Gregoire has been a consistent advocate for gay rights [JURIST news archive] during her tenure as governor. In April 2011 she signed a bill [JURIST report] that recognized as legal same-sex marriage licenses from other states. In March 2007 Gregoire signed legislation [JURIST report] that recognized domestic partnership status for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage remains a contentious issue even after the passage of similar laws in other states. Seven other jurisdictions, including Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia [JURIST reports], allow same-sex marriage. Comprehensive coverage of the legal controversy can be found in the JURIST Same-Sex Marriage Feature.

Terrorism has become a topic of international concern. Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged [JURIST report] countries to increase their efforts to counter the threat of terrorism. At a second meeting of the advisory board of the UN Centre for Counter-Terrorism (UNCCT) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ban stated that nations have to work together to prevent and counter terrorism's having a detrimental global effect. The UNCCT Strategy was first introduced in 2006 after UN leaders failed to meet their goal of completing it in 2005 [JURIST report].

The continuing prevalent violence in Ivory Coast has been subject to criticism by international human rights groups. In February, HRW expressed concern [JURIST report] over the flawed investigation into the post-election violence and advocated six-month extension of the probe. Another concern was that all 17 members of the investigating commission were chosen by President Ouattara creating possibility of bias in the investigation. During the same month, International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo [official profile] was granted permission [JURIST report] to expand his investigation of war crimes in the Ivory Coast to incidents dating back to 2002.

The Cuba-US relationship became a little bit relaxed when US President Barack Obama [official profile] ordered [JURIST report] in January of last year the Departments of State, Treasury and Homeland Security [official websites] to take steps to ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba. The new regulations were expected to allow greater travel from the US to Cuba for religious and educational purposes, the transfer of up to $2000 per year to non-family members in Cuba so long as they are not senior government or Communist Party leaders and all US international airports to service charter flights between the two countries. The regulations were built off of those issued in 2009 [JURIST report] which allowed US telecommunications companies to work within Cuba to facilitate communication between families split between the two countries.

The NYPD has come under scrutiny recently for alleged discriminatory surveillance. JURIST guest columnist Samar Warsi in May questioned [JURIST comment] the NYPD policies stating: "It is vital to be cautious when government officials use glittering generalities such as 'national security' and 'counterterrorism' to legitimize acts and policies in clear contravention of basic constitutional guarantees." In May, New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa concluded that the NYPD's surveillance program did not violate the Constitution [AP report]. Chiesa had launched an investigation into the program after a series of AP articles sparked outrage in New Jersey in February. In March, NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly [official profile] adamantly denied [speech; press release] that the surveillance programs were unconstitutional.

Tension between Bahrain's government and protesters has escalated recently. Last week, pro-democracy activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] ended his hunger strike [JURIST report] weeks after he and 20 other incarcerated protestors were granted a retrial [JURIST report] by a Bahrain appeals court. Last month, Al-Khawaja's daughter, Zainab Al-Khawaja, was sentenced [JURIST report] to one month in prison for trying to organize an anti-government protest. Earlier in May, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] called for the immediate release [JURIST report] of the leader's of last year's anti-government protests, including Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja. In April, HRW issued a report claiming that Bahraini police were abusing detained protesters [JURIST report]. Earlier in April, Amnesty International [advocacy website] declared that Bahrain's government committed human rights violations [JURIST report] against anti-government protesters.

States other than Idaho have received some attention regarding their death penalty procedures. In February, the US Supreme Court [official website] denied [JURIST report] Ohio's request to proceed its execution of Charles Lorraine, a 45-year-old man who was convicted in 1986 of killing an elderly couple, because the state deviates too often from its own lethal injection standards. In November of last year, the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O'Connor [official profile] opened the first meeting of the state's death panel review committee which was formed [JURIST reports] in September to provide "guidance on the current laws on the subject, the practices in other jurisdictions, the data, the costs, and many other aspects associated with the death penalty."

Other Philippines anti-terrorism laws have recently come under scrutiny. The constitutionality of the Human Security Act (HSA) [text, PDF] which authorizes the 72-hour detention of suspects without charge and allows for surveillance, wiretapping and seizure of assets was upheld [JURIST report] by the Supreme Court of the Philippines [official website] in October of last year. Two months earlier, Aquino urged [JURIST report] lawmakers to make the law more available for authorities to utilize. It was heavily criticized when it first went in effect [JURIST report] in 2007.

DOMA easily passes muster under rational basis review, as DOMA is supported by numerous rational bases. Congress saw that expanding federal marital benefits to same-sex couples, who at the time of DOMA's passage were not recognized as married in any states, would raise significant problems of disuniformity and unfairness in the distribution of such benefits. Moreover, any extension of federal marital benefits likely would increase demands on federal resources, create unpredictable changes in the budgets of countless federal programs, and upset the calibration of the countless prior statutes dealing with marriages, all of which were structured on the understanding that the institution included only opposite-sex couples.

