In February, former president Arroyo pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the electoral fraud charges. She and her husband tried to leave the country after the Philippines Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] allowing the travel outside of the country after which the Philippine authorities formally charged [JURIST report] the former president. In December, after the initial criminal complaint for charges of corruption and electoral fraud, Philippine authorities filed a second one [JURIST report] alleging bribery in the approval of multi-million deal with the Chinese company.

The UN Special Rapporteur's formal allegations against the US government come after a 14-month investigation into the treatment of Manning since his arrest in May 2010. He was formally charged [JURIST report] in February with 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, under the Espionage Act [text], and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. In May 2011, General Counsel for the US Department of Defense [official website] wrote Mendez a letter [text, PDF] in response to various UN inquiries explaining that Manning's treatment in confinement had been satisfactory and in accordance with "all other pretrial detainees." Prior to this, in January 2011, the US mission to the UN in Geneva [official website] wrote [text, PDF] to Mendez stressing that the US would continue its commitment to protecting human rights both at home and abroad, and that the US values the work of the special rapporteur. The US, however, conceded that further coordination would need to be made before responding to Mendez's concerns involving Manning's treatment, which he made clear in his opening letter [text, PDF] to the US government in December 2010. Manning was initially charged [JURIST report] in June 2010 for releasing a classified video and documents. Controversy surrounding his confinement drew quick and ongoing criticism from US legal scholars [Guardian report], including Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe [official profile], the man who taught President Barack Obama [official website] constitutional law.

[W]here the funds of an entity identified as engaged in nuclear proliferation are frozen there is a not insignificant danger that that entity may exert pressure on the entities it owns or controls in order to circumvent the effect of the measures applying to it. In such circumstances, the freezing of the funds of entities owned or controlled by an entity engaged in nuclear proliferation is necessary and appropriate in order to ensure the effectiveness of the measures adopted against the latter and to ensure that those measures are not circumvented.

The international community continues to urge Iran not to seek a nuclear weapons program. In February UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon [official profile] called for Iran to prove its commitment [JURIST report] to not seeking nuclear weapons after giving remarks [text] at an event marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) [text, PDF]. Also in February the US began imposing strict sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program. Iran claims that its nuclear rights are being taken away [JURIST reports], but there are those who argue the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website] has a legal right to regulate nuclear weapons [JURIST op-ed]. There has also been a continued international response from the UN with new sanctions being imposed in June 2010 to increase the restrictions placed on Iran from the first set of sanctions in 2006 [JURIST reports].

The Guatemalan civil war, which lasted from 1960-1996 [BBC timeline] resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, mostly among Guatemala's large indigenous Mayan population. According to a UN report [text, in Spanish] released in 1999, the military was responsible for 95 percent of those deaths. Earlier this month a Guatemalan judge denied amnesty [JURIST report] to former dictator Effan Rios Montt, who was in power during the Dos Erres massacre. In February, JURIST guest columnist and Director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission Kelsey Alford-Jones opined [JURIST op-ed] that prosecuting Rios Montt was necessary to bring justice to his victims, as well as strengthen the Guatemalan judiciary. In August a Guatemalan court sentenced four former soldiers [JURIST report] to over 6,000 years in prison on war crimes charges related to the Dos Erres massacre.

Syria has been subject to frequent criticism for human rights violations in the past few months. In February the UN accused [JURIST report] Syria of human rights violations after the commission of inquiry found that Syrian forces were engaging in torture and killing. A week before the report, the UN General Assembly [official website] condemned [JURIST report] Syria through a non-binding resolution [press release] that was proposed by the Arab League to end the national violence after the UN Secretary General [official profile] urged [JURIST report] Syria to stop the alleged crimes against humanity and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [official profile] recommended [JURIST report] the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website].

The upcoming by-elections on 1 April 2012 will be a key test of how far the Government has progressed in its reform process. There is, however, a risk of backtracking on the progress achieved to date. At this crucial moment in the country's history, remaining human rights concerns and challenges should be addressed, and justice and accountability measures, as well as measures to ensure access to the truth, should be taken.

