China has faced continued criticized for detaining political dissidents. Monday's ruling comes only six days after Chen Guangcheng [BBC profile; JURIST news achive], a blind Chinese legal activist, sought safety [JURIST report] from local officials in the US Embassy in Beijing. He was wanted for exposing forced abortions and other human rights violations but escaped [JURIST report] to US protection to avoid 20 months of house arrest. He was placed under house arrest in 2010 after four years in prison [JURIST report]. In April, Ni Yulan, a Chinese housing activist and lawyer, was sentenced [JURIST report] to two years and eight months for fraud and inciting a disturbance in Beijing.

This order derives from the legal action commenced [JURIST report] in March by various human rights groups urging South African courts to prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity. Zimbabwe has been criticized in the past for such violations including torture and forced labor of civilian workers in illegal mining camps [JURIST report].

We agree that there can be no development for indigenous peoples without the involvement of indigenous peoples in every step, and only with their free, prior and informed consent. These are fundamental principles enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet we do not have to search hard to find indigenous peoples facing discrimination, persecution, displacement-even extinction. There are indigenous communities that lack clean drinking water, whose children go hungry, whose women suffer gross abuses and never see the perpetrators brought to justice. A great deal remains to be done to see the objectives of the UN Declaration become a reality.

Indigenous rights have been a subject of controversy recently. Last month JURIST guest columnist Elena Landriscina argued [JURIST op-ed] that the US needs to honor the human rights of Chagos Islanders who were displaced from their homeland in the Indian Ocean when the Diego Garcia military base was built. Earlier in April the UN Special Rapporteur on Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya [official profile] investigated the rights of Native Americans in the US [JURIST report]. In March UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] called on the government of Guatemala to protect the rights of indigenous people [JURIST report]. In February Anaya called on Panama's government to end clashes with indigenous peoples [JURIST report].

The UN-backed ICTR continues its work to prosecute those most responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], but it has now begun transferring certain cases to Rwandan national courts. Last month, the court confirmed and proceeded with the transfer [JURIST report] of former Rwandan pastor Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi [case materials], making him the first ICTR genocide suspect to be transferred to a national court. Uwinkindi was charged in 2001 with genocide and crimes against humanity. In December, the ICTR upheld the decision to transfer [JURIST report] the case to a Rwandan court. The ICTR initially ordered the transfer [JURIST report] in June under Rule 11 bis, which authorizes the transfer of cases to appropriate national jurisdictions. Uwinkindi pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] in 2010. His case is the first of three that have been considered for transfer to Rwanda. The other two are against Fulgence Kayishema [case materials; JURIST report], a former police inspector, and Charles Sikubwabo [case materials], former Bourgmestre of Gishyita, Kibuye Prefecture.

In July voters in Morocco overwhelmingly approved a revised constitution [JURIST report] that curbed the monarchy's powers. The reformed constitution guarantees more rights for women and gives more powers to the prime minister and the legislative branch. Less than two weeks after voters approved the revised constitution, the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH) [advocacy website, in Arabic] called for a judicial investigation [JURIST report] into the new constitution's legitimacy, saying that government authorities influenced the vote. Also in July law professor and JURIST guest columnist Moshe Gershovich opined [JURIST comment] that while Morocco's new constitution gives the monarchy too much power, it provides a model of peaceful democratic transition for other countries in the region.