In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Human Rights Law

26 Jul

According to the Washington Post, Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division in the Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC, said the following in response to Stephen Rapp's recent comments about the potential criminal liability of the Rwandan government for its support of Bosco Ntaganda's M23 in the Congo (emphasis added): The International Criminal Court is...

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25 Jul

Although clearly a step up from its genocidal predecessor, Kagame's government in Rwanda is anything but progressive. According to the State Department, the government is responsible for -- inter alia -- illegal detention, torture, enforced disappearance, attempted assassinations of political opponents, restrictions on the freedom of speech and press, violence toward journalists and human rights advocates, discrimination against women/children/gays and...

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19 Jul

[Sari Bashi is the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization protecting the right to freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory] Last week, a committee appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recommend disposition of about 100 Israeli outposts in the West Bank established in violation of Israeli military zoning laws released its conclusions (English summary...

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18 Jul

I want to call readers' attention to David Frakt's excellent essay on direct participation in hostilities as a war crime.  Here is the abstract: This article addresses, in part, the question of what to do with civilian direct participants in hostilities who are not killed by opposing armed forces, but are captured. Specifically, the article address the potential criminal prosecution of...

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13 Jul

A recurring criticism of the ICC is that it has little to show for its first 10 years -- just one conviction -- and has cost an inordinate amount of money.  Here, for example, are the opening paragraphs of Eric Posner's recent attack on the Court in the Wall Street Journal, entitled "The Absurd International Criminal Court": Ten years ago, on...

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11 Jul

The Independent has the story: European governments, including Britain's, have received legal opinion from a leading international counsel who argues they would be fully within their rights to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The formal opinion from James Crawford, professor of international law at Cambridge University, is likely to inject fresh momentum into campaigns in the United...

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10 Jul

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, the first person convicted at the ICC, has been sentenced to fourteen years in prison.  From the Court's press release: Today, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Thomas Lubanga Dyilo to a total period of 14 years of imprisonment. The Chamber, composed of Judge Adrian Fulford, Judge Elizabeth Odio Benito and Judge René Blattmann,...

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07 Jul

Not surprisingly, Taylor insists that she did nothing wrong -- and that Saif Gaddafi cannot possibly get a fair trial in Libya.  First, regarding the so-called "coded letter," which has always been the most bizarre Libyan allegation: AUSTRALIAN lawyer Melinda Taylor says documents considered "coded" by Libyan authorities who jailed her were simply innocent doodles. [snip] After her release on Monday, Ms Taylor...

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04 Jul

I want to take a break from Libya to call readers' attention to an excellent essay by Marjolein Cupido, a PhD student at VU Amsterdam, that recently appeared in Criminal Law Forum. Many ICL scholars focus on the rhetoric of judging at the level of law -- how judges construct and narrate the law that applies in a particular case. ...

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03 Jul

Now that Taylor is finally free, we can turn our attention again to the ongoing saga of who is going to prosecute Saif Gaddafi -- Libya or the ICC.  A recent article in the Independent indicates that the correct answer may well be "neither": Ms Taylor said she was “very happy” to be able to return to her family. The proceedings...

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02 Jul

I have to admit, I've been very surprised by the negative reactions I've received concerning my belief that the ICC should not have expressed regret or apologized to Libya for Melinda Taylor's (alleged) misconduct.  It seems that most people -- or at least most of the people who have emailed me -- think that the Court should have done anything...

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