English
ItalianoCampaigning for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights, Democracy, the Rule of Law and International Justice
04 Jan 2012 NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice
Articles
ICTR/Witnesses - ICTR heard over 3,200 witnesses
Hirondelle News Agency, 03 Jan 2012
Over 3,200 witnesses have testified so far before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) since genocide trials commenced in 1997, President Judge Khalida Rachid Khan wrote in her last report.
ICC Prosecutor Urged to Seek Further Kenya Charges
By Nzau Musau, 03 Jan 2012
Rights activists say international indictments in cases arising from post-election violence in Kenya in 2007-08 must be expanded to cover killings and other abuses committed by police in a Nairobi neighbourhood and the city of Kisumu.
Judges at the International Criminal Court, ICC, removed the two elements when they considered the prosecutor’s application for charges in March, saying there was insufficient evidence to pin them to the individuals accused.
60 CSOs endorse joint declaration demanding criminal justice system
By Myra Imran, 03 Jan 2012
A joint declaration jointly endorsed by 60 civil society organisations (CSOs) has demanded a criminal justice system that is supportive and sensitive to cases of violence against women.
The criminal justice system of Pakistan is confronted with serious crisis of delayed or no justice, this has had serious repercussions on national and international security and is also one of the major contributing factor in increasing violence against women.
Libya's government 'broke international justice standards' over Saif Gaddafi
By David Blair, 30 Dec 2011
Libya's new government has broken international standards of justice by holding Saif Gaddafi, the son of Libya's former leader, without access to a lawyer on charges that could carry the death penalty.
Rwanda: Survivors Highlight Gaps in Justice at ICTR
AllAfrica.com, 29 Dec 2011
Genocide survivors have faulted the US for what they think is Washington's soft stance with regard to ongoing cases at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
They say the US should go beyond applauding the recent conviction of two former Rwandan leaders, and condemn the 'shocking' acquittals and 'overly' lenient sentences that the Arusha-based tribunal has rendered in the recent past.
Syria and the New Model of International Transformations
By Dr. Alexander Mezyaev, 28 Dec 2011
Early this month, as Russia was in the process of assuming chairmanship in the UN Security Council, Moscow's envoy said Syria was not on the UN SC December agenda. Still, the theme of Syria has become the subject of permanent heated debates during unofficial consultations and surfaced in the discussions of the situations in the Middle East. Considering that US President B. Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are selling the Arab Spring as a model for new regime changes, at the moment Syria simply has to be at the focus of international politics.
The war crimes trial
By Zahurul Alam, 27 Dec 2011
CRIMES are subject to punishment. This is truer in the case of war crimes that are punishable at any point of time. The trial of the Nazi war criminals continues till to date, although more than seventy years have passed since the start of their genocide and war crimes.
Bangladesh, after forty years of independence, has started war crimes trial. The issue remains prominent, although there were vigorous attempts to make it a dead one. The recent attempts to destabilise the political environment may as well be part of the previous designs. The on-going war crimes trial can only be condemned by those who might have been involved in any manner in those crimes.
Whatever may be the case, the children of the innocent victims, and the victims themselves, will not allow the war crimes issue to remain veiled and untouched. The current generation has come to learn more about the glorious history of the nation, unlike their predecessor generation that lacked the environment to learn about the heroism of their fathers and forefathers and the repressions the nation experienced during the liberation war.
2011: the year in international justice
By Lauren Comiteau, 23 Dec 2011
Andras Riedlmayer, editor of International Justice Watch
2011: Looking back...
The arrest and handover to the ICTY of its last two indictees--Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic. It marks the successful conclusion of the Tribunal’s quest for getting indictees in custody and putting them on trial. It’s not something anyone expected when the Tribunal was established. It’s a noticeable success.
2012: Looking ahead...
The ICC is the one to watch in the coming year. There’s a new prosecutor. It’s getting increasingly more active. But it remains to be seen how effective it will be—it has yet to conclude its first case.
William R. Pace, Convenor, Coalition for the International Criminal Court
2011: Looking back...
UN Security Council Resolution 1970 (and then 1973). The 15-0 vote in favour of the resolution demanded the Libyan government protect civilians from crimes against humanity and adopted a range of sanctions, including referring the crimes being committed in Libya to the ICC. This decision was historic on a number of levels: the unanimity, how quickly it was done, utilization of the framework and norm of 'responsibility to protect', the roles of the Human Rights Council, the Arab League [and] the UN Libyan mission.... If in this relatively new century, these elements and principles were applied by the international community in other war and conflict situations, the 21st century will not repeat the 20th century as the most violent and war-ridden in all history.
[Also,] the Tunisia-inspired Arab Spring may be seen in history as one of the most important developments for peace and democracy in the last 100 years. And one of the most important decisions of the interim reform government was to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC.
