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Today the government of Libya, represented by Professor Philippe Sands QC, Professor Payam Akhavan and Ms Michelle Butler, filed a submission with the International Criminal Court (ICC) pursuant to Article 19 of the ICC Statute (click here for the full text). The application was brought under Article 19(2)(b) of the Rome Statute, to challenge the [...]
Filed under: Africa, ICC, International Courts, International Criminal Law | 2 Comments »
* This post is based on the SCSL Press Release (Outreach and Public Affairs Office) of 26 April 2012 and includes only minor changes. Charles Ghankay Taylor, the former President of Liberia, was convicted on 26 April 2012 on all counts of an 11-count indictment which alleged that he was responsible for crimes committed by [...]
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Introduction On 4 April 2012, Pre-Trial Chamber I issued its ‘Decision Regarding the Second Request by the Government of Libya for Postponement of the Surrender of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’. This is a short, but very interesting decision (nine pages long). In the dispositif, the Chamber rejected Libya’s Second Postponement Request and reiterated its request that [...]
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In November 2011, the Registry of the ICC requested Trial Chamber I instructions on victim’s applications for participation and reparations in the Lubanga case. The Registry had received 27 new applications to participate in the proceedings and 25 new applications for reparations, which appeared to be linked to the case. Trial Chamber I issued its [...]
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Two great international lawyers from Africa, Ms. Fatou Bensuda (Gambia) and Ms. Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), have been elected respectively as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and as Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Both these African women have had a distinguished career in the area of international legal practice (for their [...]
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On 22 November, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to terminate the case against Muammar Gaddafi (for the full text of the decision see here). It remains to be seen whether anyone from the opposing forces will be tried by the Libyan authorities for killing Gaddafi on 20 October after having [...]
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It is a pleasure to introduce to our readers this guest post from Abebe A. Mulugeta, Doctoral Researcher at the University of Bern, Switzerland; a welcome addition to our extensive coverage of the situation in Libya. His post concerns the late March decision on provisional measures issued by the African Court on Human and People’s Rights [...]
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That is an open-ended question which I got recently. Well, given the grave situation in Libya with its many facets, such a question calls for a somewhat long response; even if time as a variable remains relative. And speaking about time, before getting to the question itself, the response of the international community to the [...]
Filed under: Africa, African Union, International Humanitarian Law, Public International Law, Responsibility to protect, United Nations | 1 Comment »
Following the questions raised about the discharge of the responsibility to protect by Gentian Zyberi in his recent post on the situation in Libya, and the remarks I previously made on the situation in Egypt and the responsibility of the international community, I would like to draw our readers’ attention to a revealing and insightful [...]
Filed under: Africa, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, international justice, Peacekeeping, Public International Law, Responsibility to protect, States, United Nations | 2 Comments »
Charles Ghankay Taylor, the former President of Liberia, was indicted under seal on 7 March 2003 while in office. The indictment was announced on 4 June 2003 on his first trip outside of Liberia. In August 2003 Taylor resigned as president and went into exile in Nigeria. He was transferred to the Special Court for [...]
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On 28 February the EU imposed sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, implementing resolution 1970 (2011) adopted by the UN’s Security Council on 26 February and imposing additional EU measures. The sanctions include an embargo on arms, ammunition and equipment that could be used for the repression of protesters; an assets freeze; and a visa ban [...]
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The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (OTP/ICC) issued a statement on Libya following the adoption by the Security Council of Resolution 1970(2011) (see previous post). It remains to be seen what will be the response of Libya to this statement and whether it will comply with the duty to cooperate imposed upon it [...]
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Deploring what it called ‘the gross and systematic violation of human rights’ in strife-torn Libya, on 26 February the Security Council adopted Resolution 1970 (2011), where it demanded an end to the violence and decided to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court while imposing an arms embargo on the country and a travel [...]
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The list of potential calamities that are like to become more frequent as a result of climate change seems to be growing by the day. Climate change has the potential to affect the enjoyment of human rights and is estimated to affect the most vulnerable populations the most. For some time now, discussions have taken [...]
Filed under: Africa, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law | 2 Comments »
A number of newspapers report this morning that a UNEP report examining oil spills in the Niger region of Nigeria is set to argue that the main proportion of spills causing widespread environmental damage and human suffering in the region is caused by criminal activity. The report (to be published later this year) points out [...]
Filed under: Africa, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, United Nations | 1 Comment »
South Africa has good reasons to be excited. Tomorrow, 11 June 2010, the 19th FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa, this year’s host country of the premier international football tournament. It is the first football World Cup on the African continent. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the opening ceremony in Johannesburg [...]
Filed under: Africa, Human Rights | 3 Comments »
Last week, officials from 27 African states, United Nations envoys and international activists assembled in Dakar, Senegal, for a conference on female circumcision. The aim of the meeting was to encourage the adoption of a universal resolution that explicitly prohibits female genital mutilation as a practice that violates human rights. According to the World Health [...]
Filed under: Africa, African Union, Human Rights, Public International Law, Regional Human Rights | 3 Comments »
In its 2009 report on Italy, pubished on 28 April, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) condemned Italy’s “push-back” policy. The report can be found here: http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/ita/2010-inf-14-eng.htm. This push-back policy means that hundreds of mainly African people trying to reach Italy by boat are intercepted in [...]
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The following is a guest post by Michèle Morel, who is a Ph.D. researcher at the Faculty of Law, Ghent University, Belgium. Her Ph.D. deals with the international legal aspects surrounding environmental displacement. On February 4, 2010, the African Union adopted the decision by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights issued in May [...]
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Africa Legal Aid (ALFA) will be holding a one day conference in The Hague on 26 April 2010, titled “Al-Bashir Arrest Warrant: The World vs Africa or the African Union vs the People of Africa.” The aim is to explore the South/ North dimensions of the emerging regime of international criminal justice and discuss the views [...]
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On International Law Reporter, Prof. Cogan links to a short piece by Ingrid Wuerth describing the recent settlement reached in the lawsuit before a district court in New York filed under the Alien Tort Statute by the relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa against Shell. We have previously blogged about the case here.
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Today at 10 o’clock the Permanent Court of Arbitration will render its decision in the ‘Abyei Arbitration case‘. The case concerns a dispute between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army. The issue to be decided are the boundaries of the oil-rich Abyei region in southern Sudan, which has threatened to disrupt [...]
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Friday, 17 July 2009 is International Justice Day, which this year marks the 11th anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute. As the rest of the world celebrates the advancement of international justice and the efforts of ending impunity for gross violations for human rights, it is unfortunate that Africa’s premier organisation has taken [...]
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The contexts, challenges and prospects for human rights in Africa have changed quite considerably in recent years. Human rights discourses find favour in both political and popular circles, among the ideologues of the state and the interlocutors of civil society, a tribute to the enduring and unfulfilled yearnings for more humane societies deeply rooted in [...]
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