If this legislation is approved, Pennsylvania would become the sixteenth state to require photo ID at the polls. There are now 31 US states [NCSL backgrounder] that require voters to present some form of ID at the polls, but the issue remains controversial. Earlier this week a Wisconsin judge temporarily blocked [JURIST report] that state's voter ID law. Last month the Virginia Senate approved a voter ID law [JURIST report]. Also in February South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed suit against the US Department of Justice (DOJ) over its ruling that barred South Carolina [JURIST reports] from enforcing its voter ID law. In November Mississippi voters approved a ballot measure [JURIST report] to implement a voter ID law. In June Missouri Governor Jay Nixon [official website] vetoed [JURIST report] a law requiring persons to present photo identification at voting booth. Last March the Georgia Supreme Court [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a law requiring voters to present one of six government-issued photo identifications in order to vote. In contrast, a three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] a portion of Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration in October 2010.

Hungary's new constitution was approved [JURIST report] last April and went into effect on January 1. The measure was supported by and passed as a result of the ruling Hungarian Civic Party [official website, in Hungarian; JURIST news archive], which has controlled a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly since 2010. The constitution introduced several changes, including a cap on the country's debt, a reforming the Fiscal Council to give it the right to veto the budget and dissolve parliament for failure to pass an annual budget by the end of March, defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman and stating that the life of a fetus should be protected from conception. Critics of the constitution protested [JURIST report] and argue that the constitution is giving the government too much power over the media, economy and religion in violation of international human rights laws.

Moneim had been the only Egyptian police officer convicted of killing protesters, despite the fact that at least 846 protesters were killed [AP report]. Last March three high ranking police officials were charged with murder and attempted murder [JURIST report] for their roles in a January 28 incident where police firing in Beni Suef resulted in 19 deaths and 300 injuries. Egypt was heavily criticized for the way it treated protesters during the Egyptian revolution. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] and Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] released reports that protesters had been tortured and improperly detained [JURIST reports]. AI has also criticized the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) [NYT backgrounder], stating that human rights violations against protesters committed by the SCAF may be equal to those committed under former president Hosni Mubarak [JURIST news archive].

In January the ICTY announced that Seselj is suing them for USD $2.6 million in damages due to alleged unreasonable delays [JURIST report] in his trial. His war crimes trial began [JURIST report] in 2007 after he was charged [indictment, PDF] with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes and accused of establishing rogue paramilitary units affiliated with the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS), which are believed to have massacred and otherwise persecuted Croats and other non-Serbs during the Balkan conflict. His trial was briefly suspended [JURIST report] in 2009 because of concerns witnesses were being intimidated. The trial resumed in 2010 after the delay, and was again ordered to continue in 2011 after Seselj sought to have the charges dismissed [case sheet, PDF]. The trial recently resumed in January, after Seslj's third contempt conviction [JURIST report].

To those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, let me say: You are not alone. Your struggle for an end to violence and discrimination is a shared struggle. Any attack on you is an attack on the universal values the United Nations and I have sworn to defend and uphold. Today, I stand with you, and I call upon all countries and people to stand with you, too. A historic shift is underway.

Individuals face criminal sanctions due to their sexual orientation in approximately 76 countries, according to the UN. In September 2010 Ban called for countries around the world to abolish laws discriminating against gay and lesbian individuals [JURIST report]. In July 2010 the UN Economic and Social Council [official website] voted 23-13 to accredit the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission [advocacy website] as a consultative non-governmental organization [JURIST report]. In 2009 US President Barack Obama endorsed a UN declaration [JURIST report] calling for the decriminalization of homosexuality, reversing the decision of his predecessor. By doing so, the US joined 66 other nations in supporting the document that divided the UN General Assembly. Nearly 60 nations signed an opposing statement, including China, Russia, members of the Islamic Conference and the Vatican.

Women have a right to know all the available medical and legal information surrounding the abortion decision before giving legally effective informed consent. Informed consent is already required prior to an abortion being performed in Virginia, based on the longstanding health care concept that complete information about a medical procedure must be given to a patient before she can freely consent to a procedure. As difficult as an abortion decision is, the information provided by ultrasounds, along with other information given by the doctor pursuant to current law and prevailing medical practice, can help the mother make a fully informed decision.

With the passage of this legislation, Virginia becomes the eighth state to require an ultrasound before an abortion, and similar rules have drawn various results when challenged in the court system. In January the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] lifted an injunction [JURIST report] on a similar Texas law [JURIST report], allowing the law to be enforced. 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.