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Search: kony 2012

01 Oct

The US Supreme Court begins its new term today and will hear re-argumentation in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. SCOTUS Blog offers insight into what is at stake and for whom in this case. After 10 years’ imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr was repatriated to Canada, where he will serve the rest of his sentence. At the UN General Assembly, several leaders of the Muslim world questioned the Western notion of freedom of speech in light of the recent film sparking protests and violence across the...
01.10.12 | |

12 Jun

The four staff members of the ICC will remain in a 45-day detention in Libya while investigations into the meetings the staff had with Saif al-Islam Gaddafi are carried out. Al Arabyia reports that Melinda Taylor will be freed if she gives Libyan officials information on the whereabouts of Mohammed Ismail, Gaddafi’s former right-hand man. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has asked for his charges to be dismissed at the ICTY for lack of evidence. Human Rights Watch reports that Syria is committing grave abuses of...
12.06.12 | |

21 Jun

The Telegraph asks whether the Rio Summit is destined to fail. If you want to keep up-to-date with the Rio+20 conference, the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletins are a useful starting point. In a statement before the Ways and Means Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns argued in favour of lifting the Jackson Vanik amendment and extending permanent normal trade relations status to Russia. In Moscow, nuclear talks on Iran have failed to reach a breakthrough....
21.06.12 | |

23 Apr

Our own Peter Spiro has penned an op-ed in the NY Times about the upcoming arguments at the Supreme Court about Arizona’s controversial immigration bill, SB-1070. Peter has posted on OJ about it here. Territorial disputes between China and Taiwan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei may escalate based on Chinese development firms jockeying for position in the disputed islands. Despite tensions, China has lauded its friendship with North Korea. The US has criticized this friendship, and accused a Chinese firm of selling components of a missile transporter...
23.04.12 | |

15 Apr

...‘aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring another person to intentionally cause the death of a person’ (in April 2009 in Karakak, September 2012 in Darwan and October 2012 in Syahchow). These three charges are alleging that BRS ordered subordinates to kill unarmed, detained persons. Australia did not adopt the concept of ‘ordering’ as part of the amendments to the Criminal Code Act as made after the 2002 ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and thus the concept of ‘aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring’ is found in...
15.04.26 | |

18 Dec

Syrian forces first surrounded a Palestinian camp in Damascus before then taking full control of it, a day after air raids killed at least 8 who were seeking shelter there inside a mosque. Israel has approved 1,500 more settlement homes in East Jerusalem, prompting Palestinians to say they may seek a UN Security Council meeting on the issue. The US Department of Justice filed a motion to dismiss (.pdf) a lawsuit (.pdf) challenging the US government’s targeted killing of three US citizens via drone strikes. The U.N....
18.12.12 | |

13 Jun

The US is accusing Russia of sending helicopters to Syria, where the UN has now officially categorized the conflict as a civil war. The UN is sending its envoy to Western Myanmar where the state of emergency was declared following unrest. Aung San Suu Kyi has left Myanmar for her trip to Europe where she will accept her Nobel Prize. The Yemeni government has declared that it has driven al-Qaeda militants from two cities in the South. Authorities in Ivory Coast claim to have found evidence of...
13.06.12 | |

18 Apr

An Italian kidnapped by al-Qaeda insurgents in Algeria and held for 14 months has been freed in northern Mali. Denmark has established a Commission of Inquiry into its role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. EJIL has an in-depth post about it here. The Arab League has urged Syria to implement the ceasefire plan after being briefed by Kofi Annan. The definition of piracy is in dispute ahead of a piracy trial in Virginia. The African Union has suspended Guinea-Bissau from all activities after its recent military...
18.04.12 | |

05 Nov

European and Asian leaders are meeting in Laos for the biennial Asia-Europe meeting. Violence between rival militias in Libya underscores the security challenges facing the new government. A grenade attack on a church in Kenya on Sunday is believed to have been the work of a Somali group protesting against Kenya’s involvement in the UN-backed force in Somalia. A new cabinet has been formed in Somalia, includes the country’s first female foreign minister. A federal court in Australia has found S&P liable for misleading and deceptive ratings...
05.11.12 | |

02 Apr

A New Hampshire woman will be retried for immigration fraud. She allegedly lied about her involvement in the Rwandan genocide when applying for asylum in the US. US authorities deported a former leader of the Liberian Peace Council who had been living in Rochester since 2006 to the West African country. He is suspected of human rights abuses and war crimes, including the recruitment of child soldiers. His deportation is the first-ever under the Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008. The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that...
02.04.12 | |

14 Jun

The Falkland Islands are set to hold a referendum about sovereignty. IntLawGrrls points to interesting issues arising around citizenship and globalization. The ICC Prosecutor seeks a 30-year sentence for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, convicted of conscripting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In other ICC news, a team from the Court has visited the four detained staff members in Libya, accused of smuggling documents to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has transferred its fifth case to domestic authorities. The UN Security...
14.06.12 | |

28 Nov

In Syria, rebel forces have for the first time downed a government helicopter using a surface-to-air missile they acquired during the recent capture of an army base. The EU is reviewing its sanctions on Syria, and the UK, with France’s backing, is arguing for a review every three months to make it easier to arm the opposition. The head of the Palestinian commission investigating the death of Yasser Arafat has stated that the Palestinian state would go to the ICC, should it be established that Arafat was...
28.11.12 | |