January 29th, 2008 at 08:47am
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has resumed the trial of Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, on eleven counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. This is the first time that an African head of state has been tried before an international tribunal.
Due to security concerns, the trial was transferred from Freetown, Sierra Leone to The Hague, The Netherlands after a six-month delay.
The charges against Mr. Taylor emanate from his alleged support for the Revolutionary United Front, the Sierra Leone rebel group notorious for its conscription of tens of thousands of child soldiers and its practice of severing the limbs of its victims.
The whole story can be viewed here.
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January 28th, 2008 at 01:00pm
Over 1,000 people, including government officials, business leaders, law enforcement personnel, journalists, and entertainers from over 100 nations, convened today in Bali, Indonesia at the beginning of a five-day meeting of the Parties to the UN Convention Against Corruption.
The custodian of the Convention is Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Giving his opening remarks at the meeting today, Mr. Costa reminded participants that “Corruption hurts us all, therefore fighting it is a shared responsibility - we all have a duty and the power to say ‘no’ to corruption.”Mr. Costa highlighted areas where UNODC, the World Bank, and others can provide technical assistance, particularly in the area of asset recovery, which is a key measure in the anti-corruption Convention. Mr. Costa warned that despite political will and good intentions, efforts to recover assets are running into resistance from “middle-level bureaucrats with connections, knowledge and entrenched interests who have a lot to lose.”
Mr. Costa said countries need to explain what they have done to fight corruption and implement the anti-corruption Convention. He also stressed that business should become part of the anti-corruption solution, calling on multilateral organizations to lead by example.
Implemented in December 2005, the UN Convention Against Corruption is the first and only legally binding anti-corruption treaty. It has been signed by 140 States and ratified by 107. The Convention requires states to prevent corruption, make it a criminal offence, cooperate in stamping it out, and return stolen assets. This week’s meeting hopes to create methods for evaluating the treaty’s implementation.
More on the Convention and this week’s meeting is available here and here. Mr. Costa’s opening remarks may be found here.
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January 17th, 2008 at 11:38am
On January 16, Peru asked the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) to adjudicate its ongoing maritime dispute with Chile. Peru claims that the zones in dispute have never been delimited by a treaty or other type of agreement, and thus should be determined by the ICJ in accordance with customary international law.
Two principal areas are disputed. The first is the maritime boundary between the two countries in the Pacific Ocean. The second is a zone within 200 miles of the Peruvian coast, over which Peru claims sovereign rights but which Chile considers part of the high seas.
More on the story is available here.
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January 3rd, 2008 at 09:42am
The ICTY has terminated the provisional release of Mladen MarkaÄ, the former Commander of the Croatian Special Police. MarkaÄ, who is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, was granted provisional release on 2 December 2004. The order terminating his provisional release was made after MarkaÄ was photographed participating in a hunting trip outside his designated residence in violation of his provisional release order. The photographs were published in the local Bilogora media. The Tribunal’s press release can be found here.
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