Cambio de dirección

El blog "Derecho Global" cambia de dirección: a partir de hoy, publicaremos las actualizaciones en la nueva página www.derechoglobalizado.wordpress.com.

CIDH anuncia Primer Foro sobre el Fortalecimiento del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos

Washington, D.C. - La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) anuncia la realización del Primer Foro sobre el Fortalecimiento del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos, el 22 de agosto de 2012 en la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia. Este foro es co-organizado por la CIDH con la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana y la Agencia Nacional de Defensa Jurídica del Estado de Colombia.
El Foro de Bogotá será instalado por el presidente de Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, y contará con la participación del Presidente de la CIDH, José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez.

Entre los panelistas estarán el Comisionado de la CIDH y ex Presidente de la Corte Constitucional de Colombia, Rodrigo Escobar Gil, el Vicepresidente de la CorteIDH, Manuel Ventura-Robles, y el ex Presidente de la CorteIDH Pedro Nikken. Participarán también el director de la Comisión Colombiana de Juristas, Gustavo Gallón, el magistrado del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos Luis López Guerra, y el director de posgrados de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas de la Universidad Javeriana, Luis Fernando Alvarez Londoño. Los panelistas debatirán el tema “El futuro del sistema interamericano de derechos humanos”, en dos módulos separados, los cuales serán coordinados por el Director de la Agencia Nacional de Defensa Jurídica del Estado, Fernando Carrillo Flórez, y por el magistrado de la Corte Constitucional de Colombia y juez electo de la CorteIDH, Humberto Sierra Porto. El evento será clausurado por la Ministra de Relaciones Exteriores de Colombia, María Ángela Holguín, y por la Ministra de Justicia y del Derecho, Ruth Stella Correa.

El actual proceso de reforma de la CIDH: nuevas formas para viejos intentos

Autor(a): David Lovatón Palacios

Una vez más la reforma de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (en adelante CIDH), ha sido y sigue siendo objeto de debate en el seno de la Organización de Estados Americanos (en adelante OEA) por parte de los Estados miembros. En el año 2011 ello se concretó en la conformación del “Grupo de Trabajo especial de reflexión sobre el funcionamiento de la Comisión interamericana de derechos humanos para el fortalecimiento del sistema interamericano de derechos humanos”, creado por el Consejo permanente de la OEA en su sesión ordinaria del 29 de junio del 2011, a partir, por un lado, de una sugerencia formulada por el Ministro de relaciones exteriores de El Salvador y Presidente del Cuadragésimo Primer Periodo Ordinario de Sesiones de la Asamblea General de la OEA llevada a cabo en San Salvador en junio del 2011.

Por otro lado, la otra razón –o la razón de fondo– que gatilló la conformación de este Grupo de Trabajo especial (en adelante GT), fue la presentación en marzo del 2011, por parte de la CIDH, de una propuesta de reforma del artículo 11° de su Reglamento, referido al procedimiento de selección y designación del Secretario Ejecutivo de la CIDH y que, inicialmente, no fue bien recibida por la Secretaría General de la OEA ni por algunos Estados miembros. El 13 de Diciembre del 2011, el GT aprobó un Informe final que puso a  consideración del Consejo permanente de la OEA, el cual lo debatió y aprobó en su sesión del 25 de Enero del 2012.

José Ovalle Favela: La influencia de la jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos: En el derecho interno de los estados latinoamericanos

Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado, nueva serie, año XLV, núm. 134, mayo agosto de 2012, pp. 595-623.
Resumen: En este trabajo el autor analiza la influencia de la jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos en la evolución reciente del derecho interno de los Estados latinoamericanos. Para este fin se ocupa de la creación y funciones de la Comisión Interamericana y la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. De esta última, estudia su integración y su competencia, tanto consultiva como contenciosa, así como las características de su jurisprudencia. También aborda el tema del control de la convencionalidad tanto en sede internacional, que ejerce la Corte Interamericana, cuanto a la que en sede nacional o interna compete a los poderes internos de cada Estado, particularmente a los jueces. Por último, el autor analiza cinco casos específicos.

Fuente: Biblioteca Jurídica Virtual

Gaines, Olsen, & Sørensen: Liberalising Trade in the EU and the WTO: A Legal Comparison

Sanford E. Gaines (Aarhus Universitet), Birgitte Egelund Olsen (Aarhus Universitet), & Karsten Engsig Sørensen (Aarhus Universitet) have published Liberalising Trade in the EU and the WTO: A Legal Comparison (Cambridge Univ. Press 2012). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This comparison of EU and WTO approaches to common trade-liberalisation challenges brings together eighteen authors from Europe and America. Together they explore fundamental legal issues, such as the role of general principles of law, the role of the judiciary in the development of law, the effect of the principle of non-discrimination and the elimination of non-discriminatory barriers to trade. The contributions also examine the most recent developments in trade law across a full range of trade issues, including TBT and SPS, services, intellectual property, customs rules, safeguards, anti-dumping and government procurement. Adopting a comparative perspective throughout, this volume sheds light on today's trade law and suggests paths forward for each system through the perennial tensions between open, non-discriminatory trade and strongly held national values and objectives.

