The ECHR rulings could have broad implications going forward [NYT report] and may play a role in the UK as the British government investigates [JURIST report] whether tougher media regulations are necessary. In July, British Prime Minister David Cameron [official website] announced the formation of a panel to investigate journalism practices in the nation, after allegations of "phone hacking" [JURIST report] surfaced in the British media. The panel is investigating the media and reporters' relationship with police and politicians, as well as the tactics media agents use to get information. While the UK judges are currently split [JURIST report] over the role ECHR decisions should play in the British court system, the ECHR's ruling could limit media reforms proposed by the panel, particularly regarding coverage of celebrities.

Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] accused [JURIST report] Syria's army and security officers of engaging in the torture of children [press release]. The allegations stemmed from HRW's documentation of cases in which children were reportedly detained, tortured, and shot in their homes, as well as prior findings that the Syrian government has been involved in torturing and killing civilian protesters. HRW has subsequently urged the UN Security Council [official website] to take action and pressure the Syrian government to end the inhumane violence against children still allegedly occurring in homes, streets, and schools. Last month, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon [official profile] demanded [JURIST report] Syria's president Bashar al-Assad [BBC backgrounder] to end the violence against its citizens and strive to establish democracy. Ban previously condemned [JURIST report] Syrian government leaders and violent protesters in December for the continuous bloodshed within the country. The violence in Syria has also been decried by the UN Human Rights Council, the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Committee and the Arab League [JURIST reports]. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] has reported [UN report] that more than 5,000 people have died since the anti-government protests in Syria began last March.

The result [of lax federal enforcement] has been the funneling of an increasing tide of illegal border crossings into Arizona. Indeed, over the past decade, over a third of the nation's illegal border crossings occurred in Arizona. ... This flood of unlawful cross-border traffic, and the accompanying influx of illegal drugs, dangerous criminals and highly vulnerable persons, have resulted in massive problems for Arizona's citizens and government, leaving them to bear a seriously disproportionate share of the burden of an already urgent national problem.

SB 1070 has had a polarizing effect since its passage. Legislatures in states such as Utah, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Indiana [JURIST reports] have passed immigration laws in the past two years that mirror Arizona's. While SB 1070 has spawned many new state laws in its image, it has also attracted sharp criticism. In July 2010, the American Bar Association (ABA) [official website] filed a brief [JURIST report] urging the US District Court for the District of Arizona [official website] to block SB 1070 from taking effect. The ABA's brief came on the heels of a US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] lawsuit challenging the SB 1070's constitutionality. In May 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] filed a suit seeking to block implementation of the new law [JURIST report]. Earlier in May 2010, a group of UN human rights experts argued that SB 1070 may violate international standards [JURIST report].

With respect to aggravating circumstances, the Chamber notes the position of trust in which Jelena Rasic found herself in at the time of her crimes. Members of Defence teams are obligated to act conscientiously with full respect of the law and applicable rules, something which certainly also holds true for any professional involved in the proceedings before the Tribunal. As officers of justice, they must at all times be aware of their duties and must never allow themselves to affect others, such as prospective witnesses, in a criminal manner. However, Jelena Rasic did just that.

The ICTY is currently facing a suit [JURIST report] initiated by Vojislav Seselj [official website, in Serbian; JURIST news archive], a former Serb nationalist politician and war crimes suspect, for unreasonable delay in his trial. He claims USD $2.6 million in damages. He was charged with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, and in October he was sentenced to 18 months [JURIST report] for releasing information of protected witnesses. In December the ICTY convicted a former Yugoslav intelligence officer [JURIST report] on charges of contempt for failing to testify. Court argued that such failure was against the interest of justice. In the same month, former Serbian general pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to charges for executing more than 30 Muslim prisoners. Earlier of the month, ICTY with International Criminal Tribune for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive] reported [JURIST report] to the UN Security Council [official website] their progress in tracking and arresting fugitives for the tribunals' mandates.

