Author: JURIST – Paper Chase

[JURIST] Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende on Monday proposed the establishment of an international tribunal in the Netherlands to try countries suspected of supplying nuclear materials to terrorists. The tribunal would be set in The Hague, already home to several international judicial institutions, and would hold accountable nations that break international nuclear security treaties. A “nuclear court” would have to be established by a special treaty. According to Balkenende, US President Barack Obama reacted positively to the proposal during the Nuclear Security Summit currently being held in Washington, DC. The two-day, 47-nation international summit is intended to pursue a comprehensive nuclear security agenda while addressing concerns that terrorist organizations could obtain nuclear material.
Continuing to make progress to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the so-called New START treaty last week, pledging to reduce their countries’ nuclear warheads by about 30 percent. Reaction to the new treaty has been mixed. US Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on Sunday said that Senate approval of the treaty is unlikely to happen this year. Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) also expressed reservations, while UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called it a “significant achievement.” The US State Department began negotiating the treaty with Russia in 2009. The treaty agreement, reached in February, is the first nuclear agreement between the two nations in nearly 20 years.

[JURIST] Kyrgyz interim prime minister Azimbek Beknazarov announced Tuesday that the temporary government has suspended the country’s highest court until the country creates a permanent government. Beknazarov said that the Constitutional Court will remain temporarily dissolved because it allegedly supports ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Beknazarov also warned Bakiyev on Tuesday that he no longer has presidential protection from legal proceedings and that he would be arrested and face criminal investigation if he did not step down as president. A Kyrgyz court also issued arrest warrants for Bakiyev’s brother and son and the country’s former prime minister. In response, Bakiyev said Tuesday that he would admit defeat if the interim government assured the safety of his family. Bakiyev offered to meet with interim leader Roza Otunbayeva and called on the international community to investigate last week’s coup.
Last week, former Kyrgyz foreign minister Otunbayeva announced that she will lead an interim government in Kyrgyzstan after violent protests apparently ousted Bakiyev and his administration. Otunbayeva, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, said that her temporary government will rule for six months until the country holds democratic elections. Reports vary as to the number of citizens killed during the protests, with Kyrgyz opposition officials reporting more than 80 deaths and more than 1600 injuries. Also last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that he will send an envoy to Kyrgyzstan and encouraged calm in the unstable country. Rights groups have also urged leaders to respect human rights.

[JURIST] The government of Angola should take a stronger stand against corruption, according to a report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Despite the nation’s large economic growth and increased stability following the end of the nation-wide civil war in 2002, the majority of its citizens’ lives fail to reflect the improvements, according to the report. HRW suggests that while some limited measures to fight pervasive corruption have been taken since the release of their 2004 report, which documented the disappearance of billions of dollars of oil revenue from the central bank, little headway has been made. Following the economic downturn and the subsequent drop in oil prices, Angola entered a financial agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). HRW has called on the IMF and its board members, namely the US and China, to ensure that Angola adhere to the provisions set forth by the IMF, and more specifically that it comply with the call to publicly audit the state oil company Sonangol and provide frequent updates on the nation’s expenditures.
In January, Angola approved a new constitution that will end the popular election of the president. The new constitution replaces an interim constitution that had been in place since 1975. It provides for the appointment of the country’s president by parliament’s majority party, ending the direct election of the country’s president. It also replaces the position of prime minister with a vice president appointed by the president, and limits the president to two five-year terms. Opponents of the constitution argue that it is merely a way to expand the power of current President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in power since 1979. Members of the ruling party say that it will allow him to rule the country more effectively.