Source: International Law Reporter

Cohen: Globalization and Sovereignty: Rethinking Legality, Legitimacy, and Constitutionalism

Jean L. Cohen (Columbia Univ. - Political Science) has published Globalization and Sovereignty: Rethinking Legality, Legitimacy, and Constitutionalism (Cambridge Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

Sovereignty and the sovereign state are often seen as anachronisms; Globalization and Sovereignty challenges this view. Jean L. Cohen analyzes the new sovereignty regime emergent since the 1990s evidenced by the discourses and practice of human rights, humanitarian intervention, transformative occupation, and the UN targeted sanctions regime that blacklists alleged terrorists. Presenting a systematic theory of sovereignty and its transformation in international law and politics, Cohen argues for the continued importance of sovereign equality. She offers a theory of a dualistic world order comprised of an international society of states, and a global political community in which human rights and global governance institutions affect the law, policies, and political culture of sovereign states. She advocates the constitutionalization of these institutions, within the framework of constitutional pluralism. This book will appeal to students of international political theory and law, political scientists, sociologists, legal historians, and theorists of constitutionalism.

Source: International Law Reporter

Evans: The Right to Reparation in International Law for Victims of Armed Conflict

Christine Evans (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) has published The Right to Reparation in International Law for Victims of Armed Conflict (Cambridge Univ. Press 2012).

Here's the abstract:
In this evaluation of the international legal standing of the right to reparation and its practical implementation at the national level, Christine Evans outlines State responsibility and examines the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, the Articles on State Responsibility of the International Law Commission and the convergence of norms in different branches of international law, notably human rights law, humanitarian law and international criminal law. Case studies of countries in which the United Nations has played a significant role in peace negotiations and post-conflict processes allow her to analyse to what extent transitional justice measures have promoted State responsibility for reparations, interacted with human rights mechanisms and prompted subsequent elaboration of domestic legislation and reparations policies. In conclusion, she argues for an emerging customary right for individuals to receive reparations for serious violations of human rights and a corresponding responsibility of States.


Source: International Law Reporter

Benvenisti & Downs: Prospects for the Increased Independence of International Tribunals

Eyal Benvenisti (Tel Aviv Univ. - Law) & George W. Downs (New York Univ. - Politics) have posted Prospects for the Increased Independence of International Tribunals (German Law Journal, Vol. 12, No. 5, 2011). Here's the abstract:

In this essay we draw upon the theoretical and empirical literatures on the evolution of court independence within modern democratic states to identify aspects of their political environments that have fostered judicial independence at the domestic level. We then extend that analysis to examine the role that these or similar factors are likely to play in facilitating the independence and legitimacy of international tribunals at the global level. We focus on two such broad aspects of the global environment not normally associated with the independence of international tribunals: the extent of political division between states that are parties to an international tribunal (interstate competition), and the extent of political division within states between state executives and national courts (inter-branch competition). We suggest further that the conditions that facilitate independence have increased in recent years and are likely to continue to do so.

Source: International Law Reporter

Raustiala: Institutional Proliferation and the International Legal Order

Kal Raustiala (Univ. of California, Los Angeles - Law) has posted Institutional Proliferation and the International Legal Order (in Interdisciplinary Perspectives on International Law and International Relations:
 The State of the Art, Jeffrey L. Dunoff & Mark A. Pollack eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

Since the cataclysm of World War II, the international order has grown increasingly institutionalized. Hundreds of international organizations and tens of thousands of treaties now exist, many with widespread – and in some cases nearly universal – membership. Compared to earlier eras, the international system today is far more densely populated by rules and institutions.

Call for Papers: Interfaces between International and National Legal Orders: An International Rule of Law Perspective

Amsterdam Center for International Law

CALL FOR PAPERS

Interfaces between International and National Legal Orders:
An International Rule of Law Perspective

The Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL) is organising a seminar on 14-15 March 2013 and invites paper proposals from scholars and practitioners of law and related disciplines.

The Seminar Theme
The seminar explores the evolving interfaces between international and national legal orders from the perspective of the international rule of law.

In this seminar, the international rule of law concerns international law regulating states, as well as international institutions and other subjects of international law. The international rule of law could be narrowly defined to encompass procedural requirements, or more broadly to include inter alia human rights, democracy, the separation of powers, and/or accountability.

