Declining Influence of US Supreme Court

An interesting recent article in the New York Times discusses the declining international influence of the United States Supreme Court, especially in the area of human rights:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/18legal.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1221735851-WXzjuoA3piheFTKHDEbZnA&oref=slogin
Thanks to Rick Lines.

Europe Less Successful in United Nations Human Rights Forums

A report by the European Council of Foreign Relations review the waning influence of Europe on human rights issues within the United Nations: http://ecfr.3cdn.net/3a4f39da1b34463d16_tom6b928f.pdf.
There are lots of graphs and charts. Personally, I am not so convinced. Last December, Europe succeeded with its death penalty resolution, and built a broad coalition. There are many other successful initiatives, like new treaties and declarations. Of course, all of these involve broad consensus with the rest of the world. But what else should we expect? For European initiatives to succeed in the United Nations, they have to resonate elsewhere.
Thanks to Niamh Hayes.

Women in Majority in New Rwandan Parliament

With electoral results now available from Rwandan parliamentary elections held earlier this week, it seems clear that there will be a female majorityin the country's next legislature. Rwanda is the first country in the world to accomplish this. Some 55% of the seats in the new parliament will be held for women, well ahead of Sweden and Cuba where women have more than 40% of the legislative seats. This is another encouraging example of progress in human rights in Rwanda. Last year, Rwanda abolished capital punishment. Rwanda may lag behind in other areas, some of this accountable to the legacy of genocide and the extreme underdevelopment of its economy. But here are two areas, at least, where Rwanda scores well ahead of some modern democracies with developed economies.

Candidate Judges for the International Criminal Court

Nominations are open to fill six judicial positions at the International Criminal Court. Ten candidates have been nominated so far. The process concludes on 13 October and will be followed by an election early next year. Full details on the candidates are available at: http://www.icc-cpi.int/asp/election_2008/alpha_elections08.html.
Some of the names are well-known international judges and will surely be great additions to the Court: Christine Van den Wyngaert (Belgium) is currently at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and as an academic she has been one of the bright stars in international criminal law for many years. Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana) is one of the great judges of the Appeals Chamber of the ad hoc tribunals; previously, he served on the International Court of Justice.
The third familiar name - currently a judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone - is Rosolu John Bankole Thompson. He would be a less desirable choice. Thompson distinguished himself a year ago as the dissenting judge on the Trial Chamber in the 'CDF case'. He voted to acquit pro-government militias of atrocities because they were defending a democratically elected government. It was an absurd and outrageous suggestion, and of course it finds no echo in international criminal law. But Thompson was appointed to the Special Court for Sierra Leone by the Government of Sierra Leone and - surprise, surprise! - he voted to acquit murderers and rapists because they were defending the Government of Sierra Leone. Now he is being rewarded by being nominated for the International Criminal Court by that same Government of Sierra Leone.

Raphael Lemkin's House in Warsaw

Raphael Lemkin was the Polish Jewish international lawyer who invented the word 'genocide'. Born in 1900 in what was then called Eastern Galicia (and which is now Ukraine), not far from where my paternal grandparents came from, Lemkin studied law with some of the great Polish legal academics of the time. He first worked as a prosecutor and then practised law in Warsaw during the 1930s, while developing a profile in international criminal law circles. In 1939 he managed to escape Poland and made his way to the United States, where he wrote his seminal work Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, one of whose chapters is entitled 'genocide'. Lemkin became a tireless activist, lobbying at the United Nations for the Genocide Convention. Following its adoption, on 9 December 1948, he continued to campaign for ratification and domestic implementation until his death in 1959.
He is virtually unknown in his native Poland. The Polish Institute of International Affairs is hosting a conference right now, one of several such gatherings being held in the coming months to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Genocide Convention. Yesterday, they unveiled a plaque at Lemkin's home in central Warsaw, and I had the privilege of being present at this important event. The apartment is at 6 Kredytowa Street, about two blocks from the perimeter of the Warsaw ghetto where half a million Jews perished. Had Lemkin lingered a few more weeks in Warsaw, he would surely have suffered the same fate.
The map of Warsaw I was given at my hotel has a whole section on it devoted to sites of 'Jewish Heritage'. This is quite a change from the first time I came here some fifteen years ago, when Warsaw's Jewish past seemed largely ignored. Then I remember asking the hotel concierge how to get to the Warsaw ghetto monument, and he just shrugged his shoulders, saying he had never heard of it. I got similar responses from taxi drivers, and could find nothing in local guide books or tourist maps. I eventually found the monument on my 1993 visit, and went back there again yesterday to pay my respects. Now there is a large sign indicating plans to build a museum of Jewish life in Warsaw.
Yesterday I also visited the famous Pawniac prison in Warsaw, where the Nazis held and murdered tens of thousands of political opponents. One of the exhibits shows the cover of a book issued by the Polish government in exile in December 1942, and published by the London publishing house Hutchison, entitled The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland. So much for the argument that the great powers only learned of the genocide in late 1944 and early 1945.

