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 moreSearch Results for: crimes against humanity
ICTY Convicts Seven in Srebrenica Massacre Case
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted seven Bosnian Serb military leaders owing to their participation in the Srebrenica massacre of 1995, in which over 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed. Read the judgment summary here. [Impunity Watch, ICTY] From among the many atrocities committed during the Balkans conflict, the Srebrenica massacre has been singled
Read moreArgentine Officer Sentenced to 15 Years for Dirty War Abuses
Former army intelligence officer Horacio Barcos was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the Tribunal Oral Federal in Santa Fe, Argentina on Monday in the culmination of his prosecution for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the Dirty War, presided over by Jorge Rafael Videla‘s military dictatorship. Barcos was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the crimes of illegal
Read moreInternational Criminal Court Gains 111th State Party; Launches Investigation in Kenya and YouTube Channel
On March 23, 2010, Bangladesh became the 111th country to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Statute will enter into force in Bangladesh on June 1. [Amnesty International; ICC] On March 31, the ICC announced the Pre-Trial Chamber II’s decision to grant Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s request to open an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed
Read moreKaradzic Trial Resumes at ICTY
The trial of Radovan Karadzic for acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes resumed yesterday before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in The Hague. The trial, which first began in October 2009, was suspended when Karadzic refused to participate. See the ICTY’s fact sheet on the trial here. Karadzic had previously been sued in the
Read moreThe Week's News
Human Rights Conditions * President Bachelet declares state of catastrophe following powerful earthquake in Chile. [Washington Post] * Interim government organized following Niger coup. [BBC] * Ceasefire signed in Sudan. [Guardian] * Waterboarding defended by former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. [New York Times] * Russia pushed for details on investigation of Chechen human rights defender’s murder in July
Read moreInternationalized Criminal Tribunals
International criminal tribunals exist to investigate and prosecute individual people for serious violations of international criminal law or international humanitarian law – such as war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity – when national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so. Such courts may be established by a multilateral international agreement (“international tribunals”) or by an agreement between one
Read moreCivil Society Actors
The websites of NGOs and law school clinics can be very useful for keeping tabs on news, current scholarship, advocacy campaigns and ongoing litigation. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but includes some of the most active and relevant entities. NGOs with an International or Regional Focus With its headquarters in London and offices around the world, Amnesty
Read moreICTR
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda began operating from its seat in Arusha, Tanzania in 1995, in the near-immediate aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in which hundreds of thousands of Rwandans lost their lives when the government incited the country’s majority ethnic group to attack the minority group. The ICTR, which was established pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 955 of November
Read moreICTY
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which had its seat in the Hague, Netherlands, was established in 1993, pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 827 of May 25, 1993, while the conflict in the former Yugoslavia was still ongoing. Its purpose was to establish individual criminal liability for atrocities committed in the course of the Yugoslav Wars, from
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