Concluye sin acuerdo Conferencia para Tratado sobre Comercio de Armas

28 de julio, 2012 - La Conferencia para el Tratado sobre Comercio de Armas concluyó anoche sin un acuerdo tras cuatro semanas de negociaciones en las que participaron más de 170 países con el objetivo de regular esa actividad comercial.

Las conversaciones sobre el Tratado —que precisa adoptarse por consenso— continuarán en los próximos meses y el borrador podría ser presentado antes de fin de año a la Asamblea General de la ONU para someterlo a voto, en cuyo caso tendría que obtener la aprobación de dos tercios de los 193 Estados miembros.

Muchos delegados se mostraron decepcionados por no haber alcanzado un acuerdo pero reconocieron que hubo grandes avances y expresaron confianza en que el Tratado se materializará pronto.

Algunos países, entre ellos Estados Unidos y Rusia solicitaron más tiempo para resolver algunas diferencias en la redacción del documento.

El presidente de la Conferencia, Roberto García Moritán, comentó que las delegaciones sabían que iba a ser muy difícil conseguir un Tratado, pero destacó que si bien al inicio de la negociaciones había diferentes puntos de vista por parte de los países, al final de las conversaciones la gran mayoría estaba de acuerdo.

Fuente: UN News Center


Artículo sobre el mismo tema: A Dreafty Treaty?: The Holes in the Draft Arms Trade Treaty, de Global Policy Journal

Kulick: Global Public Interest in International Investment Law

Andreas Kulick has published Global Public Interest in International Investment Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

The strengths of international investment law – above all, a strong focus on investor interests and an effective adjudication and enforcement system – also entail its weaknesses: it runs the danger of impeding or even sanctioning the host states' legitimate regulatory interests and ignoring other fields of public international law. How does it cope with public interest concerns such as human rights, the environment or the fight against corruption? At the heart of this book lies a fresh approach towards a general theory of such global public interest considerations in the investment realm. Delineating how and why those considerations matter, and why the current system does not accommodate them properly, Andreas Kulick fleshes out general principles and customary international law as defences the host state may raise against alleged investor rights infringements and promotes proportionality as the appropriate balancing mechanism.

Source: International Law Reporter

Dinniss: Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War

Heather Harrison Dinniss (Swedish National Defence College) has published Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War (Cambridge Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

The information revolution has transformed both modern societies and the way in which they conduct warfare. Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War analyses the status of computer network attacks in international law and examines their treatment under the laws of armed conflict. The first part of the book deals with the resort to force by states and discusses the threshold issues of force and armed attack by examining the permitted responses against such attacks. The second part offers a comprehensive analysis of the applicability of international humanitarian law to computer network attacks. By examining the legal framework regulating these attacks, Heather Harrison Dinniss addresses the issues associated with this method of attack in terms of the current law and explores the underlying debates which are shaping the modern laws applicable in armed conflict.

Source: International Law Reporter

Globalización del Derecho. Aspectos jurídicos y derechos humanos, de William Guillermo Jiménez

En el presente trabajo se explora la relación entre derecho y globalización, con el propósito de establecer futuros campos de investigación. Se inicia con una introducción acerca de los efectos de la globalización sobre el Estado nacional, para pasar luego a una breve mirada sobre el significado de la globalización. En tercer lugar, se presentan los principales temas, problemas y focos de interés encontrados sobre la relación entre derecho y globalización, especialmente el tema de los derechos humanos. Finalmente, se realizan algunas conclusiones, en las que se destaca la importancia de abrir nuevos campos de estudio sobre globalización debido a la necesidad de regulación que requieren los fenómenos globalizados.

Enlace para la publicación:  ESAP, Revista Nova et Vetera

El Día de la Justicia Internacional, Más que la Justicia Penal

Durante la primera Conferencia de Revisión del Estatuto de Roma, llevada a cabo en Kampala, Uganda, en Junio de 2011, los Estados partes decidieron unánimemente reconocer la fecha del 17 de julio como el Día de la Justicia Internacional. Esta fecha conmemora la adopción del Estatuto de Roma, tratado por medio del cual se creó la Corte Penal Internacional, y pretende impulsar el compromiso de los Estados en la lucha contra la impunidad de los crímenes internacionales.

La investigación y sanción de los responsables de graves violaciones de los derechos humanos y del derecho internacional humanitario es importante por razones éticas, jurídicas, políticas e institucionales. La sanción penal contribuye asimismo al restablecimiento del derecho a la justicia y de la dignidad de las víctimas.

