PhD studies in human rights

Tuesday, 10 February 2009

Violence Against Worker Advocates in Colombia

The United States House Labour Committee is holding a hearing on violence against worker advocates in Colombia. It will be live streamed, with videoclips on You Tube within twenty-four hours: http://edlabor.house.gov/hearings/2009/02/examing-workers-rights-and-vio.shtml. Some 2,700 labour union leaders have been killed over the past decade. The killings are not adequately investigated and prosecuted by the Colombian authoritites.
Thanks to Mike Kruger.

Sunday, 8 February 2009

Enough Prosecution of War Crimes in Germany?

The New York Times has an interesting article discussing the prosecution of a 90-year-old for war crimes committed during the Second World War, entitled: 'In Germany, Whispers of "Enough" at a War-Crimes Trial': http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/weekinreview/08kulish.html

Saturday, 7 February 2009

Prosecutor at Geneva Film Festival

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was spotted some months ago at the Geneva Film Festival, in the company of the actress Hillary Swank. A photograph of the two of them appeared in a Finnish magazine.

Reports, Transcripts of the Lubanga Trial

For daily reports on the Lubanga trial - the first to get underway at the International Criminal Court - see: www.lubangatrial.org <http://www.lubangatrial.org/
The link to the transcripts doesn't seem to work. But I have found them here:
http://www2.icc-cpi.int/NetApp/App/MCMSTemplates/Index.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID={BD726BC7-C400-4400-A627-E3D67F6C442E}&NRORIGINALURL=%2fMenus%2fICC%2fSituations%2band%2bCases%2fSituations%2fSituation%2bICC%2b0104%2fRelated%2bCases%2fICC%2b0104%2b0106%2fTranscripts%2fTrial%2bChamber%2bI%2f&NRCACHEHINT=Guest

Special Rapporteur on Torture

Here is the new report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture to the Human Rights Council. Rick Lines reports that it has a major section (the first ever) on human rights and drug policy, including statements on the death penalty for drugs: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/10session/A.HRC.10.44AEV.pdf
See also: http://www.ihrablog.net/2009/02/un-special-rapportuer-on-torture-calls.html
Thanks to Rick Lines.

Friday, 6 February 2009

Genocide Convention at 60

This is an article I have written recently on the Genocide Convention and the meaning of the word 'genocide', published on the 'Crimes of War' website: www.crimesofwar.org/onnews/news-schabas.html

Thursday, 5 February 2009

More on Gaza and the ICC

It seems that Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo's first mention of initiating prosecutions in Gaza was in a BBC interview with Jeremy Paxman:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7853594.stm
Someone should have warned the PR people at the Court about how effect Paxman can be!
See also a recent story on this in the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-court-palestinians5-2009feb05,0,6059347.story.
Also, the International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2009/02/03/europe/OUKWD-UK-ISRAEL-GAZA.php
I have also been infomred about an interview with the daughter of Karadzic which is of interest:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/7856169.stm
Thanks to Fidelma Donlon

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Genocide Conviction by Sarajevo Court

The judgment of the special chambers of the Court of Bosnia and Hercegovina in the Kravice case, which concerned charges of genocide in Srebrenica, was issued a few weeks ago, although it was delivered last July:
http://www.sudbih.gov.ba/files/docs/presude/2008/Milos_Stupar_i_dr_-_1st_instance_verdict.pdf
Thanks to Karolina Wierczynska.

Monday, 2 February 2009

Gaza Prosecutions before the ICC?

The front page headline in today's Times declares: Prosecutor looks at ways to put Israeli officers on trial for Gaza 'war crimes' (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5636069.ece). It seems based on an interview by the Times reporter with Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in Davos, where he is attending the World Economic Summit. When I was in The Hague a week ago, I picked up rumours along the same lines, namely, that the Office of the Prosecutor was examining the situation in Gaza to see if prosecutions might be possible.
The International Criminal Court already has jurisdiction over crimes committed in Gaza by nationals of States parties to the Rome Statute. But who knows whether any possible suspects might qualify? 'Citizens' of Gaza and of Israel are certainly not covered in this way. But some might be dual nationals.
The Court can get jurisdiction over the territory of Gaza in three ways: 1. Security Council referral (art. 13(b)); accession to the Rome Statute by the State to which Gaza belongs (art. 126); a declaration accepting jurisdiction over Gaza by the State to which Gaza belongs (art. 12(3)). You can see the problem. To which State does Gaza belong? Security Council referral would seem improbable.
Palestine could make a declaration of accession. It would have to submit this to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who is the depositary of the treaty. That would give the Court jurisdiction prospectively, assuming the Secretary-General accepted the accession. The Secretary-General would have to decide if Palestine was a State. But first, of course, Palestine would have to decide if it is a State.
Palestine could also make a declaration under article 12(3). It is in a way the more interesting solution, because the determination as to whether Palestine is a State would be made not by the Secretary-General but, initially, by the Prosecutor and then by the Pre-Trial Chamber. Perhaps they would adopt an expansive approach to statehood so as to facilitate jurisdiction rather than stymie it.
Finally, of course, Israel could ratify the Statute. That would give the Court jurisdiction over Israeli nationals. It wouldn't give the Court jurisdiction over Gaza. But it would probably give the Court jurisdiction over acts committed in Gaza that produced effects in Israel.
The Prosecutor has been rather reticent about proceeding in situations that are not of 'sufficient gravity'. He has generally based his assessment on the number of victims. That is an additional issue to be addressed if this idea is to advance.
Thanks to John Reynolds.

Sunday, 1 February 2009

News on Lubanga Trial

The IWPR news service has some reports on the Lubanga trial, which opened at the International Criminal Court this week.
Prosecution Stumbles as Historic Trial Opens: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=349645&apc_state=henpacr
Ocampo Underwhelms in Landmark Trial: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=349621&apc_state=henpacr <http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=349621&apc_state=henpacr>
Lubanga Trial a Landmark Case: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=349431&apc_state=henpacr <http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=349431&apc_state=henpacr>

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.