Search Results for: 2015-10-02

In its euthanasia guidelines, the American Veterinary Medical Association advises against the use of nitrogen gas to kill rats. And yet Alabama is pushing ahead with plans to experiment with using the gas to execute its condemned. Even defendants convicted of the cruelest of murders cannot, except for cynically and spitefully, be said to be [...]

Burkina Faso coup leader Ibrahim Traore announced Friday that there would be no elections in the country until security concerns were addressed. Traore previously promised elections would be reinstated by 2024 to ensure democracy. Speaking on national television, the junta leader said elections were not a priority compared to the related security concerns. In response [...]

International civil society watchdog CIVICUS added Bangladesh on Thursday to its CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist and rated the civic space in Bangladesh as “repressed,” the watchdog’s second lowest rating. The CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist rates the civic space of jurisdictions based on expression, peaceful assembly and freedom of association. CIVICUS stated it added Bangladesh to its watchlist because [...]

This article is the fourth in a series covering attacks on the rule of law. The rule of law is a political philosophy premised on the promise that all citizens, leaders, and institutions are accountable to the same laws, guaranteed through processes, practices, and norms that work together to support the equality of all citizens [...]

Chongqing, a Chinese city with 32.12 million residents, has taken a monumental step in bolstering national security by introducing on Friday a localized Anti-Espionage Regulation. With its population outstripping even that of Shanghai’s 24.89 million and Beijing’s 21.88 million, Chongqing’s move sets an impactful precedent for other major Chinese cities. Reacting to China’s recent amendments to [...]

South African opposition party the Democratic Alliance (DA) called Tuesday for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin should he enter the country for the upcoming BRICS Conference. Since March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has had an outstanding warrant for Putin’s arrest, which the DA now seeks to enforce. The DA filed an application [...]

In jurisprudential matters, whether national or international, precedent remains vitally important. When former (and possibly future) US President Donald J. Trump issued illegal pardons to selected American officials for established crimes against international law, the consequences reverberated in other countries. Now, with still-mounting Russian crimes against Ukraine –  crimes of war; crimes against peace; and crimes [...]

Access to justice is a foundational principle of the rule of law and is often phrased as requiring “the right of equal access to justice for all” through governments providing “fair, transparent, effective, non-discriminatory and accountable services.” In Australia, this principle was described in Dietrich v. The Queen as “the equal justice for all principle.” [...]

The Organization of American States’ (OAS) was presented with a crucial opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to democracy last month, as its Permanent Council turned its attention towards Haiti. The nation’s current crisis is one that is directly connected to the actions taken by members of its ruling Tèt Kale party (PHTK), which for the [...]

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9) South Sudan, Africa’s youngest nation, has been struggling with civil strife, armed conflict and a deplorable state of human rights and the rule of law before and after its independence in 2011. South Sudan came to international attention in the early [...]