Iain Byrne contributes this post reflecting on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights most recent session and the 30th anniversary of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. ___________________________ by Iain Byrne The October 2011 session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights marked a watershed in the history of the institution and the regional
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News Clips – October 11, 2011
In the wake of the killing of Al-Qaida militant and U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in late September by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, many have questioned the Obama Administration’s legal justification for killing U.S. citizens and others outside combat zones, as discussed by IJRC Board member Jamil Dakwar in “State Sanctioned Killings”, published in the ezine Jadaliyya last Friday.
Read moreJeffrey Landrigan Executed in Contravention of IACHR Recommendations
Jeffrey Timothy Landrigan was executed by lethal injection late last night in Arizona following the U.S. Supreme Court’s order yesterday, allowing the execution to proceed despite the unknown origin of one of the drugs, sodium thiopental, to be used by Arizona. [Arizona Republic] The unnamed British drug manufacturer had not received approval from U.S. regulatory agency the Food and Drug
Read moreNews Clips – October 25, 2010
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights begins holding hearings today in its 140th Period of Sessions. Issues to be discussed today include the Situation of Environmentalists in Mesoamerica, and Discrimination against the Transsexual, Transgender, and Transvestite Population in Brazil. See the week’s schedule of hearings here. Webcast of some hearings is available here. The role of humanitarian aid in contributing
Read moreU.S. Judge Excludes Evidence Obtained through Torture in New York Trial of Former GITMO Detainee Ahmed Ghailani
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.
Read moreBook Review – Preventing Irreparable Harm: Provisional Measures in International Human Rights Adjudication
Eva Rieter, Preventing Irreparable Harm: Provisional Measures in International Human Rights Adjudication (Intersentia, Antwerp, 2010, xl + 1200 pp., €129.00) ISBN 978-90-5095-931-5 (pb) This year, Eva Rieter, assistant professor in public international law and international human rights at Radboud University Nijmegen, has authored an extensive volume which is the result of years of research on provisional measures in the international
Read moreNews Clips – through Sept. 14, 2010
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
Read moreNews Clips – July 18, 2010
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
Read moreLori Berenson Released from Peruvian Prison Six Years after Sentence Upheld by Inter-American Court
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 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
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