http://jurist.org/paperchase/ JURIST's weblog of legal news and resources worth thinking about, by Professor Bernard Hibbitts and law students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. 2013-05-18T12:10:00-04:00 en-US http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/portugal-expands-adoption-rights-for-same-sex-couples.php [JURIST] Portugal's Parliament [official website] voted Friday to approve a law allowing same-sex married couples to adopt their partners' children. The Parliament also voted on Friday to reject the Left Bloc and Green Party's [official websites, Portuguese] proposal to grant gay couples the same adoption rights as heterosexuals. The bill approved by Parliament is intended to primarily serve the children in the event that their biological parent dies or falls ill. It was passed by only five votes, while 9... 2013-05-18T12:10:00-04:00 2013-05-18T12:10:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/france-president-signs-same-sex-marriage-and-adoption-bill.php [JURIST] French President Francois Hollande [official website, in French] gave final approval Saturday to legislation [text, PDF, in French] legalizing same-sex marriage and establishing the right of same-sex couples to adopt. The widely controversial bill, which was part of Hollande's campaign pledges, was was approved by parliament [JURIST report] last month, but France's Union for a Popular Movement party [party website, in French] filed a legal challenge with the country's Constitutional Council. The court rejected the challenge [JURIST report] on... 2013-05-18T10:41:00-04:00 2013-05-18T10:41:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/france-constitutional-court-approves-same-sex-marriage-bill.php [JURIST] France's Constitutional Council [official website, in French] on Friday approved [judgment, in French; press release, in French] a same-sex marriage bill [text, PDF, in French]. The legislation was approved by parliament [JURIST report] last month, but former president Nicolas Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement [party website, in French] party filed a legal challenge. The court rejected the challenge but did clarify that the right of same-sex couples to adopt does not establish [France24 report] a "right to a... 2013-05-17T13:48:00-04:00 2013-05-17T13:48:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/evidence-of-torture-found-in-syria-government-centers-hrw.php [JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Friday urged [report] Syrian opposition leaders and neutral international experts to safeguard evidence of torture and arbitrary detention uncovered in government intelligence facilities in Raqqa, the first city to fall to rebel forces. HRW visited the area in April and discovered detention cells, interrogation rooms and torture devices consistent with descriptions given by former detainees since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War [JURIST backgrounder] in 2011. In addition HRW reportedly uncovered... 2013-05-17T13:40:00-04:00 2013-05-17T13:40:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/chad-authorities-arrest-war-crimes-suspect.php [JURIST] The Chad public prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday that it has arrested Mahamat Djibrine, a former political police chief suspected of torture and hundreds of politically motivated killings in the 1980s. Djibrine was in charge of the Directorate of Documentation and Service (DDS) political police under then-president Hissene Habre [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive], and was arrested [AFP report] after DDS victims filed a lawsuit accusing him of torture, acts of barbarism and illegal detention. He could be extradited... 2013-05-17T12:30:00-04:00 2013-05-17T12:30:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/bolivia-lawmakers-approve-presidents-third-term.php [JURIST] Bolivian lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bill allowing incumbent President Evo Morales [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] to seek a third term in the nation's 2014 elections. Bolivia's lower house approved the bill 84 to 33 [MercoPress report] despite the single re-election provision in the Bolivian Constitution [text, in Spanish] after the measure was approved in the Senate. The constitution was amended [JURIST report] in 2009 after Morales's first term in office began in 2005. In 2008, Morales engineered... 2013-05-17T12:18:00-04:00 2013-05-17T12:18:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/hungary-laws-undermining-human-rights-hrw.php [JURIST] Hungarian laws introduced by the ruling Fidesz [party website, in Hungarian] party in 2010 are undermining human rights, according to a report [text, PDF] published Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website]. According to HRW, the new constitution and laws are negatively affecting human rights and the rule of law. The 29-page report states that many of the major changes "weaken legal checks on its authority, interfere with media freedom, and otherwise undermine human rights protection in the... 2013-05-17T11:20:00-04:00 2013-05-17T11:20:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/us-appeals-court-denies-asylum-to-german-family-wanting-to-homeschool.php [JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] on Tuesday denied an appeal [opinion, PDF] by a German family seeking asylum in the US in order to homeschool their children for religious reasons. The Romeike family alleged that Germany's ban against homeschooling caused them a well-founded fear of persecution based on their membership in a "particular social group"—homeschoolers. In the opinion, Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote that US immigration law [text] for asylum-seekers only applies for those... 2013-05-17T09:56:00-04:00 2013-05-17T09:56:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/--dnp-1.php [JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] on Wednesday denied a motion to certify a putative class action against Google's YouTube [corporate website] involving copyright owners from around the world. Named plaintiffs included the English Premier League, the French Tennis Federation, the National Music Publishers' Association [corporate websites] and several other music publishers. The plaintiffs asserted that YouTube infringed on copyrighted materials [Reuters report] by allowing unauthorized hosting of certain... 2013-05-16T14:02:00-04:00 2013-05-16T14:02:00-04:00 http://jurist.org/paperchase/2013/05/un-urges-continued-commitment-to-justice-after-rios-montt-trial.php [JURIST] A group of UN experts on Wednesday encouraged Guatemalan authorities to continue to seek the establishment of internal and transitional "truth and justice" in the wake of the trial of Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt [JURIST news archive]. Last Friday, a Guatemalan court sentenced Rios Montt to 80 years in prison [JURIST report] for his role in presiding over the brutal junta responsible for the torture, rape and murder of 1,771 indigenous Ixil Mayans between 1982 and 1983.... 2013-05-16T13:06:00-04:00 2013-05-16T13:06:00-04:00