The UN has been working to eliminate discrimination against women and minorities in justice systems throughout the world. Earlier this week UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on world leaders to increase efforts to allow women access to their justice systems [JURIST report]. The UN also urged [JURIST report] Tunisia's government last month to ensure that its laws protect women's rights in accordance with international standards. Last year the UN also called for an integration of a gender perspective [JURIST report] into criminal justice systems to allow equal access to protections for women.

The ECHR's decision in April marked a change in position for the court from its position two years ago, when it stayed the extradition [JURIST report] of four of the terrorism suspects to the US, holding that potential punishment could violate European Convention on Human Rights provisions on the prohibition of torture and inhumane or degrading treatment. The High Court approved the extradition [JURIST report] of Aswat and Ahmad to the US in 2006. Aswat is wanted in the US on suspicion of setting up a terrorist training camp and Ahmad is wanted for conspiring to kill Americans and running a website used to fund terrorists and recruit al Qaeda members. The extraditions were approved only after the US offered assurances that it would not seek the death penalty, try the suspects before military tribunals or declare them enemy combatants. A British court approved the extradition [JURIST report] of Hamza in 2007. Hamza, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence in the UK [JURIST report] for urging his followers to kill Jews and other non-Muslims, faces US charges of attempting to establish terrorist training camps in Oregon, conspiring to take hostages in Yemen, and helping terror training in Afghanistan.

Human rights defenders are still subject to violence and arrests in various places around the globe. In July the government of the Philippines was urged to protect human rights defenders [JURIST report] and ensure that they can pursue their work without interference. Two UN Special Rapporteurs reported that members of this group received death threats and have even been killed since the death of Fr. Fausto Tenorio in Mindanao last year. In May the Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, the situation of human rights in Iran, and the independence of judges and lawyers called on Iran to grant [JURIST report] human rights defenders the ability to carry out their legitimate activities and to take measures so that they receive adequate protections. In March UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya outlined the risks and challenges [JURIST report] faced by human rights journalists and media workers, and called for additional protection of those workers.

The arrest of the chief justice and the resulting unrest in Maldives sparked weeks of tension and unrest that has drawn international attention. In August a Maldives commission of inquiry concluded that Nasheed's resignation in February was legal and voluntary [JURIST reports]. In July the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) claimed that press freedom [JURIST report] in the country has been deteriorating since the resignation. In April the Maldives Police Service referred the case against Nasheed to the Prosecutor's General Office two months after an arrest warrant [JURIST reports] against him was issued. Nasheed has claimed that the arrest and charges against him were politically motivated. A group of Maldives lawyers in January asked [JURIST report] the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST backgrounder] to review the legality of the arrest of Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed. During the same month, the Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs had asked [JURIST report] the UN to help them to resolve the unrest arising out of the arrest of the chief justice.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja ended his 110-day hunger strike [JURIST report] in May after more than three months. He protested the imprisonment of Bahraini pro-democracy demonstrators, including himself. He was sentenced to life in prison [JURIST report] by a military tribunal in June 2011. In late April of this year, a Bahrain appeals court ruled that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 others should be retried in a civilian chamber [JURIST report], but they must stay incarcerated pending a new verdict. Tension between Bahrain's government and protesters has persisted since government forces clashed with protesters in February 2011 during pro-democracy demonstrations. The Bahrain Information Affairs authority announced in July that they had brought charges against 15 police officers [JURIST report] for alleged "mistreatment of inmates in custody." In May Bahraini authorities arrested [JURIST report] prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. Earlier in that month, 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.

Last week UN Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai [official website] condemned the recent violence [JURIST report] that erupted after the film's release. Kiai stated that protests and rallies must be peaceful to be protected by international human rights law and urged the Middle East states to prosecute those responsible for the violence. Last week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay [official profile] urged religious and political leaders [JURIST report] to encourage an end to the violence that followed the release of the film. While Pillay said she "fully understand[s] why people wish to protest strongly against" the film, she "utterly condemn[s]" the violence that has resulted from the protests. Also last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [official website] declared that the US had nothing to do with the anti-Muslim film [Reuters report] despite its apparent production in America, in turn labeling it disgusting and reprehensible.

Abortion continues to be debated internationally. Last month South Korea's constitutional court upheld [JURIST report] its abortion ban. Last year voters in Liechtenstein rejected a proposal [JURIST report] to legalize abortion in the country after the acting Head of State expressed displeasure with the law and threatened to veto the proposed change. In 2010 the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) [advocacy website] criticized [JURIST report] the restrictive abortion laws of the Philippines as a "human rights crisis," resulting in the death of thousands of women annually. In January 2010 Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] argued that Ireland's restrictive abortion laws increase health risks to women [JURIST report] and expose them to deliberate misinformation about abortion procedures.

The convictions in this case stem from indictments that were issued last year [JURIST report]. Kamara and Kanu had been convicted of war crimes by the SCSL in June 2007, and sentenced to at least 45 years in prison [JURIST reports]. With the recent conviction [JURIST report] of Charles Taylor, the SCSL has largely fulfilled its mission and will take steps to shut down. In November 2009, the SCSL handed over its detention facility [JURIST report] to the Sierra Leone Prison Service in a monumental step towards the court's resolution. The month before, eight men judged guilty of war crimes by the court were transferred [JURIST report] to Rwanda to serve out their terms. The SCSL was created in a joint endeavor by the government of Sierra Leone and the UN to provide a forum to try those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law, committed in Sierra Leone.