Espósito: Jus Cogens and Jurisdictional Immunities of States at the International Court of Justice: A Conflict Does Exist

Carlos Espósito (University Autónoma of Madrid - Law) has posted Jus Cogens and Jurisdictional Immunities of States at the International Court of Justice: A Conflict Does Exist (Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 21, 2012). Here's the abstract:

In its judgment of 3 February 2012 in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v Italy: Greece intervening), the International Court of Justice has considered the relationship between jus cogens and the rule of State immunity. The Court has denied the existence of a jus cogens exception to the rule of State jurisdictional immunities based primarily on the distinction between peremptory norms as rules of substance and jurisdictional immunities as rules of procedure. For the Court, a conflict between rules on jurisdictional immunities, 'essentially procedural in nature,' and substantive rules of jus cogens is conceptually impossible.

Mavroidis: Trade in Goods (Second Edition)

Petros Mavroidis (Columbia Univ. - Law) has published the second edition of Trade in Goods (Oxford Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

This new edition of Trade in Goods is an authoritative work on international trade by one of the most influential scholars in the field. It provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of every WTO agreement dealing with trade in goods. The focus of the book is on the reasoning behind the various WTO agreements and their provisions, and the manner in which they have been understood in practice. It introduces both the historic as well as the economic rationale for the emergence of the multilateral trading system, before dealing with WTO practice in all areas involving trade in goods. It contests the claim that the international trade agreements themselves represent 'incomplete contracts', realized through interpretation by the WTO and other judicial bodies. The book comprehensively analyses the WTO's case law, and it argues that a more rigorous theoretical approach is needed to ensure a greater coherence in the interpretation of the core provisions regulating trade in goods.

Alter: The Multiple Roles of International Courts and Tribunals: Enforcement, Dispute Settlement, Constitutional and Administrative Review

Karen J. Alter (Northwestern Univ. - Political Science) has posted The Multiple Roles of International Courts and Tribunals: Enforcement, Dispute Settlement, Constitutional and Administrative Review (in International Law and International Relations: Synthesizing Insights from Interdisciplinary Scholarship, Jeffrey L. Dunoff & Mark A. Pollack eds., forthcoming). Here's the abstract:

This chapter is part of an upcoming interdisciplinary volume on international law and politics. The chapter defines four judicial roles states have delegated to international courts (ICs) and documents the delegation of dispute settlement, administrative review, enforcement and constitutional review jurisdiction to ICs based on a coding of legal instruments defining the jurisdiction of 25 ICs. I show how the design of ICs varies by judicial role and argue that the delegation of multiple roles to ICs helps explain the shift in IC design to include compulsory jurisdiction and access for nonstate actors to initiate litigation. I am interested in the multiple roles ICs play because they allow us to appreciate the many different contributions ICs make to international politics. ICs do oversee state compliance with international agreements, but this is not all they do. Finally, I explain the relevance of this analysis for two prevalent debates regarding ICs; 1) whether we should conceive of ICs as Agents or Trustees and 2) whether compulsory jurisdiction and private litigant access for ICs inherently features undermine national sovereignty.

Source: International Law Reporter

The Structure of Global Law: Fracture, Fluidity, Permeability, and Polycentricity

Larry Catá Backer
The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law
July 1, 2012
CPE Working Paper No. 2012-7

Abstract:     

Global law can be understood as the systematization of anarchy, as the management of a loosely intertwined universe of autonomous governance frameworks operating dynamically across borders and grounded in functional differentiation among governance communities. Global law is a way of pointing to an emerging universe of systems that share characteristics and whose interactions lend them to organization; it is the as the law of non-state governance systems. The structure of global law can be understood as an amalgamation of four fundamental characteristics that together define a new order in form that is, in some respects, the antithesis of the orderliness and unity of the law-state system it will displace (though not erase). The essay considers the structure of global law in this context, understood as an amalgamation of four fundamental characteristics that together define a new order in form that is, in some respects, the antithesis of the orderliness and unity of the law-state system it will displace (though not erase). These four fundamental characteristics — fracture, fluidity, permeability, and polycentricity — comprise the fundamental structure of global law. Fracture, fluidity, permeability and polycentricity are the basic characteristics of global law, the systematization of which marks its field boundaries. These also serve as the structural foundations of its constitutional element, its substantive element, and its process element. From that systematization one can derive a method of theorizing the emerging framework of the unity of disunity in governance, in which law and governance systems multiply within a discernible internal logic, while the objects of regulation remain constant. This essay continues work on the evolution of a "law" beyond that of the domestic legal orders of states and the international law frameworks that serve as an expression of state based collective governance. To that extent, it seeks to liberate theory both from the ideological constraints of the state system and as well from the limitations of earlier work in transnational law. To consider the possibility of global law, of law/governance beyond the state, it is necessary to avoid attaching its framework either to the state or to law (as traditionally and narrowly understood as a product of the state).

