The following post is a joint effort by Jennifer Davis and Betty Lupinacci. This week memorializes National Police Week, when law enforcement officers honor their colleagues who have died in service. May 15 was first proclaimed Peace Officers Memorial Day by President Kennedy in 1962. There is a series of events surrounding the day—a memorial …
Fifty years ago, on January 31, 1968, Nauru became an independent nation. It is the smallest island republic in the world with a land area of just 8.1 square miles (“about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC“) and a population of around 10,000 people. Prior to independence, from 1947 onward, the island was subject to a …
On this day fifty years ago, December 19, 1967, it was announced that the then-Prime Minister of Australia, Harold Holt, was officially presumed dead. Mr. Holt, who had been Prime Minister for 22 months, from January 1966, had disappeared two days earlier while swimming in the ocean at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, in the state of …
Fuchsia is a summer intern working on a project with the Global Legal Research Directorate and the Digital Resources Division. Describe your background. I was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. My dad worked overseas for most of my life and a lot of my family is overseas. As a child I also …
To secure the basic needs of children, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on November 20, 1989, the 30th anniversary of its Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The Convention went into force on September 2, 1990 when enough nations ratified it. Currently, 196 nations have ratified the …
Last week I blogged about Israeli legislative and judicial efforts to assist Jewish women who cannot divorce their husbands (עגונות, agunot, literally “chained”; עגונה, agunah in singular). In accordance with Jewish law, which applies to matters of marriage and divorce of Jewish residents and citizens of Israel, a valid divorce requires the consensual delivery by the husband and receipt …
What impact do prolonged periods of stress and fear have on a soldier’s behavior? Do the horrors of war and terrorist acts justify conduct that would otherwise be unlawful? While such circumstances do not seem to amount to justification for violating the law, it is notable that “exceptional stressors” and constant threats faced by soldiers were recently considered …
On December 18, 2016 the Tel- Aviv Military Court convicted a brigadier general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of sexual offenses against female soldiers serving under his command. The conviction is believed to be of the highest ranking IDF soldier of such crimes, based on the officer’s admission as a result of a plea bargain. The officer had initially been …