American citizen Lori Berenson has been paroled from Peruvian prison for the remaining five years of her 20-year sentence, stirring the animosity of those who believe she participated in terrorist activity during Peru’s decades-long struggle between government forces and militant leftist groups. [El Pais, Reuters] After being arrested in 1995, she was convicted—first before the discredited Peruvian military tribunals and
Read moreCategory: Inter-American System
News Clips – June 13, 2010
Physicians for Human Rights has published a report documenting illegal experimentation and torture by CIA medical personnel in the “war on terror”. The report is available here. Following the paper’s publication, PHR and other organizations filed a formal complaint before the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Human Research Protection against the CIA. [PHR] Human Rights Watch
Read moreNews Clips – June 1, 2010
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
Read moreNews Clips – May 23, 2010
Protests continue in Thailand as Asian Centre for Human Rights decries international community’s silence and the EU Parliament and Human Rights Watch express concern over violence, emergency provisions, and censorship. The BBC has provided a detailed overview of the situation. Human Rights Watch urges new British government to reform counterterrorism strategies and investigate British agents’ complicity in torture and rendition. [HRW] Related cases decided by the
Read moreNew IACHR Report on Crime and Human Rights
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
Read moreIACHR Submits Cases Involving Disappearance and Indigenous Land Rights to Inter-American Court
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced today that it will litigate two cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (against Argentina and Ecuador), while the press and civil society reported that a third case against the Dominican Republic will also be heard by the court. The IACHR press release states: On April 18, 2010, the IACHR filed an
Read moreHonduras Inaugurates Truth Commission to Investigate Coup
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
Read moreIACHR Admits Cases Involving Ancestral Land Rights and ‘Environmental Racism’
In its first five admissibility decisions of 2010, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights admitted three petitions against Peru, one against Honduras, and one against the United States. The petition against Honduras concerns the rights of a Garifuna community, while the petition against the United States concerns the rights of a predominantly African American community in Mossville, Louisiana. In the
Read morePolitical Violence in Nicaragua Worries IACHR
In a press release issued today, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed its concern over acts of violence committed in Nicaragua last week. The Commission reports: During the incidents serious disturbances took place, dozens of individuals were detained, property was burned, and shots were fired. The Commission learned that these acts were undertaken to prevent the functioning of the
Read moreArizona Passes Law Targeting Undocumented Migrants
Today, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law what the New York Times is characterizing as the country’s toughest immigration law. Although immigration falls within the federal legislature’s province, Arizona has acted in the face of what it sees as the failure of Washington to address the issues raised by a large, undocumented immigrant population. While states cannot assume the
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