Kuala Lampur Tribunal: Former US President Bush Guilty of War Crimes

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Valentina Azarov

Today, Friday 18 May 2012, Former US President George W. Bush and seven members of his administration, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo – were found guilty of war crimes following their trial in abstentia by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) – a non-governmental [...]

Filed under: International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, international justice, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »

Exploiting A ‘Dynamic’ Interpretation? The Israeli High Court of Justice Accepts the Legality of Israel’s Quarrying Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Valentina Azarov

Cross-posted from EJIL:Talk!. On 26 December 2011, the Israeli High Court of Justice rendered its judgment in the case concerning Israel’s quarrying activities in the occupied Palestinian territory filed by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, who demanded that Israel terminate its quarrying activities since they violate Israel’s obligation as an Occupying Power to administer the [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International and national law, International Humanitarian Law, international justice, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »

Under the Guise of Security? Population Control by the Occupying Power

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Valentina Azarov

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a new report, on 5 February 2012, that exposes the ways in which Israel controls immigration and nationality in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) through  the population registry, which it established in September 1967. The first census conducted upon its establishment resulted in the exclusion of at least 270,000 individuals. [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law, Publications, Special Coverage Section | Leave a Comment »

Human Rights Watch Under Fire

Posted on July 17, 2009 by David McGrogan

There has been some controversy this week over Human Rights Watch and both its reporting on Israel and its fundraising efforts more generally. The story originated with David Bernstein writing in the Wall Street Journal, but Jeffrey Goldberg‘s article is the most reasonable and informative, and also contains a detailed exchange of emails between Goldberg [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | 3 Comments »

Gaza Conflict Aftermath: so far “the international community has failed spectacularly”

Posted on July 4, 2009 by Valentina Azarov

Two reports have been recently released by the fact-finding missions posted by the major international NGO, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) to the Gaza Strip and South Israel following the 22-day war that took place in the region between December 2008 and January 2009. The Amnesty International investigation team arrived in the Gaza [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International and national law, International Humanitarian Law, international justice, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law, Publications, United Nations | 3 Comments »

A line of selective rhetoric: Israeli Supreme Court fails to enforce the evacuation of ‘unauthorised settlements’ in the occupied West Bank

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Valentina Azarov

On 10 June 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court (HCJ) rendered another stultifying judgment with regards to the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), this time on the evacuation of what the Court refers to as ‘unauthorised settlements’ or squats in the occupied West Bank. It should be noted as a point of clarification that the state and [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International and national law, International Humanitarian Law, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »

Israeli Supreme Court’s take on the obligation to investigate military misconduct

Posted on May 15, 2009 by Valentina Azarov

The Israeli Supreme Court has recently rejected a petition that was filed by two NGO demanding that a criminal investigation be conducted into the 2004 Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, including, amongst other atrocities, the indiscriminate killings that took place in Rafah and the disproportionate damage incurred by the population of the southern [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, international justice, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law, Publications | 1 Comment »

The Quandaries of National Human Rights Litigation – Legitimisation through Resistance?

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Valentina Azarov

Michael Sfard a renowned Israeli human rights lawyer who is often recalled for his work with cases concerning the route of the Separation Wall in the OPT and the founding of the lawyers’ volunteer network, Yesh Din, has recently published an article titled ‘The Price of Internal Legal Opposition to Human Rights Abuses’ in the [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International and national law, International Humanitarian Law, international justice, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations | 3 Comments »

Crossing the Rubicon? Israel closes its National Investigation into the War in Gaza

Posted on April 5, 2009 by Valentina Azarov

A number of developments have taken place since the end of the war in the Gaza Strip between the Israeli army and the Hamas armed brigades. The Gaza Strip, it should be recalled, remains occupied under international humanitarian law, this being also the official legal position of the UN and that which complies with the [...]

Filed under: Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, international justice, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | 3 Comments »

White Phosphorous: A Grey Area?

Posted on February 5, 2009 by David McGrogan

White phosphorous has become well-known in recent years, mainly as a result of the controversy surrounding its use during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the recent conflicts between Israel and Hizbollah and Hamas. It is primarily a smokescreen-producing agent, used to conceal troop movements, and is also a means of illuminating the [...]

Filed under: International Humanitarian Law, Middle East Crisis, Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | 9 Comments »

Can video help bring a warlord to justice?

Posted on January 31, 2009 by matissebh

As readers of this blog are well aware, the trial of Thomas Lubanga Diylo is the first trial at the ICC, what you may not know is that it is also the first time that video has played an integral role in bringing a warlord to the court. Though there is debate about whether the [...]

Filed under: Guest Blogging, Human Rights, ICC, international justice, Non Governmental Organizations | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Human Rights Watch’s 2009 Report

Posted on January 15, 2009 by Ole W. Pedersen

Human Rights Watch’s 2009 report is out. See report here, press release here and introduction by Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, here. Although there is every reason to exercise caution before relying too much on NGO information in general, the Report has some very good points. Alongside the usual and very valid condemnation of authoritarian regimes [...]

Filed under: EC-Law, Human Rights, human rights and business, Non Governmental Organizations, United Nations | Leave a Comment »

African Union Peace and Security Council Teams Up with the Civil Society.

Posted on December 4, 2008 by innomawire

For the second time since its creation, the African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) will be holding a retreat between the 4th and 5th of December 2008 in Livingstone, Zambia. The first retreat, which aimed at revising the rules of procedure of the PSC, was held last year in Senegal. The theme of the [...]

Filed under: African Union, Human Rights, Non Governmental Organizations | Leave a Comment »

New NGO report on human rights violations in North Korea

Posted on September 24, 2008 by franzebert

A report by the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a human rights NGO based in the US, and the US law firm DLL Piper LLP, from 19 September, draws attention to continued human rights violations by North Korea (the report can be found here). The report also calls on the UN General Assembly [...]

Filed under: Non Governmental Organizations, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »

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