Topic 1

In July 2003, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom invited proposals for a "Study into the Legal and Moral Framework for Marine Biotechnology Development in the UK." The study, when complete, should constitute a pioneering effort to deal with a growing and important field of international law that is poorly understood and researched but that is gaining considerable significance in practice, and poses complex legal, moral and environmental issues. [1]

In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada held that same-sex couples must be granted essentially the same rights as married couples.  On June 10 of this year the Court of Appeal of Ontario held that gays have a right to get married. The constitutional basis for the decision lay in the principles of human dignity and anti-discrimination. The federal government decided not to appeal this and similar cases, but instead to institute legislation toward the same effect.  Questions arise about the impact these developments might have on the gay community in the United States. 

 

On June 4, 2003, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) issued an arrest warrant against Charles Taylor, the incumbent President of Liberia. When the warrant was issued, Mr. Taylor was traveling to Ghana for talks with Liberian rebel groups to end a four-year civil war that has destabilized West Africa.

 

Introduction