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Search: kony 2012

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 | |

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 | |

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 | |

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 | |

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 | |

21 Aug

As UN monitors left Syria, fighting progressed to suburbs of Damascus. US president Barack Obama has said that if Syria’s government were to use chemical weapons, the US would be forced to act. German politicians have said that they will give no leeway to Greece regarding financial reform. Israel has positioned an Iron Dome, a rocket interceptor and destroyer, on the Egyptian border following two rocket attacks on the city of Eilat. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism says that the US government must...
21.08.12 | |

15 Dec

This week on Opinio Juris, a guest post by Daniel Bethlehem, following up on a post by Julian Ku last week, offered three more legal bases for the legality of an intervention in Syria. Also continuing on some of last week’s themes, Kevin Jon Heller wrote how a recent decision by the ICC’s Appeals Chamber confirms his argument on retroactive ad hoc jurisdiction, and Deborah Pearlstein couldn’t resist taking apart Eric Posner’s Slate article on Jeh Johnson’s recent speech in Oxford. In another post, Deborah refused to read...
15.12.12 | |

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 | |

30 May

The Special Court for Sierra Leone sentenced Charles Taylor to 50 years today following his conviction for 11 counts of war crimes. He will get six-years’ credit for the time he has served since being in custody in The Hague. The ICC Appeals Chamber has unanimously rejected the Prosecution’s appeal on the Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision declining to confirm the charges in the Mbarushimana case. In follow-up news about the Pakistani doctor recently sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason who aided the CIA in finding...
30.05.12 | |

02 Aug

Syria’s president Al-Assad has praised the government forces, but is keeping a low profile. US president Obama has signed a secret order to provide support to rebel forces in Syria. A video has emerged of men, allegedly loyal to the Syrian regime, being lined up in Aleppo being shot point-blank by rebel forces. In a recent report, Amnesty International has accused members of Syria’s government of committing crimes against humanity in the current conflict. Reuters offers an analysis proffering that there is no good outcome to the...
02.08.12 | |

25 Jun

Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, is declared the winner in the Egyptian Presidential Election. Turkey has invoked article 4 of the NATO Charter to arrange consultations on its response after Syria shot down a Turkish fighter plane. Turkish warplanes have been busy this weekend, carrying out nine air strikes on PKK targets in Northern Iraq. Additionally, 33 members of the Syrian army are said to have defected to Turkey. The Paraguayan President was impeached on Friday. In response to this “parliamentary coup“, various neighbouring...
25.06.12 | |

25 Sep

As Ken already pointed out in his post, the UN General Assembly meeting officially opens today in New York. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi have met in New York to improve US-Egypt relations and to discuss embassy security following the riots after the controversial anti-Islam video. It’s getting busy around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, with Taiwanese fishermen and the Coast Guard briefly entering the 12 nautical mile zone around the islands, before being chased away by the Japanese Coast Guard’s water cannons....
25.09.12 | |