The Obama administration petitioned [JURIST report] the Ninth Circuit appeals court in March for an expedited en banc review of this case. In its request for review, the Obama administration raised the question of "whether classifications based on sexual orientation are subject to rational basis review or instead demand heightened scrutiny under well-established equal protection principles." The request for expedited review came after the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that DOMA is unconstitutional, after Karen Golinski filed suit [JURIST reports] against the US Office of Personnel Management for refusing extend health insurance benefits to her same-sex spouse. House Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) DOMA defense group [JURIST report] took over the defense.of DOMA in court after the DOJ announced in February that it would no longer defend the legislation.

Several EU member states face financial instability which may have detrimental effects on other member states. Earlier this month, Ireland voters approved [JURIST report] the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance [text, PDF] aimed at improving fiscal discipline and promoting greater financial information disclosure between EU member states because of its current financial situation. The treaty was signed [JURIST report] by leaders from 25 EU member states in March. Only two countries, the UK and the Czech Republic, did not sign the measure. A year after the financial crisis of 2008, a European Council [official website] decided to create [JURIST report] a new European financial supervisory and monitoring system which seeks to balance the need of coordinating efforts on financial supervision, particularly in times of crisis, with the autonomy of each member nation over their own financial stability.

North Korea has faced ongoing international criticism for human rights violations. The UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights criticized North Korea's human rights record [JURIST report] last November, focusing on the treatment of prisoners and echoing a UN General Assembly resolution [text] concerning the country's human rights conditions. In March 2010 the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution [JURIST report] condemning North Korea for human rights abuses. Earlier that month, the UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn reported to the UNHRC that North Korean human rights situation was continuing to deteriorate [JURIST report]. This report came after Muntarbhorn's previous criticism, in October, 2009, of North Korea's "abysmal" ongoing human rights violations [JURIST report], alleging that the authoritarian government was responsible for various abuses, including torture, public executions, extensive surveillance, media censorship, women's rights violations and widespread hunger.

Egypt has still issues surrounding the constitutionality of election process as well as the formation of the 100-member panel responsible for drafting the country's new constitution. In April, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court suspended the work of the panel after it ruled in favor [JURIST report] of the challenge against the constitutionality of the panel's formation. The appointment of the panel members had been heavily debated between the parties of parliament who have differing opinions on who should be included in the assembly after it was initially discussed in March after the voting system in the parliamentary elections was declared [JURIST report] unconstitutional.

Bahrain continues to deal with the fallout from the pro-democracy protests last year. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in April that Bahrain's police officers regularly abuse detained protesters [JURIST report] before transporting them to police stations. Also in April, Amnesty International issued its own report [JURIST report] alleging human rights violations continue in Bahrain despite reforms. In March, based on a report of excessive force by Bahraini security forces, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the government [JURIST report] to investigate the allegations. During that same month, HRW released a report about human rights violations against demonstrators, alleging that Bahrain is convicting hundreds of opposition activists [JURIST report] in unfair and politically motivated trials.

Some hunger-striking detainees have reported that Israeli Prison Services (IPS) officials placed them in solitary confinement as punishment for their hunger strikes, on the basis that launching a hunger strike is against prison regulations. IPS officials have also delayed the hunger strikers' access to medical examinations and treatment, apparently to further pressure them to end their strikes. Some hunger strikers have also reported physical assaults and verbal abuse by the IPS, while others have reported that IPS personnel forcibly administered treatment such as injections against their will. Since the beginning of the hunger strikes in late 2011, the IPS has limited hunger-striking detainees' access to independent lawyers of their choice.

Israel has been continuously criticized for its treatment of Palestinian detainees. Last month UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official profile] called on Israel to try or release more than 1,000 prisoners [JURIST report] who had been on hunger strike to avoid health risks. Earlier the same month, the Israeli Supreme Court [official website, in Hebrew] ruled against [JURIST report] two detainees who had been on hunger strike in their appeal seeking release from detention. During the same month, UN Special Rapporteur of the occupied Palestinian territory [official website] expressed its concern [JURIST report] for the continued human rights violations in Israel's prisons. It called the country to comply with the international standards of how to treat detainees.

The controversial bill received preliminary approval [JURIST report] from the State Duma in May by a vote of 236-207 on the first reading. Putin has supported the new bill. Russia has been criticized for violating citizens' right to free expression. Earlier this month prominent Russian gay rights activist Nikolai Alekeyev, who was arrested in April, became the first to be convicted under a St. Petersburg city ordinance that prohibits the spreading "homosexual propaganda" to minors.

This visit comes just months after the ICTY sentenced [JURIST report] former president of the municipality of Sokolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milan Tupajic [ICTY case summary, PDF], to two months in prison on two counts of contempt for refusing to testify against Karadzic. In February, the ICTY was accused by former Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], of being biased [JURIST report]. In January, the ICTY accepted a plea deal [JURIST report], convicting Jelena Rasic, the case manager for Bosnian war criminal Milan Lukic, on five counts of contempt for procuring false witness statements. In December, the ICTY convicted former Yugoslav intelligence officer Dragomir Pecanac of contempt [JURIST report] for failing to testify before the tribunal. Earlier that month, ICTY with International Criminal Tribune for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] reported [JURIST report] to the UN Security Council [official website] their progress in tracking and arresting fugitives for the tribunals' mandates.