security & rule of law – Page 8 – International Justice Resource Center

News Clips – October 15, 2010

October 15, 2010 IJRC corporate accountability, crime & impunity, democracy & political rights, Inter-American System, International Criminal Court, massacres, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, torture, transitional justice, U.S. courts, UN Special Procedures, UN treaty bodies

The loss of leading international human rights scholar Louis Henkin is mourned, while the legal community remembers his long career dedicated to the development of international law and the protection of human rights. [Human Rights First] Moldova has ratified the Rome Statute to become the newest State Party to the International Criminal Court, bringing the total to 114. [UN] Canadian

U.S. Judge Excludes Evidence Obtained through Torture in New York Trial of Former GITMO Detainee Ahmed Ghailani

October 6, 2010 IJRC due process & judicial protection, liberty & security of person, security & rule of law, torture, U.S. courts

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled today that the federal government could not use the testimony of a reportedly key witness in the prosecution’s case against former Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Ghailani, who is on trial for his suspected involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

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

News Clips – July 18, 2010

July 19, 2010 IJRC discrimination, European System, Inter-American System, interim measures, International Criminal Court, international criminal law, labor rights, liberty & security of person, massacres, security & rule of law, U.S. courts

Argentina legalizes same-sex marriage, becoming the second country in the Western Hemisphere to do so. [Washington Post] The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC has issued a second arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Al Bashir, who is wanted to face charges of genocide against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. The first warrant was based on charges of war

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Law Criminalizing “Material Support” of Designated Terrorist Organizations, Including Provision of Legal Advice

June 21, 2010 IJRC European System, immigration & asylum, Inter-American System, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association, U.S. courts

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, affirming in part and reversing in part the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision, issued in 2007. [Washington Post; CCR] In a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court upheld 18 U.S.C. § 2339B(a)(1)—which makes it a federal crime to “knowingly provid[e] material support

ECHR to Review El-Masri Case against Macedonia; U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Hear Mahrer Arar's Claim against U.S.

June 15, 2010 IJRC European System, Inter-American System, liberty & security of person, security & rule of law, torture, U.S. courts

Two high profile cases of extraordinary rendition and torture in the ‘war on terror’ were back in the news today when one advanced procedurally before the European Court of Human Rights and the other reached the end of road before U.S. courts. The Open Society Justice Initiative announced today that its application on behalf of Khaled El-Masri will be considered

Lori Berenson Released from Peruvian Prison Six Years after Sentence Upheld by Inter-American Court

June 13, 2010 IJRC domestic courts, due process & judicial protection, Inter-American System, liberty & security of person, security & rule of law

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

News Clips – June 13, 2010

June 13, 2010 IJRC domestic courts, due process & judicial protection, ICJ, indigenous communities, Inter-American System, interim measures, International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, security & rule of law, thought, expression & association

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