PhD studies in human rights

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Arrest Warrant Unsealed at International Criminal Court

Yesterday, judges at the International Criminal Court agreed to unseal an arrest warrant that had been issued in August 2006: http://www.icc-cpi.int/cases/RDC/c0206/c0206_doc.html. Bosco Ntaganda is charged with child soldier offences, similar to those now faced by Thomas Lubanga, who is scheduled to stand trial in June of this year. Ntanganda is still at large, whereas Lubanga was in custody in the Demcoratic Republic of Congo when the arrest warrant was issued, and so it was a much simpler matter to bring him to The Hague. Yesterday's ruling considers the rationale for sealing an arrest warrant, including protection of victims and witnesses and, of course, maintaining an element of surprise. According to the Prosecutor, Ntaganda may have learned that the warrant had been issued. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had a practice of sealed warrants during the 1990s, but later came round to the view that this contributed little to law enforcement, and that is was better to publicise the warrants.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Office of the Prosecutor said: 'The Office of the Prosecutor is in the process of moving on to its third case in the DRC, with other applications for arrest warrants to follow in the coming months and years. In particular, we are collecting information about crimes committed in the North and South Kivu. We are also considering the role of those who organized and financed the militia.' (See: http://www.icc-cpi.int/press/pressreleases/363.html).
This brings to four the number of arrest warrants made public concerning the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The other three suspects are in custody in The Hague. There are two outstanding warrants known to the public for the situation in Darfur, Sudan, and five for northern Uganda. Two of the five suspects in northern Uganda are believed to be dead.

International Humanitarian Law Courses Offered by Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross' annual Summer courses on International Humanitarian Law provide a comprehensive introduction to the subject through a combination of lectures and case studies. The next Anglophone course, organized with the Polish Red Cross, will be held in Warsaw, Poland, from 30 June to 10 July 2008. The next francophone course, organized with the Belgian Red Cross - French Community, will be held in Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium, from 1 to 10 September 2008. Both the English and the French courses are open to advanced students as well as young professors and researchers from Europe and North America. The French speaking course is also open to participants from the Middle East. Participants are expected to have a degree in law or international relations and to have studied public international law. Interested persons should contact the Headquarters of the National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies of their country of residence from beginning May to mid-May for information on how to apply.

Saturday, 26 April 2008

US Positive about International Criminal Court

A few days ago I posted an item entitled : 'U.S. Accepts International Criminal Court .' It was the title of an article in last Friday's Wall Street Journal: https://staffmail.nuigalway.ie/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120917156494046579.html?mod=googlenews_wsj. It was just a matter of time. Opposition to the Court has been one of the big disasters of United States foreign policy in recent years.
I have since obtained the link to the speech referred to: http://www.cfr.org/publication/16110/. It was delivered at DePaul University, in Chicago, at a conference commemorating the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute. Host of the conference was Professor Cherif Bassiouni, who has an honorary doctorate from our university.
Thanks to Megan Fairlie for this.

Friday, 25 April 2008

Business and Human Rights

Yesterday’s Economist has an interesting article on the increasing influence of human rights on business: http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11090045

Transfer and Extradition to Stand Trial for Genocide in Rwanda

Yesterday, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda began hearing an application by the Prosecutor to transfer the case of Yussuf Munyakazi to the national courts of Rwanda. The Tribunal must determine that Munyakazi can get a fair trial if he is transferred to Rwanda. Several other applications are also pending. This is part of the completion strategy of the Tribunal.
In the meantime, somecountries are considering extraditing Rwandan genocide suspects back to Rwanda to stand trial. A case in the United Kingdom involving four Rwandans is about to conclude. Early this month, in France, the Cour d’appel de Chambery, ruled in favour of extraditing an individual to Rwanda. I have obtained a copy of the judgment: http://www.mediafire.com/?e2jw4gapjgi.
Under the Genocide Convention, States are required to cooperate in facilitating extradition so that persons accused of genocide can be tried in the State where the crime was committed. But until very recently, there has been little practice.