Myanmar's nominally civilian government has implemented numerous political reforms since winning the first elections held in 20 years in March 2011. Last month, in addition to releasing political prisoners, Myanmar President Thein Sein [BBC backgrounder] signed a clemency order that shortened sentences [JURIST report] for many prisoners on humanitarian grounds. In December, Sein gave his official approval to a bill allowing the country's citizens to conduct peaceful protests [JURIST report], if the protests are approved in advance. The Myanmar government also announced in December that the political party of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi [JURIST news archive] would be allowed to register for the next elections, a move that would allow Suu Kyi to run for parliament after being detained under house arrest [JURIST reports] for nearly eight years. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] has praised [JURIST report] the country's strive toward democracy.

US military courts have previously dealt with the prosecution of soldiers accused of killing civilians in Afghanistan. In November, a US military court convicted an army squad commander [JURIST report] of three counts of premeditated murder for leading a "kill team" in Afghanistan that targeted unarmed civilians and collected body parts as war trophies. Sgt. Calvin Gibbs [NYT profile], 26, was given a life sentence for 15 convictions including murder, assault and conspiracy connected to the killing of three men not long after he took over the Fifth Brigade of the US Army [official website] Second Division in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in November 2009. Gibbs admitted to cutting and keeping fingers from the corpses as trophies, but claimed that he was merely returning enemy fire and was not motivated to kill. Prosecutors, however, relied on Gibbs' own likening of collecting amputated body parts to the antlers of a deer to characterize the platoon leader as a hunter who killed Afghans "for sport." While Gibbs was given a life sentence, the court also granted the possibility of parole after less than 10 years.

Sri Lankan authorities continue to arrest and detain suspects without minimal safeguards. Sri Lankan law permits police to remove prisoners from their cells and transport them from place to place for the purpose of investigation—a practice that has contributed to torture and custodial killings. Detainees have been held incommunicado and tortured in unofficial places of detention which have included private homes, repurposed schools, administrative buildings and warehouses. Torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions continue in Sri Lanka in part because of these arbitrary detention practices. The culture of impunity that was established in Sri Lanka during the course of the armed conflict continues to pervert the rule of law and hamper the provision of justice.

The report comes as the United Nations Human Rights Council [official website] prepares to vote next week on a resolution backed by the United States which US attempts to hold Sri Lanka accountable for war crimes and demands Sri Lanka authorities "present a comprehensive action plan" [resolution text, PDF] which would detail steps they will take to end war crimes in the nation, including unlawful detentions. Sri Lanka conducted some independent investigations into allegations of war crimes occurring during the civil war. In December, Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission released a report concluding that Sri Lanka's military did not intentionally attack civilians [JURIST report] following the country's civil war. In November, Sri Lankan Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa stated that the government had begun counting the number of civilian deaths from its 26-year civil war with the LTTE. Also in November, a Sri Lankan army chief was sentenced to three additional years of imprisonment [JURIST report], for implicating another Sri Lankan official in war crimes.

Approximately 400 individuals are currently on trial in connection with the alleged 2009 Ergenekon plot to assassinate prominent members of Turkey's Christian and Jewish minority groups, blame Islamic terrorists for the deaths and delegitimize the ruling AKP government. Last month, an Istanbul criminal court accepted an indictment [JURIST report] against retired General Ilker Basbug [official website, in Turkish], the highest ranking military officer to be indicted in connection with Ergenekon, after Basbug's request to have his case heard by the Supreme State Council, a faction of Turkey's Constitutional Court [official website, in Turkish], was denied. Basbug, who was arrested in January [JURIST report], claims that he is innocent and lower-ranking military officials who have been indicted state that they were just acting within the chain of command. Critics of the Islam-rooted AKP ruling party contend that the Ergenekon investigation is intended to silence the party's opponents and impose Islamic principles [JURIST report], but the government denies any such charges.

