Amid recent developments, legal experts have both lauded and criticized the proceedings of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the tribunal established jointly by Cambodia and the United Nations to prosecute those most responsible for crimes against humanity and other atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. While welcoming progress that has included charges against
Read more
On December 15, 2015, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) overturned the Trial Chamber’s decision to acquit two high-level Serbian government officials charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the forced displacement of non-Serbs from Bosnia and Croatia, and ordered their retrial. The officials, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović,
Read more
After more than 20 years of prosecuting those most responsible for the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has issued its final judgment and closed its doors. [The Citizen] In its forty-fifth and final judgment, delivered on December 14, 2015, the Appeals Chamber decided appeals from six defendants previously convicted by the Trial Chamber. [BBC]
Read more
On December 4, 2015, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its judgment in the case of Zakharov v. Russia, concerning the compatibility of Russia’s secret surveillance of mobile phone communications with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. See ECtHR, Zakharov v. Russia [GC], no. 47143/06, Judgment of 4 December 2015. The case was
Read more
On December 1, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that Turkey violated the right to freedom of expression by blocking access to YouTube, a widely-used video platform, from May 2008 to October 2010. See ECtHR, Cengiz and Others v. Turkey, nos. 48226/10 and 14027/11, Judgment of 1 December 2015 (available only in French). The application was lodged
Read more
On November 18, 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a new report analyzing regional human rights standards on gender equality and women’s rights, as well as their implementation by domestic judiciaries. [IACHR Press Release] The publication, Legal Standards: Gender Equality and Women’s Rights, updates a 2011 publication with references to norms and interpretations developed through 2014. Its
Read more
On November 20, 2015, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) issued its judgment in the case of Alex Thomas v. Tanzania, which concerned a complaint brought by a man serving a mandatory minimum thirty-year prison sentence for armed robbery. He alleged that the Tanzanian courts had violated his due process rights by trying him in absentia and by
Read more
On November 5, 2015, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) released its judgment in Yagublu v. Azerbaijan, a case that has drawn international attention as representative of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on political dissent and freedom of expression. See ECtHR, Yagublu v. Azerbaijan, no. 31709/13, Judgment of 5 November 2015. The application concerned Tofig Yagublu, an independent Azerbaijani journalist and the deputy
Read more
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR), European Union (EU), World Bank, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) are sponsoring the 2nd Continental Judicial Dialogue, entitled “Connecting National and International Justice” from November 4 to 6, 2015 in Arusha, Tanzania. The dialogue will bring together members of national, regional, and continental courts and human rights bodies
Read more
On October 20, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E. Méndez, presented his seventeenth expert’s report to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly during its 70th Session, in New York. [Anti-Torture Initiative] The report addresses the extraterritorial obligations that arise under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman,
Read more