Full Coverage: Law

31.10.2005 The OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro organized on 28 and 29 October a study visit and workshop in the Senta Municipal Court for 19 representatives of the courts and public prosecutors offices from southern Serbia, a region where the majority of the population is ethnic Albanian.

31.10.2005 LAHORE: The federal government is all set to introduce a law making it mandatory for private schools and educational institutions to register with it (the government), government officials said. The proposed legislation, which was prepared after lengthy consultations and consensus with various stakeholders and existing laws for the registering private schools and educational institutions, was forwarded to the federal cabinet for final approval, officials added

31.10.2005 The International Criminal Court, which the Bush administration refuses to join, reached a key milestone recently as Mexico--one of the U.S.'s closest allies and trading partners--became the 100th country to consent to its jurisdiction.

30.10.2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 28 (OneWorld) - Echoing recent comments by White House officials, a U.S. government report submitted to the United Nations last Friday bears a message that the brutal treatment of people held in U.S. military custody abroad is and should be legal.

28.10.2005 The US House of Representatives has slipped an amendment into the Patriot Act Reauthorization Act that would dramatically skew federal death penalty cases in favor of the prosecution.

28.10.2005 John Nichols of The Nation weighs in on the Bush administration's political strategy in the face of pending indictments, falling approval ratings, and the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court nominee.

28.10.2005 The much maligned Patriot Act, which celebrated its fourth anniversary Wednesday, is up for reauthorization. Conferees from the House and Senate will soon decide on key provisions affecting civil liberties, and many rights groups are calling on legislators to choose the path of greater government accountability.

27.10.2005 Harriet Miers, who once said it was "cool" to ride with George Bush in a plane and who the President described as "a pit bull in size-six shoes", has withdrawn from her nomination to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the US Supreme Court.

27.10.2005 Over ninety professionals from the Albanian judicial system attended a seminar on juvenile justice issues organized by the OSCE Presence in Albania and the country's School of Magistrates.

27.10.2005 Approval for the new constitution represents a "landmark day" in Iraq not because it is a step toward democracy, but because it is a step toward civil war, argues Robert Dreyfuss.

27.10.2005 The Delhi High Court directed the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to respond to a bunch of petitions seeking deletion of certain "objectionable portions" in the history books for classes VIII, XI and XII published by the Council.

25.10.2005 The government thinks it would be better to apply a bad law to everyone rather than single out a minority for mistreatment. Why apply the law at all? Philosopher AC Grayling considers the British government’s plan to create the crime of ‘incitement to religious hatred’

24.10.2005 The Supreme Court has urged courts not to deal with rape lightly and to refrain from suing the discretionary power vested in them to award a lesser sentence for the crime ‘indiscriminately’.

21.10.2005 On the 13th anniversary of the kidnapping and murder of 17 Bosniaks from Sjeverin, the Humanitarian Law Centre and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights demand from the competent authorities to conduct a full investigation against all persons that participated in this crime. Also, the two organizations demand that the families of the 17 victims are awarded proper compensation that would prove the recognition of responsibility for the crime.

21.10.2005 An activist of Zelena Akcija environmental association was accused on misdemeanour charges of “...obstruction of normal traffic”, for his part as coordinator of the action “Yellow Lane Reserved for Trams”, held on May 3, 2005.

19.10.2005 Flores Sukula is a 19-year-old asylum seeker from DRC whose family was one of the first to be made destitute under the UKÂ’s new asylum laws. Read her speech to a meeting in parliament this week.

19.10.2005 The Gun Industry Immunity Bill was passed by the U.S. Senate in July and is expected to be taken up by the House this week. Moving Ideas is standing up in support of the rights of gun victims, and you can too.

18.10.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (OneWorld) - As Saddam Hussein and other former Iraqi government leaders are brought before a special tribunal this week to face criminal charges, legal scholars in the United States and experts at the United Nations warn of possible violations of international standards for fair trials.

17.10.2005 "There is no place for torture anywhere in the world," says Amnesty International, but the Court of Appeals for England and Wales has disagreed, declaring evidence derived from torture--so long as it wasn't committed or connived at by British agents--to be admissible in U.K. courts. That ruling is now under review.

17.10.2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17 (OneWorld) - A new bill designed to soothe inflamed gas prices by boosting refinery output has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but environmental advocates say the Act is really a gift to the oil industry and would not have significant or immediate effects on prices at the pump.