Texas Governor Rick Perry [official website] signed the measure into law in May, but it was blocked in August after a challenge [JURIST reports] from the CRR. Laws similar to the Texas law have also been considered in other states. Early this month, the Virginia Senate approved a bill [JURIST report] that would require women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound before the procedure. The law would impose requirements including the audio provision of fetal heartbeat and a determination of the gestational age of the fetus. In October, a judge for the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina [official website] issued a preliminary injunction [JURIST report], blocking part of the state's abortion law that required a physician to perform an ultrasound and describe the images to the patient. In March 2010 the Supreme Court of Oklahoma [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that a state law [SB 1878, DOC] imposing broad restrictions on abortion, including the requirement of an ultrasound prior to the procedure, violated that state's constitution.

Although the Constitution permits communities to enact most laws they believe to be desirable, it requires that there be at least a legitimate reason for the passage of a law that treats different classes of people differently. There was no such reason that Proposition 8 could have been enacted. Because under California statutory law, same-sex couples had all the rights of opposite-sex couples, regardless of their marital status, all parties agree that Proposition 8 had one effect only. It stripped same-sex couples of the ability they previously possessed to obtain from the State, or any other authorized party, an important right—the right to obtain and use the designation of 'marriage' to describe their relationships. ... Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite sex couples. The Constitution simply does not allow for "laws for this sort."

Last week the Ninth Circuit ruled that videos from the Proposition 8 trial must remain sealed [JURIST report]. The court heard arguments in December on whether the video recordings should be released to the public and whether the district court should have vacated Judge Vaughn Walker's original ruling [JURIST reports] because he later revealed that he was in a same-sex relationship. The Ninth Circuit initially heard arguments on Proposition 8's constitutionality in December 2010, but then asked the California Supreme Court [JURIST reports] to rule on whether defendants had standing to appeal. The high court ruled in November that they did have standing [JURIST report].

The ICJ is currently reviewing 13 cases. Last week, the court ruled [JURIST report] that Germany has immunity from claims brought in foreign courts by victims of the Nazi regime. The court found that a 2008 decision by Italy's Supreme Court [JURIST report] violated Germany's sovereign rights by allowing an Italian national to seek reparations in response to his deportation in 1944. Germany appealed this decision to the ICJ, which heard oral arguments [JURIST report] in September 2011. The ruling by the ICJ is final and binding, effectively ending thousands of reparations claims against Germany. In December, the ICJ ruled that Greece wrongly blocked [JURIST report] the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) from joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) [official website] in a dispute over the use of the name "Macedonia." Greece objects to FYROM's use of "Macedonia" out of concern that the country will use the moniker to make claims to regions of Northern Greece [JURIST comment] that also are known by the name Macedonia. The ICJ order may have been a largely symbolic victory for FYROM because the court did not sanction Greece, nor did it order the country to refrain from taking similar action in the future.

The Maldives has faced ongoing unrest since Mohamed's arrest, as well as other political struggles following the adoption of its constitution [JURIST report] in late 2008. Last month, the UN called for Mohamed's release days after the Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs [official website] asked the UN to help them resolve [JURIST reports] what they called a judicial system failure. The same week, a group of Maldives lawyers submitted [JURIST report] to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] the case, calling Mohamed's continued detention a violation of the International Convention on the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance [text]. In the country's first democratic elections in 2008, Nasheed defeated longtime political opponent Maumoon Abdul Gayoon [BBC profile], ending his 30-year rule. During today's street protests, some worried that the violence may have been a coup attempt by Gayoon, but the government has denied [Reuters report] such claims.

As many as 140 million women and girls worldwide have undergone some form of FGM, which is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) [official website] as "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons." Efforts in several countries, however, have sought to eliminate or reduce the practice. In 2009, Uganda unanimously outlawed FGM [JURIST report] and imposed harsh penalties anyone who conducts the procedure to face imprisonment. In 2010, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called on the government of Iraqi Kurdistan [JURIST report] to outlaw female genital mutilation and to develop a comprehensive legislative plan to reduce FGM in the region.

In April, Italy deported a different Tunisian national [JURIST report] and former Guantanamo Bay detainee for his connections to an extremist group that had planned various acts of terrorism in the country. Abdel Ben Mabrouk was transferred to Italy in 2009 in the same group as Nasri, part of US efforts to shut down the prison at Guantanamo. Despite criticisms, Guantanamo Bay remains open and an active detainment center for US prisoners. Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official website] expressed disappointment that the US government has failed to close the detention facility. President Barack Obama ordered the facility closed by January 2010, but congressional opposition and administrative setbacks [JURIST reports] prevented the administration from meeting the deadline.