Fujimori Trial

The Praxis Institute for Social Justice has set up a blog on the ongoing human rights trial of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori: www.fujimoriontrial.org Fujimori served from 1990-2000, and is suspected of committing innumerable human rights violations during his decade in office. These allegations were documented by the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in its Final Report, published in 2003. The trial against the former president marks the fulfillment of one of the TRC's most important recommendations for preventing future human rights violations by the state.

Thursday, 24 April 2008

Annual Report of Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

The Annual Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is now available on the website of the Office: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/OHCHRAnnualReport2007.aspx.

Release on Bail at the Yugoslavia Tribunal

Yesterday, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia released an interesting decision on provision release of Berislav Pusic. He had been allowed by the Trial Chamber to return home to Croatia for three weeks. The Prosecutor appealed the decision, but it was dismissed. There is an interesting dissent by Judge Schomburg. The decision is not yet on the website of the Tribunal, but I have obtained a copy: http://www.mediafire.com/?nmyxnjzs4g1. Mercifully, it is a short decision that one can read and digest in a few minutes.

Sunday, 20 April 2008

Style, Submission Manual for Law Texts

Oxford University Press have published a very useful little guide, aimed at those preparing books aimed at the legal practitioner. Now, this isn't the same as PhD writing, but there is a lot that is helpful, including detailed instructions on how to footnote legal materials. It also provides some useful guidance on preparing material for submission to publishers. Add it to your electronic bookshelf of style manuals: http://www.mediafire.com/?djbv4hjyly1

Friday, 18 April 2008

Human Rights Situation in North Caucusus

Dick Marty, of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, has just issued a brief report on the situation in the North Caucusus: http://assembly.coe.int/CommitteeDocs/2008/20080411_ajdoc21_2008.pdf

William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London. He is also professor of international criminal law and human rights at Leiden University, emeritus professor human rights law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland Galway, and an honorary professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing and Wuhan University. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 journal articles, on such subjects as the abolition of capital punishment, genocide and the international criminal tribunals. Professor Schabas was a member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in Human Rights and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He serves as president of the Irish Branch of the International Law Association chair of the Institute for International Criminal Investigation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Here is the full c.v.

Dr Yvonne McDermott is Senior Lecturer in Law at Bangor University, UK, where she is also Director of Teaching and Learning and Co-Director of the Bangor Centre for International Law. Yvonne is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway (B. Corp. Law, LL.B.), Leiden University (LL.M. cum laude) and the Irish Centre for Human Rights (Ph.D.). Her research focuses on fair trial rights, international criminal procedure and international criminal law. She is the author of Fairness in International Criminal Trials (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Niamh Hayes has been the Head of Office for the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) in The Hague since September 2012. She is about to complete her Ph.D. on the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence by international criminal tribunals at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway. She previously worked for Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice as a legal consultant, and as an intern for the defence at the ICTY in the Karadzic case. She has lectured on international criminal law and international law at Trinity College Dublin and, along with Prof. William Schabas and Dr. Yvonne McDermott, is a co-editor of The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Ashgate, 2013). She is the author of over 45 case reports for the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law and has published numerous articles and book chapters on the investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence as international crimes.

Joseph Powderly is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University. Between September 2008 and January 2010, he was a Doctoral Fellow/Researcher at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, where he worked, among other projects, on a Irish Government-funded investigation and report into the possible perpetration of crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people of North Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar. He is currently in the process of completing his doctoral research which looks at the impact of theories of judicial interpretation on the development of international criminal and international humanitarian law. The central thesis aims to identify and analyze the potential emergence of a specific theory of interpretation within the sphere of judicial creativity. Along with Dr. Shane Darcy of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, he is co-editor of and contributor to the edited collection Judicial Creativity in International Criminal Tribunals which was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. He has written over 80 case-reports for the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law, as well as numerous book chapters and academic articles on topics ranging from the principle of complementarity to Irish involvement in the drafting of the Geneva Conventions. In December 2010, he was appointed Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Law Forum. His research interests while focusing on international criminal and international humanitarian law also include topics such as the history of international law and freedom of expression.