[JURIST] The Nebraska Legislature voted 40-9 Monday to approve a bill requiring a heightened level of informed consent and physician assessment of women seeking abortions. The bill would require health care professionals to determine if the woman seeking the abortion had been pressured into the procedure and would also require them to assess the woman for additional risk factors that could lead to mental or physical complications. Physicians would be responsible for assessing any risk factor mentioned in any research article appearing in peer-reviewed journals one year prior to the procedure, and failure to adequately assess a patient would expose the physician to civil charges. According to the bill, factors to be assessed include “physical, psychological, emotional, demographic, or situational” factors. Critics of the bill claim it is too vague and that it would be difficult for physicians to know all the risk factors for which they are responsible. Proponents of the bill state that the type of patient assessment required by the bill for abortions is in line with the assessments required for other medical procedures. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman is expected to sign the bill into law Tuesday. Also Tuesday, the Nebraska legislature is expected to vote on a second bill that would ban abortions after the twentieth week and would narrow the circumstances under which exceptions to the law would be allowed.
If the Nebraska bills become law, they would join recent anti-abortion laws in Oklahoma, which advocacy groups have criticized and promised to challenge in court. The possibility of the Supreme Court hearing a case challenging these laws could have an impact on the confirmation hearings of President Obama’s nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled that federal prisoners are not entitled to a base level of compensation for work performed while incarcerated. Serra v. Lappin grew out of a challenge brought by attorney J. Tony Serra, who was imprisoned for failure to pay federal taxes. Serra and two fellow plaintiffs claimed that their rights were violated according to the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution and various sources of international law. Judge Richard R. Clifton delivered the opinion of the Court:
We conclude that prisoners have no enforceable right to be paid for their work under the Constitution or international law, and we affirm the district court’s dismissal of the action…The Constitution does not provide prisoners any substantive entitlement to compensation for their labor…Although the Constitution includes, in the Thirteenth Amendment,a general prohibition against involuntary servitude, it expressly excepts from that general prohibition forced labor “as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” In addition to rejecting a cause of action on the basis of the Constitution, the Court also ruled that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a UN document entitled Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the law of nations “do not confer judicially enforceable rights.” In February, the Ninth Circuit held that inmate strip searches are constitutional. That court also ruled in January that a Washington state law that prohibited felons from voting violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

[JURIST] Thailand’s Election Commission on Monday called for the dissolution of the ruling party for failing to report donations and alleged misuse of those donations. The Commission’s decision comes amid some of the deadliest political clashes Thailand has experienced in nearly two decades, as Thai protesters, or red shirts, call for new elections and the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Thailand’s chief of the army, General Anupong Paojinda, has given his support to the opposition’s call for new elections in a hope that dissolution will provide an end to the current standoff between the Abhisit government and the opposition. The Commission’s decision requires the approval of the Constitutional Court to become final, and a date for the hearing is yet to be set.
A Thai court on Friday issued arrest warrants for at least 17 high-profile protesters in an attempt to put down violent protests. Among the accused are top leaders of the red shirt opposition. Warrants were also issued Thursday for seven members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship for their role in allegedly breaking into Parliament during protests Wednesday. After the break-in, Abhisit declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and several nearby provinces. Abhisit said he hopes that the arrest of the high-profile leaders will cause other protesters to disperse.

[JURIST] The Vatican on Monday released Church procedures for handling alleged cases of sexual abuse by priests, instructing, “Civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed.” The “Guide to Understanding Basic CDF Procedures concerning Sexual Abuse Allegations” summarizes the procedures governing investigations by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) into allegations of sex abuse by clergy members. The CDF guidelines provide for interim measures meant to ensure the safety of others during civil authorities’ investigations or legal proceedings:
During the preliminary stage and until the case is concluded, the bishop may impose precautionary measures to safeguard the community, including the victims. Indeed, the local bishop always retains power to protect children by restricting the activities of any priest in his diocese. This is part of his ordinary authority, which he is encouraged to exercise to whatever extent is necessary to assure that children do not come to harm, and this power can be exercised at the bishop’s discretion before, during and after any canonical proceeding. The guidelines also outline a multi-tiered system of enforcement and appeals, including local bishops, the CDF, and the Pope himself. Since 2007, in the US alone the Church has settled over 500 cases of abuse for over $900 million. In April 2001, Pope John Paul II issued the Motu Proprio Sacramentorum Sanctitatis Tutela (MP SST), which gave the CDF responsibility for overseeing the Church’s approach to instances of sexual abuse. That document was prepared by Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reports having received allegations from 14,000 victims against 5,600 priests between 1950-2008. The official numbers are found in the 2004 John Jay Report commissioned by the USCCB and the subsequent implementation report from 2008. Estimates of the total number of US children who were abused since 1950 range from 25,000 to close to 300,000.

