crime & impunity – Page 8 – International Justice Resource Center

Inter-American Commission to Hold 55 Human Rights Hearings in March

March 11, 2015 IJRC armed conflict, children, civil society, conditions of detention, crime & impunity, death penalty, democracy & political rights, discrimination, due process & judicial protection, economic, social & cultural rights, human rights defenders, immigration & asylum, indigenous communities, Inter-American System, international human rights, international humanitarian law, judicial independence, labor rights, LGBTI rights, liberty & security of person, persons with disabilities, property, reparations, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, transitional justice, women's rights

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is holding its 154th regular session from March 13 to 27, 2015 at IACHR headquarters in Washington, D.C. The agenda includes public hearings on March 16, 17, 19 and 20. [IACHR Press Release] The hearings allow both States and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide the IACHR with information and context on 55 human

Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s Mandate Extended by Three Years

January 13, 2015 IJRC armed conflict, crime & impunity, due process & judicial protection, international criminal law, internationalized criminal tribunals, security & rule of law, transitional justice

This month, United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon extended the mandate of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) for an additional three years beginning on March 1, 2015. The STL was established in the aftermath of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri’s assassination and the deaths of 22 others in 2005. [UN News Centre] The extension of the STL’s mandate

The U.S. appears before the Committee Against Torture

Human Rights Experts Call for Prosecution, Reparations in Wake of U.S. Torture Report

December 16, 2014 IJRC crime & impunity, Inter-American System, liberty & security of person, reparations, security & rule of law, torture, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies, universal jurisdiction

On Tuesday, December 9, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Intelligence Committee) published a report detailing the “abuses and countless mistakes” of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) detention and interrogation program in the years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. See Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention and Interrogation Program:

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination reviews the United States

Human Rights Bodies Respond to Killings by Police in U.S.

December 12, 2014 IJRC crime & impunity, discrimination, due process & judicial protection, extrajudicial executions, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies

Recent decisions by two grand juries in the United States not to indict white police officers for the shooting deaths of two black men, Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Missouri, have sparked “legitimate concerns” about American police practices among United Nations human rights experts. [UN News Centre] The deaths of Garner and Brown in separate incidents

ICC Prosecutor Withdraws Charges against Kenyan President

December 9, 2014 IJRC crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, extrajudicial executions, International Criminal Court, international humanitarian law

On December 5, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, withdrew the charges against Uhuru Kenyatta, the current President of Kenya, who is accused of having committed crimes against humanity committed during Kenya’s 2007-2008 election violence. The newly-withdrawn charges alleged that Kenyatta was criminally responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator of crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation or

New IACtHR Judgments Address Length of Criminal Proceedings and Forced Disappearances

December 3, 2014 IJRC armed conflict, children, crime & impunity, due process & judicial protection, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executions, Inter-American System, reparations

Last week, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued judgments in two cases, one of which concerned the duration of criminal proceedings against a Peruvian soldier responsible for two civilians’ deaths, and the other the forced disappearance of children during El Salvador’s internal armed conflict. [IACtHR Press Release: Tarazona Arrieta; IACtHR Press Release: Rochac Hernández] The judgments came as the

Chadian Court Initiates First Trial against Habré-Era Security Agents

November 25, 2014 IJRC crime & impunity, domestic courts, due process & judicial protection, extrajudicial executions, International Court of Justice, internationalized criminal tribunals, liberty & security of person, torture

November 14 marked the start of the trial against 26 former security agents accused of committing murder, torture, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, assault, and battery during former dictator Hissène Habré’s rule in Chad from 1982 to 1990. [Reuters; HRW: Alleged Habré Accomplices] Advocates hope that the trial, set to take place before national courts in N’Djaména, Chad, will deliver a measure

IACHR to Assist Mexico in Investigating 43 Students’ Disappearance

November 19, 2014 IJRC civil society, crime & impunity, enforced disappearance, Inter-American System, interim measures, torture, UN Special Procedures

In response to the disappearance of 43 student protesters in the Mexican state of Guerrero, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has signed a tripartite agreement with the government of Mexico and a group of nongovernmental organizations representing the student victims and their families to provide technical assistance with the search for the students, the investigation and subsequent actions

International Day Recognizes Rising Violence against Journalists

November 6, 2014 IJRC crime & impunity, regional human rights protection, thought, expression & association, UN Human Rights Council, UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies

November 2, 2014 marked the first International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, established by the United Nations General Assembly to draw attention to “attacks and violence against journalists,” which it unequivocally condemned. See UN General Assembly, Resolution 68/163, The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity, UN Doc. A/RES/68/163, 18 December 2013, para. 2. The General

Argentina and South Africa Pursue Human Rights Abusers in Spain and Zimbabwe

November 5, 2014 IJRC crime & impunity, enforced disappearance, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, universal jurisdiction

Last week, South Africa and Argentina took major steps forward in the investigation and prosecution of alleged perpetrators of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and Spain, respectively. On October 30, the South African Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that the South African Police Service is obligated to investigate crimes against humanity, including torture, committed by Zimbabwean police in March 2007. [SALC