Full Coverage: Law

30.10.2007 An independent United Nations human rights expert claims brutal torture is routine in counter-terrorism operations in Sri Lanka. Nowak also drew attention to the low conviction rate by criminal courts in torture related cases.

29.10.2007 NEW YORK, Oct 29 (OneWorld) - Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. secretary of defense, is facing criminal charges in France for ordering the torture of prisoners in Iraq and at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

27.10.2007 A small Indian village in the western state of Gujarat discovers the power of the Right to Information (RTI). After four years of complaints on the lack of health care services, a few straight questions to the Public Information Officer make things move.

25.10.2007 When Home Ministers of SAARC countries meet today in New Delhi, they will try to build consensus upon reaching an agreement on cooperation in tackling crimes. At a time when terrorists seem to be better coordinated in carrying out cross-border crimes, the importance of such a convention assumes greater significance.

24.10.2007 Amnesty International India is spearheading the campaign to garner support for abolition of death penalty, collecting more than 42,000 signatures. Eminent citizens have written an open letter to the Prime Minister urging the government to support the resolution in the UN General Assembly that seeks a global moratorium on executions.

19.10.2007 Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reports illiteracy and poverty as main perpetrators of child marriages, leading to domestic violence in 70% of such cases. Young girls married to elderly men are bound to the consequences of such customs that hold elopement as both unlawful and taboo.

12.10.2007 Land acquisitions for industrialization, construction of dams and natural calamities have led to large scale displacement of millions of people in India. It remains to be seen how far the Union CabinetÂ’s recent approval of the new rehab and resettlement policy will address the problem.

11.10.2007 October 10 marks one year since the Child Labour Act banned children from working as domestic servants. Yet millions of children continue to work in domestic and hazardous occupations and are vulnerable to abuse. Save The Children has called for concerted campaigns to save these lost childhoods.

05.10.2007 WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (IPS) - A sudden halt to executions in Texas, the United States' most active death penalty state, may signal that there is now an unofficial national moratorium in place across the nation, pending a ruling by the Supreme Court on whether a specific lethal injection cocktail is legal.