Another Chapter in the Kindler Saga

Those who follow issues of human rights and the death penalty will know the name Joseph Kindler. He was convicted of murder in the United States and sentenced to death but managed to escape and flee to Canada. He unsuccessfully challenged his extradition before the Supreme Court of Canada, on the grounds that Canada could not extradite someone to a country where they would be subject to the death penalty. Then, he subsequently fought his case before the Human Rights Committee, but failed to convince its members that Canada would be breaching international law by extraditing him to the United States where he would face the death penalty.
Kindler has been back in the United States since 1991, but he is still fighting. He just won a ruling reversing his death sentence and calling for either a new sentencing hearing or commutation of his sentence to life imprisonment: http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/039010p.pdf
And in the meantime, both the Supreme Court of Canada (Burns and Rafay, 2001) and the Human Rights Committee (Judge, 2003) have reversed their case law. I hope that Kindler's decision is upheld, and that he lives to see the abolition of the death penalty in the United States, something that will happen sooner, rather than later, and probably faster than it took the Supreme Court of Canada and the Human Rights Committee to change their minds.
Thanks to Mark Warren.

Michael O'Flaherty Gets Most Votes in Election for Human Rights Committee

Nine members of the United Nations Human Rights Committee have been elected to four-year terms. Michael O’Flaherty, of Ireland, was re-elected to the Committee, with 136 votes, the highest number of any candidate. Michael actually hails from Galway, and has been a great supporter of the Irish Centre for Human Rights since it was established eight years ago. Among the others who were elected are two good friends of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Nigel Rodley of the United Kingdom (re-elected to a third term) and Mohammed Ayat of Morocco, both of whom have particpated in our activities over the years. Mohammed Ayat has represented the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Kigali. The other six members elected are Rajsoomer Lallah ( Mauritius); Krister Thelin ( Sweden); Fabian Omar Salvioli ( Argentina); Ahmad Amin Fathalla ( Egypt); Rafael Rivas Posada ( Colombia); and Lazhari Bouzid ( Algeria).
The Human Rights Committee is established by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and has responsibility for the study of State reports on their compliance with the Covenant, for individual and inter-state petitions, and for the preparation of General Comments which constitute the authoritative interpretation of provisions of the Covenant.

Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law

Oxford University Press has just launched the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law, which is one component within its broader venture entitled Oxford Reports on International Law. The Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law are produced here in Galway, by a team composed of Joe Powderly, Niamh Hayes and myself. Students at the Irish Centre for Human Rights have access to the Reports through their regular university account, at http://oxfordlawreports.com.
The reports consist of case summaries and indexes of leading international criminal law cases, together with the decisions themselves. Previously, research in the case law of international criminal tribunals involved rather tedious combing through the websites of the various tribunals. Even then, as a general rule the tribunal websites do not allow for keyword searches and they are not indexed. The International Law Reports respond to the problem, but they cover only a very limited number of cases. Hundreds of cases are already on line, and we will be continuing to add more.

Sean Goggin Successful in Thesis Defence

On Friday 12 September 2008, Sean Goggin successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled ‘The Protection of Cultural Diversity in International Human Rights Law’. The external examiner was Dr. Perveez Mody of the Department of Social Anthropology of the University of Cambridge, and I was the internal examiner. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Joshua Castellino, formerly of the Irish Centre for Human Rights and now Head of the Law School of Middlesex University in London.
The thesis was a genuinely interdisplinary work, explaining and developing concepts derived from the discipline of anthropology and making them accessible and relevant to international human rights lawyers. Congratulations, Sean. We will miss you at the Irish Centre for Human Rights.
Sean is the seventeenth student to successfully complete a doctorate since the Irish Centre for Human Rights began awarding the degree, in late 2004.

Israeli Politician Accused of War Crimes

As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faces corruption charges, one of his deputies and a leading candidate as his successor has been accused of committing war crimes, reports The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/olmert-indicted-as-deputy-is-accused-of-war-crimes-922496.html. Earlier this year, The Independent reported that Shaul Mofaz , who was army chief of staff in 2001, called for 70 Palestinians a day to be killed.
Professor David Kretzmer, one of Israel’s prominent law professors and a great friend of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, has written to justice officials calling for the reports to be investigated. According to Professor Kretzmer, these accounts raise ‘a grave suspicion’ that Mofaz ‘committed serious offences, some of which at least, fall into the category of war crimes’. He is quoted in The Independent saying that an order to kill people ‘by quota’ is ‘not consistent with the norms of humanitarian law’, and that the test of proportionality is especially relevant in cases of military occupation, in which even the actions of armed groups do not ‘relieve the Army of its obligations to residents of the territory’.