Rwandan refugees declared illegal immigrants by Burundi; UN concerned News
Rwandan refugees declared illegal immigrants by Burundi; UN concerned

[JURIST] Some 8,000 refugees from Rwanda face deportation Tuesday after neighboring Burundi declared them illegal immigrants over the weekend. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [official site] has urged Burundi to reconsider and warned it might be violating international law if the refugees are involuntarily returned [Reuters report]. Burundi has been fighting since late April to return the refugees [JURIST report]. Mostly Hutus, they fled to Burundi in fear of retribution [AFP report] from the Tutsis, who suffered almost 800,000 deaths in the Rwandan genocide 1994. BBC News has more.

12:17 PM ET – More than 3,700 asylum seekers have left a transit center [UNHCR press release] in Burundi against UNHCR wishes and it is unsure whether they left voluntarily. UNHCR has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.