Source with link for the publication: Social Science Research Nework

Legg: The Margin of Appreciation in International Human Rights Law: Deference and Proportionality

Andrew Legg (Essex Court Chambers) has published The Margin of Appreciation in International Human Rights Law: Deference and Proportionality (Oxford Univ. Press 2012). Here's the abstract:

The margin of appreciation is a judicial doctrine whereby international courts allow states to have a measure of diversity in their interpretation of human rights treaty obligations. The doctrine is at the heart of some of the most important international human rights decisions. Does it undermine the universality of human rights? How should judges decide whether to give this margin of appreciation to states? How can lawyers make best use of arguments for or against the margin of appreciation?

This book answers these questions, and broadens the discussion on the margin of appreciation by including material beyond the ECHR system. It provides a comprehensive justification of the doctrine, and catalogues the key cases affecting the doctrine in practice.

Source: International Law Reporter

CALL FOR PANELS: 2013 Commission on Legal Pluralism (CLP) conference

The call for panels for the 2013 Commission on Legal Pluralism (CLP) conference is closing on August 3, 2012.

This conference is organized in conjunction with the IUAES Congress entitled ‘Evolving Humanity, Emerging Worlds’ in Manchester (UK), and will take place on August 5-10, 2013 (see http ://www . iuaes2013 . org/).
Please directly upload your title, a short abstract of less than 300 characters, and a long abstract of less than 250 words, via the IUAES online proposal form.  The URL for that form is:
http ://www . nomadit . co . uk/iuaes/iuaes2013/panelproposal . php5. The IUAES will not be able to accept panel proposals after that date. Please also note that the title should be appended (IUAES Commission on Legal Pluralism).

Time for Democracy 2.0? The Launch of the Manifesto For A Global Democracy

After decades of democratization across Eastern Europe and Latin America and now the democratic elections taking place in countries like Egypt and Libya in the wake of the Arab Spring revolutions – one could be forgiven for thinking that the world is fast becoming a remarkably democratic place.

Sadly, however, this is not the case. Democracy may have grown in form, yet it is retracting in substance. Citizens of many countries have fought so hard for democracy in its traditional sense of free and fair elections and representative politicians, only to discover that, meanwhile, the world has changed so much that this type of democracy - Democracy 1.0 - no longer makes much sense in the globalized, interconnected, borderless world in which we now live.

As Argentinean writer and former politician Fernando Iglesias recently declared – "everything has gone global except democracy." We have a global marketplace, global communications, global institutions, global risks like climate change, and a global financial crisis.

Humanity’s Law, Ruti G. Teilel

Reviewed by Gerd Hankel, Research Fellow, Hamburg Institute for Social Research

In Ruti Teitel’s view there is absolutely no doubt that we live in a world in which legal relationships are undergoing ever more significant change, a fact of which she informs the reader right at the beginning of her book. States alone are no longer the main actors; instead persons and peoples are assuming greater prominence. Their interests and needs for protection increasingly dictate the content of international law which is becoming humanity’s law as a result.

Call for Submissions: Climate Justice in International Law

The Irish Yearbook of International Law has issued a call for submissions for a symposium issue on "Climate Justice in International Law." Here's the call:

The Editors of the Irish Yearbook of International Law invite submissions for a special symposium issue on Climate Justice in International Law. Symposium articles should not exceed 12,000 words in length and should not be published or under consideration for publication elsewhere. In addition to symposium articles, papers on general issues of international law are welcome for the Articles sections and reviewed on an ongoing basis. Authors are asked to conform to the Hart Publishing house style. Submissions, comprising a brief 100 word abstract, article and confirmation of exclusive submission, can be sent to both Siobhán Mullally (s.mullally@ucc.ie) and Fiona de Londras (fiona.delondras@ucd.ie) by 31 August 2012. Initial enquiries can be directed to either or both Editors. Further information on the Yearbook is available here.

Source: International Law Reporter

Winkler: The Human Right to Water: Significance, Legal Status and Implications for Water Allocation

Inga T. Winkler (Legal Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation) has published The Human Right to Water: Significance, Legal Status and Implications for Water Allocation (Hart Publishing 2012). Here's the abstract:

The United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognised the human right to water in 2010. This formal recognition has put the issue high on the international agenda, but by itself leaves many questions unanswered. This book addresses this gap and clarifies the legal status and meaning of the right to water through a detailed analysis of its legal foundations, legal nature, normative content and corresponding State obligations.

Universal Jurisdiction Revisited: An alternative to the International Criminal Court?

