Last week the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana [official website] heard arguments [JURIST report] regarding approval of a class-action settlement agreement between BP and various individuals and businesses affected by the Deepwater Horizon incident. There, attorneys on both sides urged Judge Carl Barbier to approve the settlement agreement, under which BP is expected to pay approximately $7.8 billion. It has been argued that the settlement is a step in the right direction [JURIST op-ed] for compensating those affected by the oil spill. In May Barbier signed a case management order [JURIST report] outlining the structure for the upcoming trial of Gulf oil spill claims, scheduled for January 14, 2013. The judge divided the trial into two phases. In phase one, or the "incident" phase, the court will address issues arising out of the various parties' conduct leading to the incident and appropriation of their negligence. Barbier gave preliminary approval [JURIST report] to the proposed settlement agreement earlier that month. In April BP and a group of plaintiffs' attorneys sought Barbier's preliminary approval on the settlement, which they had reached [JURIST reports] in March.

Countries around the world have continued to prosecute suspected Nazis. Police in Slovakia announced in September that they had launched an investigation [JURIST report] of 97-year-old Laszlo Csatary, who is suspected of war crimes in connection with the Holocaust. In July Hungarian prosecutors charged Csatary [JURIST report] with the "unlawful torture of human beings," a war crime that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Csatary was at the top of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's (SWC) list of most wanted Nazi war criminals [BBC backgrounder], and the SWC had already called on the Hungarian government to prosecute the Nazi war criminal [JURIST report] when the center issued its annual report in April. In January the Ingolstadt Prosecutor's Office filed a motion [JURIST report] to jail Klaas Faber, a Dutch native who fled to Germany after being convicted in the Netherlands in 1947 of Nazi war crimes. Germany reopened investigations into former Nazi death camp guards in October 2011, which stemmed from the conviction of John Demjanjuk [JURIST reports], a former guard at a camp in Poland who was deported to Germany to stand trial for his alleged Nazi crimes.

The death of Halappanavar is the latest controversy surrounding Ireland's abortion laws, and abortion remains a highly divisive [NYT report] issue in Ireland. On Tuesday, the Irish Department of Health received an expert group report [Irish Examiner report] on how Ireland should deal with its abortion laws. The report was commissioned after a 2010 ruling [JURIST report] by the European Court of Human Rights [official website], which stated that Ireland failed to provide "effective and adequate procedures" to allow women to exercise their right to a lawful abortion and that the country's legal situation [BBC backgrounder] constituted a "chilling factor" for both women and doctors. The ruling came after a woman suffered complications when she had to travel from the Irish Republic to the UK in 2005 to seek an abortion.

The mandatory retirement provision (i) is not rationally related to furthering a legitimate state interest, (ii) does not further an important government interest in a way that is substantially related to that interest, and/or (iii) is not narrowly tailored and/or the least restrictive means to furthering a compelling government interest. The mandatory retirement provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution discriminates against persons aged seventy and older, and thus violates Plaintiff's equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The US Supreme Court has previously considered the merits of a challenge to mandatory retirement provisions of a state constitution. In Gregory v. Ashcroft [opinion], Missouri state court judges challenged a mandatory retirement provision in the state constitution, but the Supreme Court held that the provision did not violate equal protection. Mandatory retirement laws have been considered in European courts of law as well. Earlier this month the European Court of Justice (ECJ) [official site] struck down [JURIST report] a law which would have lowered the mandatory retirement age for judges in Hungary from 70 to 62, stating the law was not proportionate to the objectives Hungary was pursing. In 2009 the ECJ ruled that the UK's mandatory retirement laws were not discriminatory [JURIST report], stating age-based classifications are justifiable in some circumstances. The ECJ also ruled in 2007 that the EU's mandatory retirement policies [JURIST report] did not violate the prohibition against age discrimination if the policy is intended to further the legitimate public interest of increasing employment and the retirees are provided with full pensions.

As we celebrate the Court's significant accomplishments, we must also acknowledge that there are still many forces that seek to undermine the edifice we have all striven so hard to create. ... This is why it is important to ensure that governments are committed to doing what it takes to enable the Court to carry out its work—from capturing and transferring to the Court those who are the subject of arrest warrants to supporting the Court's proceedings by making information and evidence available to the Prosecutor, the Defence and the legal representatives of victims.

Earlier this week Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] urged the ICC [JURIST report] to increase its efforts to bring war criminals to justice. The ICC recorded its first conviction in March 2012 in a case that not only sent Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo [JURIST report] to prison for his use of child soldiers, but also helped the court establish its guiding principles for providing reparations to victims. However, to the dismay of many, individuals such as Joseph Kony [JURIST news archive] of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army and Congolese rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda [JURIST report] remain at large.

Concern over Myanmar's human rights record has been growing recently. Last month Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged the government of Myanmar to do more to end sectarian violence [JURIST report] between the Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. In August Physicians for Human Rights reported that Myanmar's army is still committing human rights abuses [JURIST report] against ethnic minorities in Karen state. Earlier that month HRW accused [JURIST report] Myanmar security forces of human rights abuses against a minority religious community. In July UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also expressed concern [JURIST report] about both the continued violence in Myanmar and the country's human rights abuses committed in dealing with it.

Our obligation to all humanity is to overcome our setbacks, learn from our mistakes, strengthen our responses, and act meaningfully and effectively for the future. These principles and objectives drove me to establish the Panel and they will guide us as we take forward its outcomes.

Despite the UN's admitted failed responses, the UN has urged Sri Lanka to improve its response to alleged war crimes since the end of the war. In July the country said it may take up to five years [JURIST report] to prosecute people accused of war crimes. In March the UN adopted a resolution [JURIST report], which was rejected by Syria, threatening retribution if the country did not domestically investigate and cooperate with UN investigations of war crimes committed. The same day that Sri Lanka rejected the resolution, the UN urged the country to investigate its war crimes despite a Sri Lanka commission's release of a report last year that military officials did not intentionally target civilians [JURIST reports].

Human rights groups have urged Colombia to improve numerous human rights situations in the country over the past few years, including putting an end to the country's internal conflict. Last month, the UN urged the country to reconsider proposed constitutional amendments [JURIST report] that would make it more difficult to administer justice for alleged human rights abuse victims. In February, the UN also documented numerous sexual violence cases [JURIST report] arising from the country's conflicts. Last year, the UN called for Colombia to end the violence following an announcement by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] that it would release several hostages, believing that this action may be a sign that peace was within reach.