Earlier this month a German state official clarified that circumcision for religious reasons is legal [JURIST report] in Berlin. The announcement came after a Jewish hospital in Berlin asked the justice minister to clarify the legality surrounding the circumcision procedure. The inquiry was in response to the June Cologne state court ruling. In July, responding to the controversial decision by the Cologne state court, the German government announced [JURIST report] that it would act swiftly to lift criminal sanctions imposed on circumcision. Spokesperson for Chancellor Angela Merkel [official website, in German], Steffen Seibert, said that without adequate protections for the practice of circumcision, Jewish and Muslim communities would not be able to live in Germany because the practice is so fundamental to the groups.

The current state of ethnic relations is often overshadowed by trials in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website]. Most recently a former Bosnian Serb leader was given 300 hours to present his defense after being denied a new trial despite his claim that the prosecution failed to disclose certain information [JURIST reports] until after trial. In February, the tribunal sentenced [JURIST report] former president of the municipality for failure to testify. That same month former Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], of being biased [JURIST report].

I am under no illusion that opponents of SB 1070 will stop their baseless allegations and call off their teams of lawyers. Even now, they scheme for new ways to undermine the rule of law and malign the character and commitment of our State and local law enforcement. Know this: They will not succeed. The State of Arizona stands firmly in support of the rule of law, in defense of our citizens and together with our brave men and women in uniform.

Immigration law [JURIST backgrounder] has became a hot button issue over the past few years as many states, Arizona being the first, have passed laws giving state and local officials more power to crack down on illegal immigration. In August the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] struck down [JURIST report] several provisions of Alabama's controversial immigration law [HB 56, PDF], upheld a few sections of the law and rejected part of Georgia's immigration law [HB 87, text]. That same month, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] again heard arguments [JURIST report] on two anti-illegal immigrant laws enacted in 2006 by the city of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, which deny permits to businesses that employ illegal immigrants and fine landlords who extend housing to them. In July a judge for the US District Court for the District of South Carolina [official website] declined to lift an injunction [JURIST report] against South Carolina's controversial immigration law [SB 20 materials], despite the recent Supreme Court ruling. The lawsuit against the South Carolina immigration law was put on hold [JURIST report] in January pending the outcome of Arizona v. United States. Last May the ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center filed a class action lawsuit challenging Utah's immigration law, the same month that the ACLU filed a class action [JURIST reports] in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana [official website] challenging that state's immigration law.

The second pro se grant, Millbrook v. United States [docket], also involves concerns of government immunity: whether 28 USC § 1346 [text] waives the immunity of prison guards who commit intentional torts, within the scope of their authority but not while committing a search, seizure or arrest. The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a ruling for summary judgment [opinion text] against Kim Millbrook based on lack of evidence, and that he had no cause under 28 USC § 1346. Millbrook is an inmate at the US Penitentiary, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and alleged that several male correctional officers sexually assaulted him. He attempted to sue under the FTCA, but the Third Circuit upheld the State's immunity because when Millbrook stated he was assaulted, it was not during a search, seizure or arrest. The court will only consider if a claim may proceed under that law and not the merits of Millbrook's case. Millbrook filed in forma pauperis and hand wrote his certiorari petition.

In Missouri v. McNeely [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will consider whether the Fourth Amendment [text] allows a police officer to take a warrantless blood test to test for alcohol levels. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled [opinion text] that the exigency standard set in Schmerber v. California [opinion text] for warrantless intrusions of the body, "requires more than the mere dissipation of blood-alcohol evidence."

In Gabelli v. Securities and Exchange Commission [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will consider the statute of limitations under 28 USC § 2462 [text] and if it begins tolling when the government can first bring an action against a penalty. The statute pertains to the ability of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [official website] to bring penalties against perpetrators of securities fraud.

In Maracich v. Spears [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will rule on whether lawyers can use personal information from driver's licenses to obtain clients and if they can delay a lawsuit until they have obtained these clients. The lawyers in the case used South Carolina's Freedom of Information Act to obtain driver information from South Carolina's Department of Motor Vehicles. This aided them in creating a client list to bring several group action suits against car dealerships. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled [opinion text] that the lawyers did not violate the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA) [text].

Finally, in Delia v. EMA [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will determine whether NC Gen. Stat. § 108A-57 is preempted by the Medicaid Act's anti-lien provision, 42 USC §§ 1396a(a)(25), 1396k(a) [texts], as it was understood in Arkansas Department of Health & Human Services v. Ahlborn [opinion text]. There is a split between the North Carolina Supreme Court and the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [opinion texts].

The court also ruled in Tennant v. Jefferson County Commission [opinion text]. In a per curiam opinion, the court reversed the ruling [JURIST report] of the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia [official website] on West Virginia's potential redistricting maps. The District Court determined that the plan, which is nearly identical to the 1991 plan but for the movement of one county, focused too heavily on preserving old boundaries as opposed to equal population distribution. The Supreme Court disagreed, saying the District Court had misapplied the test in Karcher v. Daggett [text] by failing to give the State appropriate deference. They reversed on the US Constition claim and remanded, instructing the District Court to reconsider the claims under West Virginia's state constitution.

The ACLU and PUPAT were concerned that these types of patents limit the amount of research that can be done and the availability of diagnostic tests associated with these genes to women in need. They filed a petition for certiorari [JURIST report] in the Supreme Court in 2011 after the Federal Circuit ruling that the patents were valid. The CAFC decisions run contrary to the position of the Obama administration, which in 2010 filed an amicus curiae brief [JURIST report] in support of the ACLU and PUBPAT. JURIST Guest Columnist Doreen Hogle [official profile] argued that the Mayo decision raised questions as to what innovations are subject to patent law protection and may result in stifled investment in technology [JURIST comment].