The International Tribunal on Freedom of Association, a new body investigating violations of the right to unionize, held its opening sessions on Oct. 26 and 26 in Mexico City. Created by more than 30 Mexican and foreign civil society organizations, the tribunal includes 16 authors, academics and labor and human rights activists from eight different countries. They heard testimony and received documents from 16 cases brought by trade unions alleging that the Mexican government had violated International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 87, on freedom of association and the right to organize, and Convention 98, on the right to collective bargaining.

On Oct. 13 the United Nations (UN) Security Council approved a one-year extension of the mandate for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), a 9,000-member military and police force that has occupied Haiti under Brazilian leadership since June 2004. The main change in the mandate is a slight reduction in the number of soldiers from 7,000 a 6,940, with the number of police agents increasing from 2,000 to 2,211. (Adital, Oct. 15)

The US Department of Justice announced Nov. 1 that Mexico's extradition of 11 fugitives to the United States the previous day has brought the number of extraditions this year to a record 100. The individuals face charges ranging from conspiracy to distribute and distribution of narcotics, to money laundering, molestation, and murder.

The federal government has agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle the cases of five Muslim immigrants were among hundreds detained without charge in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center for months after 9-11. The plaintiffs—whose names were cleared but were still deported—accepted the payout after seven years of court cases. A larger suit filed by other detainees, Turkmen v. Ashcroft, is ongoing. The government admits no liability or fault under the terms of the settlements.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Nov. 2 that Canadian citizen Maher Arar cannot sue the US government for damages based on his detention in the United States and subsequent detention, interrogation, and torture in Syria after he was mistakenly identified as a terrorist. Arar attempted to challenge the US government's policy of extraordinary rendition under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

The past 10 months have seen the highest number of Africans reaching Yemeni shores compared to figures for the same period in 2008 and 2007, when large numbers began travelling to Yemen by boat, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). More than 56,600 people have arrived on 1,100 boats to Yemen from Somalia and elsewhere the Horn of Africa so far this year, already exceeding the total for all 2008, when 50,091 people crossed, said UNHCR representative Rocco Nuri.

Six Chinese Uighur Guantánamo Bay detainees were transferred to the Republic of Palau Oct. 31, according to the US Department of Justice. The six men, Ahmad Tourson, Abdul Ghappar Abdul Rahman, Edham Mamet, Anwar Hassan, Dawut Abdurehim and Adel Noori, were relocated to a home in the middle of Koror, the commercial center of the island nation, where they will be among a Muslim population of about 500. The DoJ said the men had been cleared for release under the Bush administration, as they were no longer considered unlawful enemy combatants. The men had also been subject to review by the Joint Task Force for Guantánamo detainees, and were approved for release. With the transfer, seven Uighurs remain in custody at Guantánamo.

Arab and Palestinian leaders reacted angrily after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Oct. 31 departed from her administration's insistence that Israel halt settlement growth, instead applauding Tel Aviv's "restraint on the policy of settlements." Palestinians have refused to return to negotiations with Israel until it fulfills committments to halt de facto expansion of its borders into occupied territory—a stance President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated from Abu Dhabi. In Morocco, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa denied the that negotiations could resume without a freeze in settlement construction.