This year marks the tenth anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute and the creation of the International Criminal Court. An upcoming conference, ICC Turns Ten: Reviewing the Past, Assessing the Future, will gather a number of leading scholars and practitioners to examine the impact of the ICC’s first decade and discuss the challenges ahead. The conference will be
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In Guatemala, Long-Awaited Step towards Accountability as Former Dictator Faces Genocide Charges
On January 14, 2012, Efraín Ríos Montt lost the immunity against prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of the national legislature (diputado al Congreso) since 2008, and previously from 1994-95 and 1999-2004. [PrensaLibre] After taking office through a coup d’état, Rios Montt presided over what is considered the bloodiest period in Guatemala’s thirty-six year internal conflict. As the
Read moreBlackwater Successor Settles Two Wrongful Death Cases by Civilians and Contractors Killed in Iraq
Family members of Iraqi civilians killed by Blackwater security contractors in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in 2007 have agreed to a settlement offered by Academi, Blackwater’s successor (also recently known as Xe Services). [Washington Post] On September 16, 2007, Blackwater employees guarding U.S. diplomats opened fire into a crowd, killing seventeen Iraqi civilians in what was alleged by prosecutors to be
Read moreInternational Human Rights Law as a Local Advocacy Tool : Video of Panel Discussion
On December 7, IJRC hosted Boston Human Rights Night, bringing together the legal, academic and social just communities to learn about one another’s work and discuss the relevance of international law and mechanisms to their advocacy efforts. Panelists Gabor Rona (Human Rights First), Martha Davis (Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy), Christy Fujio (Physicians for Human Rights), John
Read moreThe Khmer Rouge Tribunal: Cambodia’s Pursuit of Justice Has Value and Merit, Despite Flaws
Christopher “Kip” Hale contributes this guest post, the second in a two-part look at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Mr. Hale is Senior Counsel at the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights. Previously, he was a prosecuting attorney in the Office of the Co-Prosecutors at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and has
Read moreVictims’ Justice: Promises Broken on the Road to Trying the Khmer Rouge
James Bair contributes this guest post, the first in a two-part feature sharing differing perspectives on the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. James Bair is an attorney in Washington, D.C. and a contributor to Enough: the Project to End Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. ______________________________________________ By James Bair In 2008, as part of an internship with Northeastern University
Read moreKwoyelo Amnesty Raises Questions about Ugandan Justice
In Uganda, amnesty for an alleged Lord’s Resistance Army commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, by the country’s High Court has raised questions regarding the future of transitional justice there. Kwoyelo had been the first person charged by the International Crimes Division of the High Court for murder and other acts allegedly committed during nearly two decades of attacks by LRA forces on civilians
Read moreKhmer Rouge Tribunal Trial Underway in Case 002
This week, the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), commonly referred to as the “Khmer Rouge tribunal” began hearing opening statements by the prosecution in Case 002, in which Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan are accused of crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and genocide in connection with
Read moreICC Approves Investigation into 2010 Election Violence in Côte d'Ivoire
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has authorized the ICC prosecutor to pursue an investigation into crimes committed during post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire, from November 28, 2010 onward. [ICC] Although not a party to the Rome Statute, Côte d’Ivoire submitted a declaration accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction as to events occurring after September 19, 2002. The ICC judges have instructed the prosecutor to
Read moreECCC Judge Resigns Amid Complaints of Inactivity, Outside Influence in Khmer Rouge Trials
German national, Judge Siegfried Blunk has resigned from his post at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the U.N.-backed internationalized criminal tribunal charged with investigating and trying perpetrators of crimes committed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia the 1970s. His resignation comes one week after Human Rights Watch criticized ECCC judges Blunk and You for
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