Palestinian teenagers in Israeli detention without charge.
Latest Updates: rule of law RSS
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The UAE considers creating a human rights institution in response a UN review of the country’s record.
Notice the get out clause though:
“All recommendations were helpful in helping the UAE form its own assessment of our objectives and goals,” said Lana Nusseibeh, the director of research and communications at the Ministry of State for FNV [Federal National Council] Affairs and a member of the UAE delegation.
“Some were less helpful in being outside our framework, norms and religious values.” [my emphasis]
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A former Lord Chief Justice said Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war violated international law.
There probably will be a public inquiry into hows and whys of the Iraq invasion, but not before Britain withdraws its armed forces from Iraq.
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Arguments, such these (1, 2, 3), which seem to call for an arbitary ban on so-called sharia “courts”* are wrong.
The right way to argue against sharia arbitration panels, if that is what someone wants to do, is to campaign for a change in the law which allows them to operate in the first place, although a better method will probably be to work for a more rigorous application of the law in the operation of these panels**.
I think it is right to express concern about the way these panels appear to be operating, but trying to argue that we must find special reasons to deny Muslims the right to engage in perfectly legal activities*** is against the very notion of the rule of law and completely undemocratic****.
*I suggest we stop calling them “courts” altogether. Doing so gives them an aura of legal stature they do not posses. They are arbitration panels.
**For example one legal scholar has argued that that “the state should seek to apply all human rights and anti-discrimination legislation rigorously to avoid structural discrimination in the operation of these minority courts of arbitration”.
***See this discussion in the comments from people who know what they’re talking about.
****Is there an argument which says they’re illegal? I don’t know and have never come across one.
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How New Labour has undermined the rule of law.
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Irony of Tony Blair’s lectue on the rule of law.
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A leading Pakistani pro-democracy activist has accused a senior British diplomat of undermining his country’s rule of law.
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The House of Lords has ruled that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted lawfully in dropping an inquiry into bribery allegations during an arms deal between Saudi Arabia and BAE Systems.
This ruling overturns a High Court decision that Tony Blair’s government and the SFO had caved in too readily to threats by Saudi Arabia over sharing intelligence related to terrorism.
Septic Isle offers some commentary on this ruling.
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Slate has a Venn diagram on the crimes and misdemeanors of the Shrub years.