The investigation began [JURIST report] in October 2010 with the forming of a bipartisan group called the Mortgage Foreclosure Multistate Group (MFMG). In June 2010 Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., a subsidiary of Bank of America, reached a $108 million settlement agreement [JURIST report] with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) [official website] to resolve charges that the subsidiary collected excessive fees from homeowners facing foreclosure. In September 2010 a federal judge refused to dismiss a suit [JURIST report] against American International Group (AIG) [corporate website], and in August a federal judge rejected a $75 million settlement [JURIST report] between Citigroup and the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] because the two companies misled investors. In 2009 the US Senate [official website] rejected a bill [S 896 materials] that would have aided homeowners in foreclosure [JURIST report] by allowing bankruptcy judges to modify mortgages from lenders that had not already offered better terms to their borrowers.

Overall, in any context, international judges should avoid trying to simply replicate their own national systems or the practices of international tribunals. While these systems may provide helpful insights, international judges should approach their role with an understanding of how the existing national judicial system works and be dedicated to preserving and enhancing functional parts of the system. This is important as an expression of respect for the national system and the experience of national colleagues. It can also help avoid inefficiencies.

In January the Court of BiH [official website] upheld the conviction [JURIST reports] and 31-year sentence of Radomir Vukovic for his part in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [JURIST news archive] during the Bosnian civil war. While Vukoic's appeal was denied, Zoran Tomic won his appeal on a lack of evidence. Earlier that month convicted Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic [JURIST report] was arrested in BiH after being on the run since May 2007 when he escaped from a Bosnian prison. Stankovic was convicted of multiple war crimes [JURIST report] in 2006, including rape, enslavement and torture. In December the US extradited Rasema Handanovic [JURIST report], a woman accused of killing Bosnian Croat civilians during the Bosnian Civil War. A number of cases have been opened in relation to the Bosnian Civil War. The Court of BiH confirmed the indictment [JURIST report] of former police officer Bozidar Kuvelja in March for his role in a 1995 massacre. In February, French authorities arrested Milorad Momic [JURIST report] under an international arrest warrant for his suspected involvement in war crimes. Last August, Spanish officials extradited accused Montenegrin war criminal [JURIST report] Veselin Vlahovic, known as the "monster of Grbavica," to Sarajevo.

However, Act 23 goes beyond mere regulation of elections. Its photo ID requirements impermissibly eliminate the right of suffrage altogether for certain constitutionally qualified electors. As just one example, an individual who has incontrovertible and even undisputed proof at the polls that he/she is a qualified elector under Article III, but lacks statutorily acceptable photo ID then or by the following Friday, may not vote under Act 23. Thus, Act 23's photo ID requirements are unconstitutional because they abridge the right to vote. Regulation may not deny the right of suffrage, either directly or indirectly. This has been the law of Wisconsin since its birth: "an act of the legislature which deprives a person of the right to vote, although he has every qualification which the constitution makes necessary, cannot be sustained." Worded differently, as a matter of law under the Wisconsin Constitution, sacrificing a qualified elector's right to vote is not a reasonable exercise of the government's prerogative to regulate elections.

This is only one of four challenges to Wisconsin's voter ID [JURIST news archives] law. The temporary injunction, issued last week by Circuit Court Judge David Flanagan, was in a suit filed in December by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [advocacy website]. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Wisconsin and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty [advocacy websites] filed a federal lawsuit in December, as did the Advancement Project [JURIST reports] in February. There are now 31 US states [NCSL backgrounder] that require voters to present some form of ID at the polls, including 15 states that require photo ID, but the issue remains controversial.

Corroborating Shaheed's concerns, Amnesty International released a report in February that Iran executed twice as many people [JURIST report] in 2011 as it did in the previous year. The report, entitled "'We Are Ordered to Crush You': Expanding Repression of Dissent in Iran," chronicles widespread international human rights violations that Iran's government has allegedly perpetrated over the past year. The AI report claims that the most common targets of Iran's crackdown on human rights are lawyers, rights activists, filmmakers, journalists and political leaders. Iran has recently been in other news when US President Barack Obama signed an executive order imposing strict sanctions on Iran [JURIST report] as part of an effort to enforce a bill he signed into law in December 2011. The bill, National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (NDAA), allows for sanctions such as those ordered by Obama to be imposed on Iran.