Harvard ILJ

Last Tuesday, the Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori was convicted of “crimes against humanity” for his role in the 1990s killings and kidnappings by security forces when his government fought against leftist guerrillas. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Notably, this verdict marks the first time an elected head of state has been [...]

On Wednesday a Manhattan federal district court ruled that several claims brought under the Alien Tort Statute against multinational companies for aiding and abetting the South African apartheid regime may go forward. The claims allege that the defendants, a group that includes dozens of companies such as General Motors, Ford, and IBM, conducted business with [...]

The international community roundly condemned North Korea following the test launch of a missile capable of striking targets throughout East Asia as well as in Alaska and the Hawaiian Islands.  President Obama and other international leaders issued strong rebukes following news of the launch. President Obama, speaking in Prague, called the launch a “provocative action” [...]

After spending time in London, Strasbourg, Baden-Baden, and Prague for G20, NATO, and bilateral US-EU summits, President Obama extended his recent European tour by traveling to Ankara and Istanbul, his first venture into the predominantly Muslim world as US president. Once again reflecting an interest in revitalizing America’s diplomatic ties, Mr. Obama visited the grave [...]

U.S. President Barack Obama committed to taking substantive steps toward nuclear nonproliferation during a recent 8-day diplomatic trip to Europe.  The president said he and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had taken the first steps towards reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles during the G20 Financial Summit in London early this April and would negotiate a new Strategic [...]

Last Wednesday, treaty participants, NGO representatives and landscape experts attended a conference on the European Landscape Convention in Strasbourg. The Convention, which came into force on March 1, 2004, is the first international treaty focused on promoting protection, management, and planning in all aspects of the European landscape. 30 states have ratified the Convention thus [...]

In January, a Spanish judge agreed to pursue a complaint against military officials in Israel, including former defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. The complaint arose from a 2002 air attack on Gaza City that killed 15 Palestinians, mainly children, and wounded 150.  The public prosecutors have now asked that judge to shelve that complaint; the judge [...]

On Wednesday, former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori defended his innocence with regards to human rights abuse claims in a Rio De Janeiro court.  Taking the stand in his own defense, Fujimori vehemently denied responsibility for the murders of 25 people and the kidnappings of 2 others.   These charges stem from alleged actions taken by [...]

Last week, the Hague District Court ruled on the case of Joseph Mpambara, a  Rwandan Hutu allegedly associated with the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The court found Mpambara guilty for the deaths of two Tutsi mothers and their children as well as for the torture of a German doctor, his Tutsi wife and their 2 month-old [...]

A United Nations Human Rights Council working group on arbitrary detentions has issued a legal opinion criticizing Myanmar’s continued detention of local pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  The ruling military junta, which has been in power since 1962, has confined Suu Kyi to her compound in Yangon for 13 of the past 19 years [...]

The National Court in Madrid took steps toward a criminal investigation of six high-level former Bush administration officials pursuant to a complaint filed by a Spanish human rights group. The 98-page complaint alleged that the officials–including the former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, the former Justice Department lawyer John C. Yoo, and the former under [...]

Brazil’s Supreme Court has found in favor of Amazonian Indians in a land dispute with farmers in the remote state of Roraima. The dispute concerned the 4.2 million acre Raposa Serra do Sol reservation and has been closely followed due to its potential importance to other cases involving Indian land rights and the future of [...]