Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Issues
By Ri Yoo Recently, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with the cooperation of the Government of Mongolia, airlifted essential emergency supplies to children living in rural areas of Mongolia severely hit with extreme cold. Supplies included blankets, warm clothing, fuel for heating and for cooking, and hygiene kits. Due to weeks of heavy snowfall, [Read More...]
By Shubra Ohri Thousands of protestors took to the streets in southeast Turkey hours after the Turkish Constitutional Court announced its decision to ban the Democratic Society Party (DTP) on December 11, 2009. The DTP was the only legally recognized pro-Kurdish party in the Turkish political system; Kurds make up about twenty percent of the [Read More...]
By Andrew W. Maki, February 1, 2010 A drawing of Hissene Habre In its historic first judgment, rendered on December 15, 2009, judges of the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights (Court) voted unanimously to dismiss a case for lack of jurisdiction. The complainant, Michelot Yogogombaye, requested that the Court suspend ongoing proceedings initiated [Read More...]
By Whitney Hayes, January 28, 2010 A Swiss People’s Party poster supporting the initiative states, “Stop! Yes to the minaret ban.” On December 16, 2009, Hafid Ouardiri, an Algerian-born Muslim living in Switzerland and former spokesman for the Geneva Mosque, filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights challenging Switzerland’s recent constitutional amendment [Read More...]
By Daniela X. Cornejo, January 25, 2010 On November 24, 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Right (Court or IACtHR) presented its new rules of procedure, describing the reform process as “the product of constructive, participatory, and transparent communication with the different actors and users of the Inter-American System.” The Court received observations regarding the [Read More...]
By Andrew W. Maki, January 23, 2010 Map of the Southern Cameroons On May 27, 2009, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Commission) declared Southern Cameroonians “a people.” Nearly eight months later, the decision remains a topic of vigorous public debate in Cameroon. The recognition of Southern Cameroonians as a people culminated a [Read More...]
By Shahroo Yazdani, January 20, 2010 In the fourteen years since the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has been established, it has made a number of decisions that have angered survivors of the Rwandan genocide. As may be expected, many of these disappointments have been the direct result of acquittal judgments handed down in [Read More...]
by Ri Yoo, December 1, 2009 On May 22, 2009, five teenage girls burned to death in a fire at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Center in St. Ann, Jamaica. Several people were hospitalized, and two more girls died from injuries suffered from the fire. The incident was described by the petitioner, Susan Goffe from Jamaicans [Read More...]
By Soumya Venkatesh, November 11, 2009 American University hosted a Human Rights Defenders series talk on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 co-sponsored by Amnesty International and featuring Professor Juan Mendez. Professor Mendez spoke about transitional justice and its role in the international community, focusing on its success and its problems. Professor Mendez is a visiting professor [Read More...]
