[JURIST] US Secretary of State Colin Powell highlighted human rights abuses in Iraq during his Monday presentation [briefing transcript] of the State Department's 2002 Human Rights Reports: "Saddam Hussein's regime is a classic illustration of the fact that such regimes which ruthlessly violate the rights of their citizens tend to pose the greatest threats to international peace and stability." According to the 2002 report on Iraq:

The [Iraqi] regime's human rights record remained extremely poor [in 2002], and it continued to commit numerous, serious human rights abuses. Citizens did not have the right to change the regime. The regime continued summarily to execute alleged political opponents and leaders of the Shi'a religious community. Reports suggested that persons were executed merely because of their association with an opposition group. The regime continued to be responsible for disappearances and to kill and torture persons suspected of or related to persons suspected of oppositionist politics, economic crimes, military desertion, and a variety of other activities.

Security forces routinely tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise abused detainees. Prison conditions were extremely poor and frequently life threatening. The regime reportedly conducted "prison cleansing" campaigns to kill inmates in order to relieve overcrowding in the prisons. The authorities routinely used arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged detention, and incommunicado detention, and continued to deny citizens the basic right to due process. The regime granted a much-publicized amnesty in October to all prisoners except those accused of spying for the United States or Israel, but by all accounts prisoner release was not as universal as claimed. This public relations event served mainly to corroborate previous reporting of summary executions, disappearances, torture, and inhuman living conditions within the regime's prison system. Many prisoners remained unaccounted for after the amnesty.

Saddam Hussein and his inner circle of supporters continued to impose arbitrary rule. The regime continued to infringe on citizens' privacy rights. The regime severely restricted freedoms of speech, the press, assembly, association, religion, and movement. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country issued a report in March detailing ongoing, grievous violations of human rights by the regime. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution in November criticizing the regime's suppression of these freedoms. In April the European Parliament published a report condemning the regime's human rights abuses. Nevertheless, human rights abuses remained difficult to document because of the regime's concealment of facts, including its prohibition on the establishment of independent human rights organizations, its persistent refusal to allow visits of human rights monitors, and its continued restrictions designed to prevent dissent. Although in February, the Special Rapporteur was allowed a single, 4-day visit to research abuses in the country for the first time since 1992, time and access were severely limited and strongly controlled by the regime. It has refused to allow a followup visit. Past U.N. reporting on the regime's human rights abuses was based almost entirely on interviews with recent emigrants, opposition groups and others that had contacts inside the country, and on published reports from outside the country. Violence and discrimination against women occurred.

The regime has enacted laws affording a variety of protections to women; however, it has been difficult to determine the practical effects of such protections. The regime neglected the health and nutritional needs of children and discriminated against religious minorities and ethnic groups. The regime restricted severely trade union rights, and there were instances of forced labor.

[JURIST] The US State Department [official website] Monday released its 2002 Human Rights Reports on the human rights records and practices of countries around the world. Secretary of State Colin Powell formally presented the reports at a special briefing in Washington. Read a transcript of his remarks, get a summary of this year's findings from the Introduction to the series, and review the full set of 2002 Human Rights Reports.

[JURIST] A transcript of remarks by US Attorney General John Ashcroft at Monday's signing ceremony in Washington DC for a new US-UK extradition agreement and a US-UK asset-sharing agreement is now online. The Attorney General said:

Our new extradition treaty will give us more flexibility and efficiency in ensuring that fugitive criminals can be brought to justice in the country whose laws they have violated and whose people and institutions they have harmed. The treaty covers criminal conduct from white collar crime and fraud, to organized crime, money laundering, and terrorism. The new treaty we are signing today should serve as a model to the world for successful and efficient cooperation in bringing international fugitives to justice.

We are also signing an asset sharing agreement this morning. It is an agreement designed to expand and enhance our joint efforts to trace and confiscate the illegal profits of criminal activity. Transnational criminal organizations threaten the safety and security of both of our nations. Whether they engage in drug trafficking or racketeering or acts of terrorism, seizing their funds and assets serves to cripple and dismantle their operations.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia [official website] Monday found two former commanders of Bosnian Croat military units guilty of crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions in connection with their persecution of Muslims during the 1993-94 conflict between the Croat and Muslim communities in southern Bosnia. Read the complete ICTY ruling. The sentencing statement read in court is also available.

[JURIST] The United States Supreme Court [official website] handed down two decisions Monday. In Branch v. Smith [decision syllabus], the Court ruled in a complicated split decision that a federal court can redraw electoral boundaries when state redistricting procedures fail, and that federal judges correctly blocked a Mississippi state court redistricting plan that had favored Democrats. Justice Scalia wrote the Opinion [text], with a Concurrence by Justice Kennedy [concurrence text], a Concurrence by Justice Stevens [concurrence text], and Justice O'Connor and Justice Thomas [concurrence text] concurring in part and dissenting in part.

In Archer v. Warner [decision syllabus], the Court held that a debt for money promised in a settlement agreement accompanied by the release of underlying tort claims can amount to a debt for money obtained by fraud, not dischargeable in bankruptcy under 11 U.S.C. s. 523(a)(2)(A). Justice Breyer wrote the Opinion [text], with a Dissent [text] by Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Stevens.

[JURIST] Monday's updates on the humanitarian situation in Iraq are now available from the Red Cross [ICRC bulletin] (covering March 30) and the field office of the United Nations in Amman, Jordan.

[JURIST] The International Committee of the Red Cross [official website] announced Monday that Red Cross delegates have begun visiting Iraqi prisoners of war captured by Coalition forces:

During this first day, they visited all parts of the camp, located in southern Iraq, and registered an initial group of prisoners. The visit is due to continue tomorrow and for a number of days thereafter.... In line with its standard practice, the ICRC will not comment publicly on treatment or conditions of detention, but will submit its findings to the detaining authorities with a view to achieving improvement if and when required.

The ICRC is actively pursuing its dialogue with the Iraqi authorities, with a view to gaining access to coalition soldiers captured by Iraq.

[JURIST] Amnesty International [advocacy website] has released a statement describing what it calls a worldwide backlash against certain human rights since the start of the war in Iraq. This backlash includes:

• attacks on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly;
• excessive use of force by police against anti-war demonstrators;
• restriction of asylum rights.

[JURIST] Monday's Harvard Crimson says that Harvard Law School [official website] is considering building additional Law School facilities on four sites north of Harvard Yard.... AP reports that two colleges in Charlotte, North Carolina are exploring the possibility of opening law schools.... Looking ahead to Tuesday's US Supreme Court arguments in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases, AP also says that the University of Memphis School of Law [official website] is a diversity success story.