[JURIST] Seven Icelandic government officials acted with gross negligence in their management of the country’s financial system prior to a 2008 bank collapse, according to a report released Monday by a parliamentary panel. The Special Investigation Committee (SIC), convened in 2008 by the Icelandic Parliament to investigate the collapse of the country’s three largest banks, determined that then-Prime Minister Geir Haarde and former central bank head David Oddsson knew that banks were assuming overseas debt but took no action to prevent or mitigate the effects of the accumulation. The SIC also found that former Minister of Finance Arni Mathiessen, then-banking minister Bjorgvin Sigurdsson, former Financial Services Authority director Jonas Jonsson and central bank officials Eirikur Gundason and Ingimundur Fridriksson failed to take appropriate action when presented with information about the poor state of the country’s financial sector. When Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir were taken over by the Icelandic government in 2008, they were holding debt equal to more than 900 percent of Iceland’s gross domestic product, causing the country’s economy to collapse and the government to rely on loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet its obligations. A parliamentary panel will decide whether to take legal action against the officials.
Iceland was hit hard by the financial crisis that emanated from securities related to the US mortgage market. The country began considering whether to seek EU accession last year, with Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir arguing that adopting the Euro would help stabilize the country’s economy. In 2008, the United Kingdom used anti-terrorism laws to freeze $4 billion in assets held by Landsbanki after its takeover by the Icelandic government.

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) withdrew her candidacy on Friday. Dawn Johnsen, nominated as the OLC’s Assistant Attorney General in January 2009, has faced over a year of objection from Republicans for her criticisms of the interrogation methods approved by the OLC during the Bush administration and her support of abortion rights. In March, the US Senate Judiciary Committee for the second time recommended her to the Senate for confirmation on a strict party-line vote. However, it is unlikely that Johnsen would have been able to obtain the votes necessary for confirmation and overcome a possible filibuster. The White House refrained from appointing Johnsen during the Senate recess last month, which would have avoided the confirmation process. White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that the Senate should put politics aside and bring impartial legal advice back to the OLC.
Johnsen, who previously served as acting head of the OLC under former president Bill Clinton, argued to restore the OLC’s reputation and political independence. Under the Bush administration, OLC lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee produced confidential memos authorizing the use of controversial CIA interrogation techniques that critics have called torture. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said at a February hearing that he was prepared to subpoena the DOJ if it did not turn over missing e-mail records dealing with the so-called “torture memos.” In February, the DOJ overruled the findings of a report concluding that Yoo and Bybee committed professional misconduct. Instead, the DOJ said that they were only guilty of “poor judgment” in writing the memos. Former US attorney general John Ashcroft has defended the advice the DOJ gave the Bush administration on the use of certain interrogation techniques, saying that all guidelines issued by his office were legal.

[JURIST] A Moscow City Court judge known for presiding over cases involving neo-Nazi groups was killed Monday morning while leaving his apartment. The murder of Judge Eduard Chuvashov is suspected to be a contract killing in light of the death threats he faced after presiding over the trials of members of neo-Nazi gangs. Last week, Chuvashov sentenced members of the Ryno Gang, a group known for attacking non-Russian immigrants, to 10-20 years in prison for the racially motivated killings of Central Asian immigrants between 2006 and 2007. In February, Chuvashov sentenced members of another ultra-nationalist organization, calling themselves the White Wolves, for committing similar crimes. On Monday, Chuvashov was set to begin the trial of a former police officer accused of plotting to bomb national monuments in Moscow.
In August 2008, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) called on Russia to take action against growing instances of ethnic violence and neo-Nazi activity within its borders. CERD said that Chechens, Roma, and other ethnic and religious minorities are the most common victims, and noted allegations that Russian police frequently refuse to intervene to stop such attacks. A January 2008 report issued by the SOVA Center rights group found that hate crimes in Russia rose 13 percent in 2007, but also found that police have done little to stop attacks. In June 2007, Human Rights First reported that hate crimes are on the rise throughout all of Europe, after conducting a study examining recent hate crimes in France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. That study found that Russia has a “proliferation of violent hate crimes directed against ethnic, religious and national minorities.”

