Opinio Juris » Weekday News Wrap w28/12

Weekday News Wrap: Friday, July 13, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Reports say that over 200 civilians have been massacred in execution-style killings in the Hama region of Syria after government forces bombarded the area with helicopter gunships and tanks yesterday.
Following talks with the International Olympic Committee, for the first time Saudi Arabia will send female athletes to London to compete in this year’s Olympic Games. Human Rights Watch points out this breakthrough but also highlights the barriers for female athletes who want to participate in sports inside the Kingdom.
In other Olympics news, the 2012 Games (the UK’s largest ever peacetime security operation) have put a large amount of stress on Great Britain’s spy agencies.
After being taken to the hospital for tests, Ratko Mladic remains hospitalized for a second day and his trial at the ICTY has been adjourned until he is fit enough to continue.
IPS points to a recently released report stating the UN is increasingly reliant on private military and security contractors to carry out its missions across the globe.
In more commentary to the 14-year sentence for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo at the ICC earlier this week, Professor William Schabas offers his analysis of the sentencing and IPS covers the negative reaction from a collection of NGO’s in the Democratic Republic of the Congo about the Court’s judgment, labeling it inadequate and potentially dangerous.
Professor Schabas also points to the University of Virginia Law Library, which has recently created the Tokyo War Crimes Trial: A Digital Exhibition, an archive containing documents related to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (the “Tokyo Tribunal”).
The United States will host approximately 12 countries for a two-day meeting with the US State Department and the Department of Transportation at the end of this month to discuss their opposition to a new EU law forcing foreign airlines to pay for greenhouse gas emissions.
At this week’s ASEAN Summit, South China Sea issues dominate discussion.
The United States has strengthened its military presence in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to prevent Iran from blocking the Strait of Hormuz with mines.
SCOTUS Blog is hosting an online symposium about the Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, the case currently before the US Supreme Court involving transnational human rights litigation.

July 13th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/07/13/weekday-news-wrap-friday-july-13-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Thursday, July 12, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Syria has been hit by a wave of defections, with the latest–that of the ambassador to Iraq–coming yesterday.
Kofi Annan has urged the UN to “reunite” regarding plans moving forward with Syria, suggesting “consequences” were Syria not to comply with the latest ceasefire calls.
A human rights group, Women Under Siege, has reported that sexual violence is being used in Syria as a weapon in the conflict.
Tensions between Japan and China are escalating ahead of an ASEAN summit over the islands dispute in the East China Sea.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon agreed yesterday to continue the trial in absentia of the four accused of killing Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, seeing no reason to revisit the Court’s previous decision to do so.
Israel has made plans to deploy rocket interceptors at its border with Egypt, the first time such interceptors were placed at this location.
The IOC is in talks with Saudi Arabia regarding its u-turn on sending women to this year’s Olympic Games in London.
The remains of 520 Muslim men and boys were buried yesterday, 17 years after the massacre at Srebrenica, while Ratko Mladic is on trial at the ICTY. That trial was interrupted today due to Mladic’s falling ill and needing to be taken to the hospital for medical checks.
The US soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in a March massacre in Afghanistan will begin his hearing September 17th.
The Ivory Coast’s Ministry of Justice announced yesterday that it will charge two more allies of former President Gbagbo with genocide.
Now that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo has been convicted and sentenced, Foreign Policy discusses the future trials at the ICC.

