Italy offers compromise on proposed UN cloning treaty News
Italy offers compromise on proposed UN cloning treaty

[JURIST] In an attempt to resolve division among UN member states, Italy has put forth a compromise proposal for a global treaty on human cloning. The UN General Assembly's Legal Committee (the Sixth Committee) has been debating two proposals, one from Costa Rica that would ban all human cloning, and one from Belgium that would ban reproductive cloning but allow states to use embryos for stem cell and other research. Italy's proposal would call on countries to ban attempts to create "human life," rather than "human beings" through cloning. The Sixth Committee offers a summary of its work on the proposed convention against the reproductive cloning of human beings. An ad hoc committee established to consider the proposed convention has additional background. JURIST's Paper Chase has covered the UN debate on cloning. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism

November 9 is the International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism [UNITED factsheet]. On November 9, 1924, American gay activist Henry Gerber and several associates formed the Society for Human Rights, the first gay rights organization in the United States. The Society received a charter from the State of Illinois in December but was disbanded in July 1925 after a police raid which led to Gerber's arrest and trial (albeit not conviction). Pay a virtual visit to Henry Gerber House, now a registered Chicago landmark.

Supreme Court strikes down Massachusetts anti-draft law

On November 9, 1970, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 in Massachusetts v. Laird not to hear the case of the state's anti-draft law. Massachusetts had passed a law, which allowed its citizens to decline to fight in any undeclared war, even if the person was drafted. The law was passed in opposition to the draft and the war in Vietnam. The First Circuit found the war constitutional and thus struck down the law.