[JURIST] US Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn) on Sunday said that Senate approval of the so-called New START treaty will not happen this year. Speaking on a morning talk show, Alexander stated, “there’s not a chance the treaty will be approved this year. It took a year and a half to approve the START I treaty.” The new START treaty replaces the expired Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I treaty), with Russia and the United States each pledging to reduce their countries’ nuclear warheads by about 30 percent. Under the terms of the treaty and its protocol, both countries would only be allowed to deploy 1,550 strategic warheads, a decrease from the 2,200 currently permitted. Reaction to the new treaty has been mixed. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called it a “significant achievement,” while Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) expressed reservations. Appearing with Alexander on Fox News, Lieberman indicated he did not believe that START would have Senate support unless the Obama administration committed to modernize the existing nuclear arsenal, stating: I don’t believe that there will be 67 votes to ratify the START treaty unless the administration does two things — first, commit to modernize our nuclear stockpile so as we have less nuclear weapons we know they’re capable, if, God forbid, we need them; and secondly, to make absolutely clear that some of the statements by Russian president Medvedev at the signing in Prague that seem to suggest that if we continue to build the ballistic missile defense in Europe that they may pull out of this treaty — they’re just unacceptable to us. We need that defense to protect our allies and ourselves from Iran. President Obama is expected to submit the treaty to the Senate in early May and Senate Democrats have indicated they will then begin hearings with the aim of ratifying the treaty within the year.
US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the treaty in Prague last Thursday. The treaty agreement, reached in February, is the first nuclear agreement between the two nations in nearly 20 years. The US State Department began negotiating the treaty with Russia in 2009. Nuclear disarmament between the US and Russia, whose nuclear arsenals comprise 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons, languished during the Bush administration. The treaty is considered a key part of easing tensions between the two countries, which reached a high point after the 2008 Georgia conflict.

[JURIST] Amnesty International (AI) on Monday released a report criticizing some European nations’ practice of seeking “no-torture” assurances from other countries in order to remove foreigners. According to the report, the assurances are used to return people to countries with records of human rights abuses. AI described these deals as unreliable and unenforceable, and called for an end to their use. The report was particularly critical of the UK, which for 18 years has used the method to deport people who were considered national security threats. AI described the UK as:he most influential and aggressive promoter of…the use of diplomatic assurances to forcibly return people it considers threats to national security…The promotion of policy…has occurred at a number of levels: as a matter of domestic policy…at the European Court of Human Rights…and a number of intergovernmental forums… by the UN Human Rights Committee and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. A UK government spokesperson responded to the report, asserting that the use of “no-torture” agreements is necessary to maintain national security, and stating that the government would not enter into an agreement if it perceived a torture risk. The AI report also criticized several other European nations for using these assurances, including Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy, who continue to do so despite negative rulings on the practice from the European Court of Human Rights.In March, AI, Human Rights Watch, Liberty, and Reprieve joined with members of British parliament in calling for an inquiry into the UK role in torture and rendition during the war on terror. They called on British officials to conduct a public hearing on the role played by UK intelligence agencies and armed forces in the alleged torture and rendition of terror suspects. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has faced scrutiny over UK procedures amid allegations that British intelligence officials were involved in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohammed in Morocco. In February, Reprieve initiated a lawsuit against the British government, claiming that its unwillingness to disclose detainee policies suggests that it permits illegal torture.

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) Sunday accused both Israel and Hamas of failing to conduct meaningful, credible investigations into accusations of war crimes during the January 2009 Gaza conflict. In a 62-page report HRW described the alleged law of war violations committed during the combat, along with the deficient responses from both sides:More than one year after the conflict, neither side has taken adequate measures to investigate serious violations or to punish the perpetrators of war crimes, leaving civilian victims without redress. Israel’s investigations have fallen far short of international standards for investigations, while Hamas has conducted no credible investigations at all.
States responsible for violations of the laws of war are required to make reparations, which includes providing fair and adequate compensation to victims and their relatives, and establishing the truth about what happened. … States also have an obligation to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by their armed forces, and if appropriate, to prosecute those responsible. The report also called on the UN and members of the international community to pressure both Israel and Hamas to conduct “thorough and impartial investigations” into the war crimes allegations.In February, HRW criticized Israel for failing to demonstrate that it would conduct a thorough and impartial investigation of the alleged war crimes. Just prior to that, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that it was unclear whether Israel and Palestine have fully met UN demands to set up a commission to investigate war crimes that may occurred during the conflict. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution last November giving Israel and Palestine three months to complete an investigation into war crimes allegations.

