crime & impunity – Page 13 – International Justice Resource Center

News Clips – October 3, 2010

October 3, 2010 IJRC children, civil litigation, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, discrimination, domestic courts, immigration & asylum, indigenous communities, Inter-American System, International Criminal Court, international criminal law, internationalized criminal tribunals, massacres, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, U.S. courts, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Procedures

In Ecuador, a state of emergency remains in place following last week’s uprising of members of the military against President Correa’s government, prompting human rights defenders to call for a quick restoration of full civil liberties. [CEJIL] The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the attack against Correa. [IACHR] Germany today commemorates 20 years of reunification and will use its

News Clips – September 20, 2010

September 20, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, crime & impunity, discrimination, due process & judicial protection, environmental rights, immigration & asylum, Inter-American System, massacres, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, U.S. courts, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Procedures

In a heartbreaking blow to Afghan hopes for peace, several U.S. soldiers are under investigation for murdering at least three Afghan civilians last year as part of a rogue “kill team” that was allegedly formed when a staff sergeant who had served in Iraq in 2004 joined the platoon stationed in Kandahar province. [Washington Post] The French Senate has approved

News Clips – through Sept. 14, 2010

September 14, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, discrimination, domestic courts, due process & judicial protection, economic, social & cultural rights, ICJ, ICTR, immigration & asylum, Inter-American System, interim measures, International Criminal Court, internationalized criminal tribunals, liberty & security of person, massacres, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, torture, UN Special Procedures, Universal system

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Syria welcomes its first visit from a UN special rapporteur, the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, in a showing of increased participation with the UN Human Rights Council’s monitoring mechanisms, including its upcoming Universal Periodic Review. [The National; OHCHR] The Special Rapporteur estimates that 2 to 3 million people face food insecurity in

U.S. Publishes Annual Trafficking in Persons Report

June 15, 2010 IJRC crime & impunity, European System, immigration & asylum, labor rights, liberty & security of person

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of State put out its annual Trafficking in Persons Report. This year, for the first time, the report includes a section on the United States; however, it was given the highest rating (complete compliance with the standards set in the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA)). In the words of Secretary Clinton, “This human rights abuse

News Clips – June 1, 2010

June 1, 2010 IJRC ATCA litigation, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, enforced disappearance, environmental rights, European System, indigenous communities, Inter-American System, interim measures, thought, expression & association, transitional justice, U.S. courts, Universal system

Protocol 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights enters into force today, introducing a number of changes to decrease the Court’s backlog, strengthen enforcement in order to reduce repetitive applications, concentrate its efforts on cases where applicants have suffered a “significant disadvantage”, and allow the European Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene as a third party [ECHR] Amnesty International

New IACHR Report on Crime and Human Rights

May 11, 2010 IJRC crime & impunity, Inter-American System

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights today made available online its Report on Citizen Security and Human Rights, which addresses the problem of common crime, State tactics for the prevention and punishment of crime, and the effect these have on the human rights of individuals. As reviewed in Chapter III of the report, the relatively high level of violent crime in

OHCHR Establishes Guinea Office

May 5, 2010 IJRC crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, International Criminal Court, transitional justice, Universal system

The United Nations announced today that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights will open an office in the Guinean capital of Conakry in order to “assist the Government in reporting on compliance with international human rights treaties. It will also advise on establishing a National Human Rights Institution and on judicial reforms, help combat impunity for human rights

Honduras Inaugurates Truth Commission to Investigate Coup

May 5, 2010 IJRC crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, Inter-American System, transitional justice

Yesterday, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo inaugurated the previously-announced Truth Commission to investigate the events surrounding last June’s military coup which removed from power President Manuel Zelaya, who is currently exiled in the Dominican Republic. (Read Honduran government press releases here and here.) The establishment of such a commission was a condition of Zelaya’s exit from the national stage and a

CICIG Head Seeks Broader, Extended Mandate before UN

April 21, 2010 IJRC crime & impunity, Inter-American System, Universal system

Carlos Castresana, head of the United Nations-backed commission created to help strengthen law enforcement and judicial efforts to investigate and prosecute clandestine security groups in Guatemala, was in New York today for a discussion with UN and Guatemalan representatives on the problem of impunity in Guatemala and the future of the Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala (CICIG). CICIG’s mandate

New Human Rights Watch Publications on DRC Massacre and Vigilante Justice in Burundi

April 2, 2010 IJRC crime & impunity, massacres

This week, Human Rights Watch published two new reports documenting abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Burundi. The first, Trail of Death, reports the findings of HRW’s fact-finding mission to the Makombo area, in the aftermath of a December 2009 massacre committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army. The second, Mob Justice in Burundi, documents official complicity