North America & the Caribbean
New National Defense Authorization Act Authorizes Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens
On October 26, 2001 President Bush enacted the Patriot Act authorizing indefinite detention of non-U.S. citizens; allowing suspected terrorists to be detained without trial until the War on Terrorism ended. On January 11, 2002, the first group of…
The Situation of Women and Girls in Haiti Exemplifies the Difficulties of Post-Natural Disaster Protection of Human Rights
Almost two years after a catastrophic earthquake devastated Haiti, killing more than 220,000 people and leaving more than a million people displaced, over 600,000 people still remain in makeshift tent cities, displaced within their own country. Disasters such as this…
Mass Arrests of Peaceful Protestors May Constitute a Violation of Human Rights
The right to peacefully protest is at the foundation of democracy and international human rights law, but the line between crowd control and the violation of these rights is sometimes difficult to define. In some cases, such as in Libya,…
Troy Davis Execution Exposes Inequity Between Capital Punishment Cases with DNA Evidence and Those Without
Since 1989, 273 people have been exonerated post-conviction in the United States through DNA evidence; including seventeen people who were executed before DNA was able to prove their innocence. While DNA testing has undeniably been a silver bullet…
UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic Files Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court
September 22, 2011, Washington, D.C.—Today, the UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic at American University Washington College of Law filed a petition for Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging, on Equal Protection grounds,
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Interview with Annette Martínez
HRB talks with Center for Justice and International Law attorney Annette Martínez about The Case of Wayne Smith, Hugo Armendariz et al., v. United States, which was recently heard by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Family Faces Criminal Charges for Human Trafficking in Canada
In what has been called Canada’s largest human trafficking case to date, Ferenc Domotor Sr. is accused of being the ringleader in a human trafficking and fraud operation in the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Domotor Sr. is…
Human Rights and Deportation and Detention Policies of Migrants in the United States
Commissioners: President José de Jesús Orozco Henriquez, Felipe González, María Silvia Gullén, Luz Patricia Mejia, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro.
Petitioners: Transnational Legal Clinic of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Women’s Refugee Commission, Immigration…
U.S. Death Row Inmate Executed in Defiance of Commission’s Recommendations
On October 26, 2010, the United States executed Jeffery Timothy Landrigan in violation of the 2004 precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for his benefit. The precautionary measures requested the stay of Landrigan’s execution…
For the Poor, Bail Often Means Jail
A Human Rights Watch study found that of those arrested in New York City in 2008 on non-felony charges where bail was set for $1,000 or less, 87 percent were unable to post bail. Nearly three-quarters of…
