and the construction of minarets, two of the most visible symbols of the Islamic faith. In July 2010, Spain's lower house of parliament rejected a proposal [JURIST report] to ban the burqa and other full face veils by a vote of 183 to 162 with two abstaining.