In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Jessica Dorsey

16 May

The UN General Assembly has voted to pass a resolution condemning the Syrian government for human rights violations and call for a transitional government. International donors pledged 3.25 billion euros ($4.22 billion) to help Mali recover from a conflict with al Qaeda-linked Islamists. A suicide bomber in a car targeted two vehicles carrying foreign forces in Kabul, Afghanistan. Three people were killed when...

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15 May

The Japanese military's forced prostitution of Asian women before and during World War II was necessary to "maintain discipline" in the ranks and provide rest for soldiers, an outspoken nationalist mayor has said. Russia has ordered the expulsion of an alleged CIA agent working undercover at the US embassy who was discovered with a large stash of money trying to recruit a Russian...

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14 May

UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk urged Israel to stop construction of a highway that would cut off the local roads of Palestinian community Beit Safafa. A Swiss court is trying Belgians and Czechs in one of the biggest money laundering scandals dating back to central Europe's post-communist privatization boom. Major U.S. retailers including Gap Inc. declined to endorse an accord on Bangladesh building and fire...

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13 May

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was found guilty of genocide, torture and rape of 1,771 indigenous Ixil Mayans during his rule in 1982-1983. Bangladeshi authorities have arrested Jamaat-e-Islami party leader AKM Yusuf on charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Taiwan's government has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Philippines' government, demanding an apology over the...

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12 May

Calls for Papers In cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, is hosting a conference on the legacy of the ICTR. The organizers are currently calling for papers. A short abstract must reach mswart@uj.ac.za by May 24, 2013. More information on the conference is available here. The University of Oslo is hosting a conference August 30-31, 2014 entitled: The Legitimacy and Effectiveness...

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09 May

Another clothing factory has caught fire in Bangladesh, killing eight; this news comes after a recent factory collapse with a death toll now over 900, with both tragedies putting international safety standards in the spotlight.  In other Bangladesh news, the war crimes tribunal is poised to hand down its fourth verdict today over a senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party;...

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08 May

Internet communications companies have reported that Syria has been cut off of "internet communication with the rest of the world." The World Trade Organization has a new Director General: Roberto Azevedo. The ICC postponed Kenyan Vice President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang's trial as the Prosecutor is seeking to add five witnesses and the Defense has requested to vacate the...

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07 May

Senegal Justice Minister Aminate Toure and Chadian Justice Minister Jean-Bernard Badare agreed to allow Senegalese judges to investigate various situations in Chad ahead of the prosecution of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre. Fifty countries and organisations are gathered in London for an international conference aimed at preventing Somalia from slipping back into abject lawlessness. North Korea has removed two missiles from launch...

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06 May

South Korea has dismissed the plan from North Korea to reopen the joint industrial complex shared by the two countries, calling the demands from Pyongyang "incomprehensible" and urging North Korea to come forward for dialogue rather than making such demands.  The Mannheim Regional Court in Germany ruled in favor of Motorola Mobility, a subsidiary of Google, against Microsoft in a patent dispute. Nawaz Sharif,...

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02 May

North Korea has sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years' hard labor for "crimes against the state." In a clash on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan that lasted more than two hours, one Pakistani policeman was killed and two Afghani soldiers wounded.  The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the government has been failing to meet EU air quality standards and...

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01 May

US President Barack Obama is making a new push to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying Gitmo is damaging US interests.  Chile will be Latin America's only representative in the 2014-2015 UN Security Council. The ECHR has ruled that Ukraine violated former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's rights by detaining her for politically motivated reasons. The genocide trial against Guatemalan dictator...

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30 Apr

The Syrian Prime Minister has survived a car bomb in Damascus, an event UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon labelled a "terrorist attack." Ban Ki-Moon also urged Syria to allow international experts access in order to establish whether chemical weapons were used. Meanwhile, in a phone call to President Putin, President Obama has expressed his concern over the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The European...

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