On July 1, the International Criminal Court (ICC) turned ten years old. This milestone prompted much analysis and some mixed reviews of the court's performance. The ICC recorded its first verdict in March 2012, but there are serious concerns about its procedure and efficiency, patchy international endorsement, and perceived bias. These challenges will be compounded by funding issues and an increased workload as the court faces an uncertain role in the legal fallout from a slew of recent internal conflicts—especially Syria. (Click here to see the Ethics & International Affairs interview with Antonio Franceschet on the ICC's ten-year anniversary).

The International Court of Justice and the UN Human Rights Commission have called for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to face trial at the ICC. The New York Bar Association recently wrote a letter to the UN Security Council urging it to refer Syria to the ICC: "Because Syria is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, any crimes committed by the Syrian government…threaten to go unpunished absent Security Council action."  There must be a Security Council mandate to refer a case to the ICC, as was the case with Gaddafi and Libya, but Russia and China continue to block this route.

Reflexiones sobre le impacto del Estatuto de Roma en su 10° aniversario

3/7/2012 El 1 de Julio se cumple el décimo aniversario de la Corte Penal Internacional (CPI). En tal día en 2002, el Estatuto de Roma entró en vigor para establecer el primer tribunal penal permanente e internacional.

Para conmemorar este hito, repasamos la primera década de existencia de la CPI y analizamos cuál es el futuro de la primera gran institución internacional del siglo XXI. Para conocer la realidad de la corte desde dentro, el ICTJ entrevistó a la juez Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi. Jurista y diplomática argentina, Fernández de Gurmendi es también profesora visitante en la Academia de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Humanitario de la Facultad de Leyes de la American University de Washington.

Rule of law key to implementing responsibility to protect principle, says UN official

27 June 2012 – The rule of law is key to the implementation of the ‘responsibility to protect’ principle, often referred to as R2P, and the prevention of atrocities, a United Nations senior legal official stressed today.

“R2P represents an important commitment by the international community to protect populations from egregious crimes,” the Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Patricia O’Brien, said at a roundtable discussion on the R2P concept at the 55th annual meeting of the Russian Association of International Law in Moscow.

“The international community has a responsibility to help States meet those obligations, or to step in when States manifestly fail to do so […] These obligations are anchored in international law, and reflect obligations of humanity,” she added.

Convocatoria coloquios de derecho internacional 2012 "El aporte de la Jurisprudencia al Derecho Internacional del siglo XXI"

La Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales de la Universidad de Concepción convoca a los Coloquios de Derecho Internacional 2012 como forma de contribuir a la generación de un nuevo espacio académico a nivel nacional para la reflexión, discusión y difusión del Derecho Internacional, en un marco en que profesores e investigadores puedan compartir sus trabajos y participar en un debate abierto a la comunidad.

En esta ocasión la convocatoria se realizará en torno al tema “El aporte de la Jurisprudencia al Derecho Internacional del siglo XXI”, por la importancia que se atribuye a la solución pacífica de las controversias internacionales por medios jurisdiccionales, especialmente considerando la labor de los tribunales internacionales de diverso orden que hoy existen.

UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty

From 2-27 July, all countries of the world will come together in New York to negotiate what is seen as the most important initiative ever regarding conventional arms regulation within the United Nations. A robust arms trade treaty can make a difference for millions of people confronted with insecurity, deprivation and fear.

More infos: Website of the Conference

Rio+20: $513 billion pledged towards sustainable developmentRio+20: $513 billion pledged towards sustainable development

22 June 2012 – At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), some $513 billion in funding has been committed by governments, the private sector, civil society and other groups to achieve a sustainable future.

“From the very beginning we have said that Rio+20 is about implementation and concrete action,” said Rio+20's Secretary-General, Sha Zukang, at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, today. “The commitments that we share with you today demonstrate that governments, the UN systems, and the nine major groups are committed and serious about implementation.”

A wide range of actions have also been pledged during Rio+20. These include planting 100 million trees, empowering 5,000 women entrepreneurs in green economy businesses in Africa, and recycling 800,000 tons of polyvinyl chloride (commonly known as PVC) – one of the most widely used plastics – per year.

Call for Submissions: Sustainable Development and International Investment Law: Bridging the Divide

The Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment has issued a call for submissions for papers on the topic "Sustainable Development and International Investment Law: Bridging the Divide" for publication in the Yearbook on International Investment Law & Policy. Here's the call:

Sustainable Development and International Investment Law: Bridging the Divide

We have seen a significant increase over the past decade in the number of investment treaties and treaty-based disputes, each contributing to the vast and evolving international investment regime, and each with important implications for sustainable development.

