Several Chinese lawyers are arrested; state media said one was ‘blabbering about the rule of law’

China has formally arrested several human rights lawyers on charges of subversion about six months after detaining them, according to other lawyers. Among those arrested was Wang Yu, the country’s most prominent woman human rights lawyer, report Reuters and the Associated Press. Wang has defended an online free-speech advocate and…

Jan 13, 2016 7:52 AM CST

Federal push for deportation includes 7,700 minors who never went to court, advocates say

Immigrant advocates say minor immigrants are facing a “due process crisis” sparked by the Obama administration’s latest push to deport people ordered removed. The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that more than 7,700 immigrant minors have been ordered deported without ever having appeared in court. That number comes from federal…

Jan 6, 2016 11:20 AM CST

Hackathon winners’ app helps migrant workers locate aid

Jan 1, 2016 1:50 AM CST

China human rights lawyer gets suspended sentence for online posts

China human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang has received a suspended three-year sentence for “inciting ethnic hatred” and “picking quarrels” in online posts. The sentence has the effect of barring Pu from law practice, report the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). He has already been imprisoned…

Dec 22, 2015 11:30 AM CST

Innocence project movement in China rises to aid the wrongfully convicted

China's death penalty train, widely believed to be the world's most active, is showing some signs of slowing down. And domestic innocence projects may be having an effect, though small, on getting wrongful convictions in capital crimes overturned.

Dec 1, 2015 2:30 AM CST

Northern Ireland’s abortion prohibitions violate human rights, Belfast judge rules

A judge on the Belfast High Court in Northern Ireland ruled Monday that the region’s prohibition of abortions in cases of rape, incest and fetal abnormality violates the human rights of women, Reuters reports. Judge Mark Horner upheld arguments by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission that the prohibition went…

Nov 30, 2015 12:55 PM CST

Black sheriff’s deputy alleges in lawsuit he was asked to prepay for breakfast at restaurant

A black sheriff’s deputy in Oregon is suing the owner and operator of a Vancouver, Washington, restaurant for allegedly requiring him to prepay for his breakfast. Multnomah County sheriff’s deputy Brian Eason, 44, filed suit last week against Karson Inc., owner and operator of the Elmer’s restaurant franchise location where…

Nov 2, 2015 2:00 PM CST

Black US citizen seeks refugee status in Canada on account of his race

A U.S. citizen is seeking refugee status in Canada because he says he’s afraid of being killed by police in this country because he is black. Kyle Lydell Canty, 30, argued his case at an Oct. 23 hearing before Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board in Vancouver, B.C., CBC News reports.…

Oct 27, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

Justice Department announces $44 million in grants against human trafficking

Attorney General Loretta Lynch today announced more than $44 million in grant funding to fight human trafficking. In remarks to the Seattle-based Washington Advisory Committee on Trafficking, Lynch said the grants will fund efforts to fight trafficking, support victims and expand research. “Human traffickers prey on some of the most…

Sep 24, 2015 5:34 PM CDT

After UK kills citizens in Syria in drone strike, critics question policy

Four years after a U.S. killing of an American-born cleric in Yemen through a drone strike sparked concern and criticism, the U.K. is facing similar questions about the drone-strike deaths last month of two British men in Syria. The target, Reynaad Khan, 21, was said to be an Islamic State…

Sep 9, 2015 2:44 PM CDT

ABA Commission on Immigration report excoriates federal detention policy for immigrant families

A report released Aug. 19 by the ABA Commission on Immigration with the assistance of the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers takes the federal government to task for its policy of detaining immigrant mothers with young children. “Family Immigration Detention: Why The Past Cannot Be Prologue” (PDF) concludes that…

Aug 20, 2015 10:38 AM CDT

US immigration detention policies are ‘incompatible with basic principles of justice,’ says law prof

At an ABA Annual Meeting panel on Friday, speakers had strong criticisms of the federal government’s detention policies for immigrant mothers with children. “The government’s family detention policies of widespread detention of families and secure lockdown facilities are just incompatible with basic principles of justice and liberty,” said Denise Gilman,…

Aug 1, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

Political powers blunt good law, human rights lawyer says

Aug 1, 2015 1:20 AM CDT

UK trade envoy: ‘I’d give anything’ for the ABA to work with the Iraqi judiciary

Aug 1, 2015 1:00 AM CDT

Corporations have a role in (and gain benefits from) promoting the rule of law

Aug 1, 2015 12:40 AM CDT