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26 May Futureproofing Human Rights Symposium: When the Center Cannot Hold – Grey Zones in “The Age” of Accountability
...relative of a man who disappeared along the Mexico-US border around 2011 about her relentless search for accountability. We know some pieces of the puzzle: her brother was abducted by an –allegedly private– armed group while traveling on a road near the border in Coahuila, a northern state in Mexico. One could think of many actors to hold responsible. The local police—potentially complicit or, at the very least, willing to turn a blind eye (some level of state knowledge is always involved for organised crime to thrive). The armed group—the...15 Jun Federal Court Upholds Immigration Detention Power
The federal court for the Eastern District of New York yesterday dismissed, in part, a class-action lawsuit brought by a number of immigrants who were detained without charges by the federal government in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York. The plaintiffs in Turkmen v. Ashcroft alleged that they, and a number of other illegal immigrants of Middle Eastern origin, were held for a period ranging up to eleven months without any charges being filed. Eventually, the detainees were deported. Although the lawsuit will move forward...19 Dec Weaponized Archaeology and Sovereignty Disputes
...regions can conveniently help to contravene international law. At issue is how archaeological research is being injected into political rhetoric on issues such as claims of sovereignty in the Arctic, in the South China Sea, and over Crimea. Campbell writes: China’s deputy minister of culture, Li Xiaojie, put it bluntly: “Marine archaeology is an exercise that demonstrates national sovereignty.” Russia has followed suit. In 2011, when he was prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin made headlines by retrieving two ancient ceramic jars from a shipwreck at Phanagoria, the ancient Greek city...25 Jun The International Consensus that Didn’t Bark: U.S. Supreme Court Invalidates Death Penalty for Child Rape
I don’t want to step on Roger’s turf here, but I can’t resist a brief note on today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision invalidating a Louisiana law allowing the death penalty for rapists who victimize children under 13. As most of our readers know, the test for determining a violation of the Eighth Amendment turns on “evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” This is usually determined by examining whether a national consensus exists on a particular type of punishment, although in recent years, the search...20 Nov ECHR Upholds Denial of Graduate Student’s Right to Wear Hijab
...society…. Where these ‘rights and freedoms’ are themselves among those guaranteed by the Convention… it must be accepted that the need to protect them may lead States to restrict other rights or freedoms likewise set forth in the Convention. It is precisely this constant search for a balance between the fundamental rights of each individual which constitutes the foundation of a ‘democratic society'” (Para. 108). It then applied that balancing test to deny her right to freely exercise her religion and to uphold the centrality of secularism as an essential...
09 Aug Solidarity “A La Carte”: The EU’s Response to Boat Migration
[Jean-Pierre Gauci is the Arthur Watts Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (UK) and the Director of The People for Change Foundation (Malta). Eleni Karageorgiou, is a Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Law at Lund University and Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden).] Two shipwrecks close to the Libyan coast on 18 April 2015, which led to over 1,100 deaths followed by high numbers of refugee arrivals to Europe, mainly from Syria, resulted in...25 Aug Weekly News Wrap: Monday, August 25, 2014
...spying on Turkey for nearly four decades, Focus magazine said on Saturday in a report which could raise tensions further between the NATO allies. Italy’s maritime search and rescue service saved 3,500 migrants and found 19 corpses in the Mediterranean since Friday as thousands attempted to cross to Europe by boat over the weekend, the Italian navy said. Middle East and Northern Africa Fighters from the Islamic State group have taken over an airbase in northeast Syria, capturing it from government forces after fighting that cost more than 500 lives,...22 Sep News About Drones
...well as in Yemen, developing groups of Islamist terrorists and militants are taking up the struggle, partly as new organizations and partly as the group in Pakistan spreads out into the Horn in search of new safe havens and new converts to the cause. In that scenario, the drone strikes have merely fragmented the group without necessarily destroying it. Which is to say, the first interpretation argues that the US, by its drones strikes against terrorist leadership, has merely spread the infection and its new operations are trying to deal...
05 Jan Humour, Parody and Satire – Funny Things!
[ Natalie Alkiviadou is a Senior Research Fellow at Justitia (Denmark) working on the Future of Free Speech Project. ] I like social media. I am an avid fan of free speech (I research it for a living). I also like humour, parody and satire. I like to laugh (especially in current times I think it’s good for one’s health). I also like to be informed through laughter. But that’s just me and something that happened a few days ago in my home country Cyprus really did target all those...31 Dec US Special Forces Ready to Seize Pakistani Nuclear Arsenal
According to the UK’s Herald: US special forces snatch squads are on standby to seize or disable Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the event of a collapse of government authority or the outbreak of civil war following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The troops, augmented by volunteer scientists from America’s Nuclear Emergency Search Team organisation, are under orders to take control of an estimated 60 warheads dispersed around six to 10 high-security Pakistani military bases. This plan seems like a sensible precaution if it can be accomplished. But it is also...