Knight & Egerton: The Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect

W. Andy Knight (Univ. of Alberta - Political Science) & Frazer Egerton (Government of Nova Scotia) have published The Routledge Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect (Routledge 2012). The table of contents is here. Here's the abstract:

This Handbook offers a comprehensive examination of the Responsibility to Protect norm in world politics, which aims to end mass atrocities against civilians. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) is amongst the most significant norms in global politics. As the authoritative guide to R2P, this edited volume gathers together the most respected and insightful voices to address key issues related to this emerging norm.


Source: International Law Reporter

UNDP Rule of Law Annual Global Report 2011

UNDP’s 2011 Annual Report showcases the results achieved by UNDP’s Global Programme for Strengthening the Rule of Law in Crisis-affected and Fragile Situations in 37 crisis-affected countries.

Highlights

• In Somalia, UNDP has facilitated the recruitment of more than 14,000 police officers and the creation of mobile courts, legal aid centres and sexual assault referral centres. This has increased the ability of people to access the formal justice system.
• In Afghanistan, UNDP supports the remuneration of the 137,000 strong Afghan National Police force and pioneered the development of the force’s first community security initiatives.
• In Colombia, support to the development of a comprehensive national framework for victims’ rights is set to provide reparations for approximately 400,000 victims by 2014. By April 2012, 75,000 victims had already been provided with compensation.

Ceremony for the solemn undertaking of the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda

Today, 15 June 2012, Fatou Bensouda made her solemn undertaking and formally took office as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during a ceremony held at the seat of the Court in The Hague. Ms Bensouda (the Gambia) was elected at the latest session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (ASP) in December 2011 for a nine-year term.

In accordance with article 45 of the Rome Statute, founding treaty of the ICC, the ceremony was held in open court. The ceremony was presided over by ICC President Sang-Hyun Song. Referring to Ms Bensouda’s wealth of prosecutorial experience and staunch international support, ICC President Song stated, “I am confident that her strong independent voice, legal expertise and genuine concern for human rights issues will contribute greatly to the continued fight against impunity”.

About the Rio+20 Conference, 20-22 June 2012

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) is being organized in pursuance of General Assembly Resolution 64/236 (A/RES/64/236), and will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 10th anniversary of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg.

Corte Constitucional avala ingreso de Colombia a la OCDE

La Corte Constitucional declaró exequible la Ley 1479 del 2011, que aprobó el acuerdo para la vinculación de Colombia como miembro del Centro de Desarrollo de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE) y la decisión que así lo estableció.

La Ley 1479 cumplió en debida forma las etapas, el procedimiento y los requisitos constitucionales y legales exigidos para su expedición, advirtió la Corte.

En cuanto a su contenido, la corporación indicó que no afecta la soberanía nacional, pues la norma fue convenida libremente, respetando los principios del Derecho Internacional.

Día mundial contra el trabajo infantil - Tema de 2012: Derechos humanos y justicia social... erradiquemos el trabajo infantil

La Conferencia de Ámsterdam de 1997 sobre la lucha contra las formas más intolerables del trabajo infantil y la Conferencia Internacional de Oslo sobre el Trabajo Infantil de 1997, señalaron la atención a la urgente necesidad de una acción mundial concertada para poner fin al trabajo infantil, al instar a que se amplíe la recopilación de información, estadísticas e investigación empírica que ayudaría a informar esta acción.

Doctor Humberto Sierra Porto nuevo juez de la Corte Interamericana

El Doctor Humberto Sierra Porto profesor de la Universidad Externado de Colombia fue nombrado como nuevo juez de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. El Doctor Humberto Sierra es Investigador del Centro de Estudios y Constitucionales Carlos Restrepo Piedrahita y actualmente es Magistrado de la Corte Constitucional colombiana. Fue el ponente de la Sentencia C- 141 de 2010 que declaró inconstitucional el referendo reeleccionista para una segunda vez del Presidente de la República.  Aquí la biografía del Dr. Sierra en la página del Instituto. Aquí en la página de la Corte Constitucional. La noticia en el Espectador aquí.  Noticia de El Tiempo aquí. 

 Fuente: Iureamicorum

Arato: Constitutional Transformation in the ECtHR: Strasbourg's Expansive Recourse to External Rules of International Law

Julian Arato (New York Univ. - Law) has posted Constitutional Transformation in the ECtHR: Strasbourg's Expansive Recourse to External Rules of International Law (Brooklyn Journal of International Law, Vol. 37, no. 2, p. 348). Here's the abstract:

The European Court of Human Rights is a constituted judicial body, established by international treaty among the member States of the Council of Europe. Yet it can hardly be described as a static creature of the Parties.

