On February 20, 2014, a historic Haitian appellate court ruling opened the door to the possible prosecution of former Haitian President Jean-Claude Duvalier (“Baby Doc”) for crimes against humanity. Survivors of the Duvalier regime’s abuses and human rights activists see the decision as an important victory in their quest for justice and accountability. [UN Radio; Reuters]
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The parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has approved legislation granting amnesty for acts of insurgency, acts of war, and political offenses, while excluding amnesty for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. [UN News Centre] This amnesty proposal originated as part of the December 2013 agreement to end fighting between the DRC army and the M23
Read moreThe Inter-American Court of Human Rights will hear expert and witness testimony in three pending cases concerning extrajudicial executions, convene two private hearings on States’ compliance with prior decisions, and deliberate on the merits of two cases concerning alleged criminal due process violations during its ongoing 102nd Regular Session, being held from January 27 through February 7 at its headquarters
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Amid ongoing sectarian violence in the Central African Republic, including reported war crimes and crimes against humanity, the United Nations has established two expert mechanisms to monitor the human rights situation, but has so far stopped short of authorizing a UN peacekeeping mission to support the French and African Union troops already in the country. Hundreds have been killed and
Read moreLast week, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) opened the trial proceedings against Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, and Assad Hassan Sabra for the Beirut bombing that killed 22 individuals, including the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, on February 14, 2005. See STL, Prosecutor v. Ayyash et al. (Case STL-11-01), Indictment (Public Redacted Version), 10
Read moreThe European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued a judgment last week upholding a British court’s grant of immunity to Saudi Arabia and Saudi officials who allegedly tortured British citizens. See ECtHR, Jones and Others v. United Kingdom, nos. 34356/06 and 40528/06, ECHR 2014, Judgment of 14 January 2014. The UK House of Lords had blocked the plaintiffs’ civil suits
Read moreLast week, Nepal’s highest court released a decision prohibiting grants of amnesty for serious human rights violations committed during the nation’s 10-year internal conflict. The Supreme Court found that grants of amnesties, limitations on criminal prosecutions, and the 35-day time limit on filing cases do not conform to the standards established by the Nepalese Constitution and international law. [OHCHR] If
Read moreFrom January 28 to 31, 2014, the United Nations’ open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Group on the revision of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (SMRs) will hold its Third Meeting in Brasilia, Brazil in order to continue the process of revising the SMRs. [UNODC: SMRs] The review process is intended to modernize the SMRs to reflect developments in
Read moreDuring its 31st Ordinary Session, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) held public hearings in two pending cases, one involving the unsolved assassination of a prominent journalist in Burkina Faso and the other concerning alleged criminal due process violations and arbitrary detention in Tanzania. On November 28-29, the AfCHPR heard arguments on the merits in Beneficiaries of the Late
Read moreIn a highly anticipated judgment, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ruled, in Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], nos. 66069/09, 130/10 and 3896/10, Judgment of 9 July 2013, that the “whole life orders” imposed on the applicants violated Article 3 (torture or inhuman treatment) of the European Convention on Human Rights because UK law
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