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Search: kony 2012

27 Oct

This week on Opinio Juris, we welcomed Kristen Boon as our newest permanent blogger. In her opening post, she examined why the Security Council’s work on Children and Armed Conflict has turned out to be controversial. She also asked readers’ opinion on a recent report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture claiming that there is an emerging customary norm that the death penalty is a form of torture or cruel and degrading treatment. Finally, she discussed a trail blazing class action against the UN over a cholera...
27.10.12 | |

29 Aug

French authorities have opened up a murder inquiry into the death of Yasser Arafat in 2004 at a Paris hospital, following allegations earlier this year that he may have died of polonium poisoning. India’s Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani national convicted for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. A Pakistani newspaper has reported that Al Qaeda recruited two Somali students of Dutch nationality while in Karachi, to carry out terrorist attacks in The Hague. Local New Zealand media are reporting that...
29.08.12 | |

26 Sep

Two explosions have occurred near Syrian military headquarters in Damascus. Hours before these two explosions, a Qatari emir said that Arabs must intervene in Syria in the absence of Security Council action. Foreign Policy offers an insight into a report about the torture tactics used by the government of Syria and their effects on children–sometimes with the children being the victims of the torture themselves. On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, the Chinese and Japanese Foreign Ministers have held a meeting...
26.09.12 | |

03 Dec

Syrian forces have pounded rebel-held areas of Damascus, trying to keep them away from the airport so flights can resume. After last Thursday’s decision from the ICTY Appeals Chamber, acquitting former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and two others, Kosovo’s government has demanded an investigation into the actions of the lead prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, accusing her of abuse of power and filing unfounded charges. As we reported last week, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution giving Palestine an upgraded non-member observer state status. At EJIL: Talk!,...
03.12.12 | |

07 May

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples concluded his report in the United States Friday, warning that historical wrongs-particularly the loss of lands-continue to have an impact on Native American communities and calling on the US to step up efforts to address injustices. Reports have surfaced of child soldiers in rebel ranks in Mali; Human Rights Watch has a report outlining child soldier use and rapes allegedly committed by forces. Human Rights Watch also outlines war crimes allegedly being committed in Syria, while the...
07.05.12 | |

20 Apr

Anti-government protests (which forced the cancellation of last year’s event) occurred at the start of the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix. The US Congress has communicated its intent to repatriate Canadian Guantanamo detainee, Omar Khadr, according to the NY Times. Abu Qatada has appealed the European Court of Human Rights’ decision to allow his deportation to Yemen, but the UK Government claims that the appeal was filed past the deadline. Prime Minister David Cameron added that he would like to put him on a plane himself were it...
20.04.12 | |

06 Aug

Rebels have reported that they are coming under heavy attacks in Syria’s Aleppo. Chinese media have told the United States to “shut up” about the dispute in the South China Sea and accusing the US of exacerbating tensions in the region. 19 people are dead after Kurdish rebels attacked military outposts in Turkey over the weekend. Israel barred the envoys of four state parties with which it has no diplomatic relations and as a result, the conference of the Non-Aligned Movement scheduled to take place in the...
06.08.12 | |

09 May

The Arab League has joined the ICRC in warning of a civil war within Syria; a UN envoy bolsters this claim with reports that arms are flowing in both directions between neighboring Lebanon and Syria. Citizens of North Carolina have voted to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, dealing a setback to LGBT-rights activists and those in favor of equal treatment for all citizens. Yesterday, we told you about the Al Jazeera journalist expelled from China, Melissa Chan. Today, Foreign Policy gives us an account of perhaps...
09.05.12 | |

20 Nov

The ICJ has ruled against Nicaragua in the territorial and maritime dispute it had filed against Colombia, and rejected claims that Colombia violated international law. International pressure to reach a ceasefire after six days of conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza strip is building and there are signs that Israel is open to a diplomatic solution in which Egypt is bound to play a central role. President Obama has met his Chinese counterpart arguing for co-operation on to establish rules governing trade and investment. The...
20.11.12 | |

10 May

US President Barack Obama has backed same-sex marriage. Foreign Policy gives a global look into which countries have already legalized same-sex marriage. Stricter international rules of the Hague Adoption Convention are seen as contributing to a drastic drop in international adoptions worldwide. As another sign of heightening tensions between China and the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea, Chinese travel agencies have suspended bookings to the Philippines. The US has planned a 10-month deployment of a warship to Singapore, which may stir China’s fears...
10.05.12 | |

28 Jun

For lack of evidence, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been acquitted of one of two counts of genocide he faces at the ICTY at this mid-point in his trial. He faces 10 other charges, including the other genocide charge affiliated with the Srebrenica massacre, wherein 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed (ICTY press release here). Turkey has sent a military convoy to its border with Syria. Regarding the Turkish fighter jet that was shot down by Syrian forces, Foreign Policy in Focus (FPIF) tells...
28.06.12 | |

26 Oct

The NY Times reports on a transcript from the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference that was recently discovered in a library at the US Treasury and has been released as an e-book by the Center for Financial Stability. The NY Times also published about the wealth accumulated by the family of outgoing Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiaobao in the past decade. Web access from mainland China to the paper’s English and Chinese websites was promptly blocked. A four-day ceasefire is supposed to start in Syria today, but there...
26.10.12 | |