The House of Lords has began to debate the second reading of the controversial Justice and Security Bill, which introduces limited disclosure of sensitive intelligence materials in civil court cases. Under the procedures a defendant or claimant will not be permitted to see all the relevant evidence. As the House of Lords Constitution Committee has… More Concerns over extending ‘Closed Material Procedures’ to civil cases

Aaron Sonson, Satwant Singh Kenth and Gregory Paczkowski have recently released the Stop and Search app that informs users of their rights once they are stopped and searched by the police. This free app has been available for Blackberry phones since April and the iPhone and Android versions are currently under way. The developers claim… More New ‘Stop and Search’ app: will it increase fairness in the procedure?

The UN Human Rights Commissioner has published the draft report of the second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the UK’s human rights record, which assesses the human rights in this country.  The report touches on issues such as the UK’s anti-terrorism measures, the use of stop-and-search measures and the duration of pre-charge detention for suspected… More UK's Human Rights Record

The Church of England has delivered an uncompromising warning to the government against pressing ahead with a proposal to legalise gay marriage. Despite ministerial assurances that churches would not have to conduct gay marriages, the Church warns that it would be doubtful whether limiting same-sex couples to civil ceremonies would withstand a challenge at the… More Will Strasbourg force churches to perform gay marriages?

Names noted in literature are presented as written, but efforts have been made elsewhere to indicate the correct Belarusian spelling or transliteration, as Russian versions are often used. Introduction Internationally-recognised indices of democracy and freedom give a pessimistic picture of the freedom of the Eastern European state of Belarus. Freedom House rates Belarus as convincingly… More Belarus and the Bialiatski trial: How a dictatorship manipulates the legal system against dissent