July 12th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/07/12/weekday-news-wrap-thursday-july-12-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Wednesday, July 11, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Ansar Dine, an al-Qaeda linked group, has destroyed more shrines at a mosque in Timbuktu, Mali, and vowed to continue destroying UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Foreign Policy discusses the issue further here and offers a slideshow of images of the wreckage here.
Saudi Arabia has now made it official: it will not be sending female athletes to compete in this year’s Olympic Games in London. Human Rights Watch thinks that this reversal should lead to a ban on all participation of the nation. In other Olympics news, Kosovo will not be allowed to participate after the IOC rejected their bid, stating that they are not recognized by the international community.
Russian lawmakers have ratified the nation’s entry into the WTO.
Japan has launched a protest with China against the entry of Chinese patrol ships near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Kofi Annan has said that Iran must be a player in the peace talks with Syria.
Russian marines have been dispatched to the Mediterranean in order to reach and maintain the Syrian port of Tartus.
Human Rights Watch has called on the African Union to support international justice during its summit meeting taking place July 9-16, urging cooperation with the ICC especially on arresting ICC suspect (and Sudan’s President) Omar al-Bashir.
UN troops will be sent to help Democratic Republic of the Congo troops protect Goma.
Esquire’s Politics Blog offers a piece criticizing the Obama administration for targeting and killing 16-year-old American citizen Abdulrahman al-Awlaki in Yemen approximately two weeks after the US killed his father, Anwar al-Awlaki, also by drone strike.
Though we covered it in yesterday’s News Wrap and Kevin Jon Heller blogged about it here, more information and links can be found from Jurist on the ICC’s 14-year sentence of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.

July 11th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/07/11/weekday-news-wrap-wednesday-july-11-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Tuesday, July 10, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

The International Criminal Court handed down the sentence for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who received 14 years’ imprisonment for conscripting, enlisting and using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities. The time since March 16, 2006 that he has spent in detention will be deducted from his sentence. Judge Odio Benito wrote a separate and dissenting decision as in her view, the majority decision disregards the damage to victims and their families, especially with regard to sexual violence-related crimes not focused upon in the majority’s sentencing.
In other ICC news, the trial against two Kenyan officials will begin in April 2013 (ICC press release).
The first witness to testify against Ratko Mladic at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia broke down in tears at the emotional recounting of the death of his father during a 1992 massacre in the village of Grabovica.
At the European Court of Human Rights, Abu Hamza has launched an appeal to prevent his extradition to the United States.
Kofi Annan’s special envoy in Syria has said that he and President Al-Assad have reached an agreement to end the violent conflict in the country.
European Union ministers have agreed on a plan to bail out Spain’s banks.
EU diplomats will meet July 24th with diplomats from Iran for talks on its nuclear program.
An Israeli commission has recommended that the state legalize dozens of unsanctioned West Bank settlements.
NPR has a piece on how the Yemini airstrikes punish militants and civilians.

July 10th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/07/10/weekday-news-wrap-tuesday-july-10-2012/ |

Weekday News Wrap: Monday, July 9, 2012

by Jessica Dorsey

Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre re-enacted their escape in Bosnia this weekend ahead of Ratko Mladic’s trial, which resumed today at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Tomorrow, the International Criminal Court will deliver the sentence and reparations order for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, convicted March 14, 2012 of conscripting and enlisting child soldiers and using them to participate in hostilities.
Reuters offers an analysis showing that the crisis in Syria reflects the limitations of Turkish power.
Additionally in Syria news, amid President Al-Assad leveling accusations at the United States of working to “destabilize” Syria via aid given to “gangs,” al-Assad is meeting with Kofi Annan in Damascus to begin talks. US Secretary of State Clinton says that the “days are numbered” for the Assad regime.
Palestinian President Abbas has given permission to exhume Yasser Arafat’s remains to verify the hypothesis that Arafat died of polonium poisoning.
Another potential territorial dispute surfaces, this time in the East China Sea, where China has condemned a Japanese government plan to purchase a series of islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in Chinese, from a private investor.
Russia’s Constitutional Court has cleared the way for WTO ratification after it held that Russia’s Accession Agreement was constitutional.
South Sudan marks its first anniversary as a country with celebration and praise but also the realization that many challenges remain for the nation.
Political and religious parties have begun a “long march” to protest the recently re-opened NATO supply lines connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Rebels have seized towns in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, near the Ugandan border.
Fox News reports that Iran says it has a plan to close the Strait of Hormuz if its interests are seriously threatened.
Foreign Policy in Focus describes why KSM may never be convicted for the murder of Daniel Pearl as his trial has been tainted by allegations of torture.
The New Yorker ponders whether Afghanistan will fall out into a civil war in “After America.”

July 9th, 2012 - 8:00 AM EDT | Comments Off http://opiniojuris.org/2012/07/09/weekday-news-wrap-monday-july-9-2012/ |