The UN Human Rights Committee held its 110th session from March 10 to 28 to consider the State reports of Chad, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Nepal, Sierra Leone, and the United States of America. Following the session, the Committee released its concluding observations, detailing key concerns and recommendations for these States’ improved implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
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The parliament of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has approved legislation granting amnesty for acts of insurgency, acts of war, and political offenses, while excluding amnesty for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. [UN News Centre] This amnesty proposal originated as part of the December 2013 agreement to end fighting between the DRC army and the M23
Read moreEarlier this month, the United States announced an expansion of its program offering monetary incentives for information leading to the arrest or conviction of designated non-U.S. nationals wanted on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity, genocide or war crimes. The program had previously been limited to individuals indicted by three international or internalized criminal tribunal tribunals: the Special Court for Sierra
Read moreNepal continues to face difficult questions in addressing the legacy of the civil conflict that spanned 1996 to 2006. On March 14, 2013, Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav passed an ordinance creating a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was first called for by the 2006 peace accords that ended the decades long conflict. However, the ordinance was prepared without input
Read moreThe United Nations Human Rights Council concluded its twenty-second regular session last week after adopting a number of decisions, statements and resolutions to address pressing concerns in a handful of countries, advance its work on a range of human rights issues, and call for greater protection of human rights defenders. [OHCHR] Among other notable decisions during the four-week session, the
Read moreOn January 17, 2013, Guatemalan President Otto Pérez Molina announced the derogation of a resolution that would have attempted to limit the Inter-American Court of Human Right’s jurisdiction over alleged human rights violations that took place before 1987. [IACHR; Procuraduría de Derechos Humanos] In December 2012, the Guatemalan Congress passed Resolution 370-2012, the purpose of which was to restrict the Inter-American Court of
Read moreLast week, the Special Court for Sierra Leone released its Ninth Annual Report on its activities. Article 25 of the Statute of the Special Court requires the President to release an annual report to the Government of Sierra Leone and the Secretary General of the United Nations. The Ninth Annual Report focused on activities carried out by the Special Court
Read moreChristopher “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 moreJames 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 moreIn 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
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