[JURIST] US Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) predicted Sunday that President Obama will nominate a replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens in time for hearings to be concluded over the summer. In an appearance with Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) on NBC’s “Meet the Press” discussed the coming confirmation battle over the replacement for who announced Friday that he at the end of the court’s 2009 term this summer. Leahy said “I think we’re going to hear soon enough so that we can wrap this up this summer.” Sessions would not rule out the possibility of a Republican filibuster of the nominee, however, saying:f we have a nominee that evidences a philosophy of “judges know best,” that they can amend the Constitution by saying it has evolved, and effectuate agendas, then we’re going to have a big fight about that because the American people don’t want that. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) expressed similar sentiments in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday where he would not rule out the possibility of a filibuster against a nominee that “com to the bench with an ideological position,” but described the filibuster as “unlikely.”
In a letter to Obama explaining is retirement, Stevens wrote, “it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court’s next Term.” There had been much speculation about Stevens’s possible retirement, and leading candidates for his replacement reportedly include Solicitor General Elena Kagan and federal appellate Judges Merrick Garland and Diane Wood. Stevens, 89, was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Gerald Ford and was seated in December 1975. He previously served on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Stevens is the court’s oldest and most senior member and has served as the leader of the court’s liberal bloc. His retirement gives Obama his second opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court justice, following last year’s retirement of Justice David Souter and confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Columbia late last week made public two previously unreleased rulings relating to habeas corpus claims by Guantanamo detainees. In a decision ordering the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Judge James Robertson held that the government had to release Slahi because it was unable to prove that he was part of, or provided support to, al-Qaeda at the time of his capture. Applying a test articulated by Judge John Bates in Hamlily v. Obama, which limited the detention of terrorism suspects who are not actual members of terrorist groups under the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), and rejected the Obama administration’s “substantial support” standard, Robertson explained: habeas court may not permit a man to be held indefinitely upon suspicion, or because of the government’s prediction that he may do unlawful acts in the future – any more than a habeas court may rely upon its prediction that a man will not be dangerous in the future and order his release if he was lawfully detained in the first place. The question … was whether, at the time of his capture, was “part of” al-Qada. On the record before me, I cannot find that he was. The government plans to appeal the decision. On Thursday, the court released the decision of another judge in the habeas petition of Guantanamo detainee Muktar Yahya Najee al Warafi. The court rejected Warafi’s claim that his detention violated the AUMF and Article 24 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The court found that the government did have enough proof to hold him under the AUMF, and that the Geneva Conventions may not be invoked in a habeas proceeding. Also on Thursday, a third district court judge rejected the habeas petition of Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail, but the full decision has yet to be released.
The court originally ordered the release of Slahi in March. Slahi was once considered a key al-Qaeda leader and prosecutors had sought the death penalty against him. A prominent government prosecutor stepped down from the case because he did not support the alleged abusive treatment used against Slahi, which was investigated in a 2008 Senate Armed Services Committee report. Last May, Judge Gladys Kessler applied the “substantially supported” standard for reviewing habeas petitions filed by detainees, making no reference to the “enemy combatant” classification used previously. Last April, Judge Reggie Walton adopted the “substantially supported” standard for authorizing and reviewing the detention of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo.

[JURIST] Spanish National Court judge Baltasar Garzon on Saturday appealed an indictment that charges him with abuse of power for launching an investigation of alleged war crimes committed during the Spanish Civil War. Garzon alleges that the indictment issued by Spanish Supreme Court judge Luciano Varela is politically motivated, compromises judicial independence and seeks to impose a specific interpretation of a 1977 law granting amnesty for political crimes committed under Francisco Franco. Garzon also complains of the short time he was given appeal the indictment order, which resulted from Varela’s summary motion to shorten the length of the trial. Garzon’s indictment has sparked international outrage and massive protests in Spain. Also on Saturday, the Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory, an organization for relatives of Franco Regime victims, announced that it intends to file a criminal complaint against Varela for violating international law in the application of the amnesty law. Members of the organization have said that, if necessary, they would pursue a suit against Varela in courts in Chile or Argentina through universal jurisdiction.
In 2008, Garzon ordered the exhumation of 19 mass graves in Spain in order to assemble a definitive national registry of Civil War victims, despite the amnesty law. After ruling in February that Garzon may have exceeded his jurisdictional authority by launching the investigation, the Spanish Supreme Court ruled last month that he could be formally charged. Garzon has consistently defended the validity of the investigation by insisting that he acted within the bounds of the law. Garzon is widely known for using universal jurisdiction extensively in the past to bring several high-profile cases, including those against Osama bin Laden and former Latin American dictator Augusto Pinochet.

