Archive for December, 2007
December 27th, 2007 at 01:12pm
On December 21, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Larry D. Johnson and Dutch Ambassador Frank Majoor signed the Headquarters Agreement for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. According to the agreement, the court that will judge recent assassinations in Lebanon, including that of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005, will be based in The Hague.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has accepted recommendations from the selection panel on judges for the Tribunal. The Tribunal will consist of one international pre-trial judge, three judges to serve in the trial chamber (one Lebanese and two international), five judges to serve in the appeals chamber (two Lebanese and three international), and two alternate judges (one Lebanese and one international).
More on the story is available here.
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December 17th, 2007 at 12:07pm
The BBC reported today that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has pardoned the female rape victim in the “Qatif girl” case. In November, the woman and was sentenced to 200 lashes for the crime of being alone with a male who was not a relative. The woman and her companion were abducted while sitting in a car together and were both gang raped multiple times by seven other men. The rapists were subsequently given prison sentences of up to 9 years.
King Abdullah often issues pardons during Eid al-Adha, which will take place at the end of this week. Human rights groups had been calling on him to change the sentence, but in the aftermath of the pardon some religious conservatives have denounced the king’s decision.
It is not known whether the sentence of the woman’s companion was also lifted.
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December 17th, 2007 at 11:41am
On December 13 the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that three islands in the Caribbean Sea disputed between Colombia and Nicaragua in fact belong to Colombia. Nicaragua had brought action at the ICJ, arguing that it should be granted sovereignty over the islands of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina. Colombia raised preliminary objections that a 1928 treaty and the 1948 Pact of Bogotá settled the issue, and thus the ICJ does not have jurisdiction over the dispute. A 13-4 majority found that the 1928 treaty indeed settled the matter, noting that Nicaragua had not contested the treaty for over 50 years after its signing.
The judges also ruled unanimously that the treaty does not, however, cover the three other disputed cays of Roncador, Quitasueño, and Serrana, nor does it cover the delimitation of the maritime border between the two countries. The ICJ thus has the authority to adjudicate on those matters.
More on the story is available here.
The Court’s press release and judicial opinion can be downloaded here.
The International Criminal Court (also known as the World Court) hears disputes between States and its decisions are binding.
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December 15th, 2007 at 03:17pm
EC President José Manuel Barroso announced an initiative by the Commission to enhance the opportunities for small businesses and to empower consumers by eliminating bottlenecks have limited the benefits of the single market. The package of statutory and regulatory reforms is aimed at reducing barriers to competition by small businesses, reforming markets that are not passing on the benefits of globalization to consumers, and empowering consumers with greater information and better means of pursuing collective redress against businesses. Original press release here.
The document entitled “A Single-Market for 21st Century Europe” sets out the Commission’s policy vision for ensuring that the benefits of globalization reach consumers. More details at EU Citizens’ Agenda.
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December 15th, 2007 at 03:16pm
An international monitoring group has been created by the Council of Europe to implement the Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. The Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) will be composed of between ten and fifteen experts in the field of human rights. Once the Convention takes effect in February of 2008 the group will be formed within the following year and will establish its own methods for monitoring trafficking in human beings within the member states. The Convention has been ratified by Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Georgia, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, has urged more states to ratify it.
The Council of Europe press release can be found here.
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December 10th, 2007 at 07:58pm
December 10 was UN Human Rights Day. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used the occasion to remind the world that the freedoms upheld in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights must apply universally: “The Declaration remains as relevant today as it did on the day it was adopted,†Mr. Ban said. “But the fundamental freedoms enshrined in it are still not a reality for everyone. Too often, Governments lack the political will to implement international norms they have willingly accepted.â€
December 10, 2008 will mark the 60th anniversary of the Declaration. Mr. Ban hopes that the world will use year leading up to the anniversary to reinvigorate efforts to ensure that the document’s freedoms apply to all.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour gave a separate statement.
The full text of the Declaration, adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948, is available here.
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