[JURIST] Polish Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski became the interim Polish president on Saturday after elected President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash. Komorowski must now announce the date of the next presidential elections within two weeks. The elections must be held within two months of the official announcement. Under Article 131 of the Polish Constitution, the “Marshal of the House of Representatives (Sejm) shall, until the time of election of a new President of the Republic, temporarily discharge the duties of the President of the Republic.” In his first official act, Komorowski declared a week of national mourning for those who died in the plane crash, including the Polish military chief of staff, the president of the national bank, the deputy foreign minister, the deputy parliament speaker, the civil rights commissioner, and several members of parliament.
In primary elections held in March, Komorowski was chosen as the presidential candidate for the current ruling party, Civic Platform. At the time, it was uncertain whether Kaczynski would run for re-election. Kaczynski and the other 89 passengers of the plane that crashed on Saturday were traveling to Katyn, where they were to participate in a memorial service for the victims of a 1940 massacre, in which 20,000 Poles were killed by the USSR. In February, the Polish government joined a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) alleging that the Russian government failed to provide adequate investigations into the incident and did not grant victim status to 13 relatives of those killed.

[JURIST] Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced Friday that that his country will temporarily suspend processing all asylum claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Evans, a cabinet minister under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, said that Afghani and Sri Lankan asylum seekers would be denied entry because of improved security situations in those countries. Sri Lankan asylum claims processing would be will be suspended for three months, while Afghani claims will be suspended for six months, after which the policy will be reviewed in light of security assessments from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Evans said that the new procedures are intended to ensure that “Australia’s refugee processing system continues to recognise those genuinely in need of our protection.” The policy will not affect those refugees already on Christmas Island, a key processing center for unauthorized immigrants. Refugees from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan account for 80 percent of all asylum claims filed in Australia. Opposition parties have criticized the new policy as an election maneuver meant to get more votes. Rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have expressed concerns about the policy’s effect on legitimate asylum seekers.
Australia announced this week that they would accept three Cuban refugees held at the Guantanamo Bay Migration Operations Center, which is not affiliated at the Naval Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay. In November 2006, the High Court of Australia ruled that a “holder of a temporary protection visa is not entitled to further protection in Australia if they are no longer in danger in the country from which they fled” and that the person may not remain a refugee. Australia’s mandatory detention policy, which requires any non-citizen without a visa seeking entry to be detained, had previously been challenged by rights groups.

[JURIST] The US Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation (MDL) on Friday consolidated more than 150 pending lawsuits against Toyota Motor Corporation and transferred them to the US District Court for the Central District of California. The MDL panel said that transferring the cases to California to be heard by Judge James Selna would make the litigation process more streamlined.
Each of the actions currently before the Panel asserts economic damages on behalf of certain classes and/or individuals stemming from an alleged defect in certain Toyota vehicles that causes sudden, unintended acceleration. The cases involve common questions of fact. No doubt, centralization under Section 1407 will eliminate duplicative discovery; prevent inconsistent pretrial rulings, including with respect to class certification; and conserve the resources of the parties, their counsel, and the judiciary.Other transfer options included US District Courts in the Eastern District of Louisiana, and the Middle District of Florida, where large numbers of cases against Toyota were filed. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said earlier this week that that it would seek a record $16.375 million penalty against Toyota for a four month delay in waiting to notify the agency about problems with allegedly “sticky” gas pedals. Toyota has two weeks to appeal the fine. Toyota has been under federal scrutiny since December and has recalled approximately eight million cars. Last month, California’s Orange County District Attorney filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Toyota alleging that the company knowingly sold vehicles with acceleration defects.

[JURIST] Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) released a report Friday accusing the government of committing human rights violations against the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The group criticized the response of officials at the local, state, and federal levels for being overly bureaucratic and lacking both accountability and leadership. As a result, according to AIUSA, low-income and minority communities were subjected to police misconduct and denied access to affordable housing and healthcare. The group also faulted the federal Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act for noncompliance with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement by failing to include provisions to ensure that the effects of disaster relief efforts do not bear socioeconomically or racially discriminatory impacts. The group called on the government to return victims to their their original homes and to improve their access to government services.
In November 2008, US housing advocates filed a class action lawsuit against the government arguing that Louisiana’s Hurricane Katrina recovery program, Road Home Louisiana, discriminates against African-American homeowners. The US federal government has been repeatedly criticized for its alleged discriminatory treatment of African-Americans in response to Hurricane Katrina. In February 2008, the UN called on the US to put a stop to discrimination against African-Americans who were being evicted from their homes or denied access to other available housing in the wake of the hurricane.