The Court has undergone dramatic constitutional change since its inception, resulting in an organization significantly more autonomous, independent, and robust in its maturity. Certain important changes have been achieved through formal amendment by the Parties. At the same time, however, the constitution of the ECtHR has undergone a quieter, informal kind of development – through the Court’s own practice in the discharge of its normal functions. Change of this latter type may be called constitutional transformation, by contrast to formal constitutional amendment. This paper is about the transformative effect of the Court’s approach to the interpretation of its constituent instrument, the ECHR. More specifically, the focus is on its approach to one particular technique of interpretation, codified at VCLT 31(3)(c) (providing for the consideration of external sources of international law). On the one hand, as is often recognized, the Court relies on the technique to ground a dramatic and evolutive mode of treaty interpretation – expanding the substantive rights of the Convention in light of sources external to it. Yet on the other hand, I want to suggest, the Court gives 31(3)(c) itself an astonishingly broad construction, to justify considering an extraordinary array of external sources – thereby expanding its own material competence to develop the Convention on the basis of developments outside of the Convention. This latter dimension of the Court’s interpretive approach, I argue, has brought about a genuine constitutional transformation.

Source: International Law Reporter

Nuevo ente de DDHH no deslegitima a CIDH, dice secretaria de Unasur

La eventual creación de un nuevo organismo suramericano sobre derechos humanos no busca destruir lo avanzado, aseguró la Secretaria de la UNASUR, la colombiana María Emma Mejía.

Una propuesta ecuatoriana para crear la instancia fue analizada durante dos días en una cita en Quito de los representantes de los países miembros de la Unión de Naciones Suramericanas, Unasur, y se definirá en noviembre, en una cumbre presidencial del organismo.

Call for Papers: Regionalism and Feminism: How regionalism impacts on women's lives

The Feminism and International Law Interest Group of the European Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for a workshop as part of the 5th ESIL Biennial Conference. Here's the call:

Feminism and International Law Interest Group
Call for Papers
5th ESIL Biennial Conference: Interest Group Workshops
13th September 2012, Valencia Spain

Call for Papers: The Political Economy of International Organizations

A call for papers has been issued for the 6th Annual Conference on the Political Economy of International Organizations, to take place February 7–9, 2013, at the Universities of Mannheim and Heidelberg. Here's the call:
Call for papers:
6th Annual Conference on the Political Economy of International Organizations
February 7-9, 2013, Universities of Mannheim and Heidelberg, Germany

Sesión del Comité de los Derechos del Niño y Conferencia Internacional del Trabajo

El Comité de los Derechos del Niño se encuentra por su 60ta sesión del 29 de mayo al 15 de junio 2012, acá las informaciones: agendas, programa de trabajo, informe sobre estados.

Del 30 de mayo al 14 de junio también se desarrolla la 101.a reunión de la Conferencia Internacional del Trabajo. Además de los puntos inscritos de oficio, los temas son: elaboración de una recomendación autónoma sobre el Piso de Protección Social, la crisis del empleo de los jóvenes, principios y derechos fundamentales en el trabajo, y Myanmar. Acá se encuentra toda la información.

Charles Taylor, condenado a 50 años por instigar crímenes en Sierra Leona

30 Mayo 2012 - Se trata del primer expresidente condenado a una pena de cárcel impuesta por un tribunal internacional. La sentencia consideró que los crímenes, entre los que se encuentran asesinatos, mutilaciones y violaciones en público de mujeres, destacaban por su "brutalidad".

El Tribunal Especial para Sierra Leona (TESL) condenó este miércoles a 50 años de cárcel al expresidente de Liberia Charles Taylor por instigar, a cambio de diamantes, crímenes "atroces" cometidos durante la guerra civil que asoló a su vecino país africano entre 1991 y 2002.

Guide on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The UNOG Library offers a Guide on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This guide will help you find resources focusing on the Declaration. It provides links to relevant documents related to the history and the drafting process of the Declaration. It also highlights the collections of the UNOG Library on the topic - both print and online resources (books and articles). In addition, key UN Resources, websites, news feeds (RSS, twitter) and videos have been selected by your UNOG librarians to help you to keep up-to-date on this subject.

Source: UNOG Library

Head, Mann, and Kozlina on Transnational Governance

Michael Head, Scott Mann, and Simon Kozlina (eds), Transnational Governance: Emerging Models of Global Legal Regulation (Ashgate, 2012) has just been published.

The book description reads:

As globalization continues to spread and evolve, so nation-states attempt to govern financialization, tax evasion, corruption, terrorism, civil and military conflicts and environmental dangers, social polarization and the complexities in human rights implementation, by institutional and transnational means. This volume discusses these issues from different legal perspectives and highlights the challenges of governing human activity in an age of remarkable interconnectedness.

Covering a broad range of policy areas and analysis of emerging forms of governance from liberal to critical and Marxist, the chapters are legal in their approach and form an important contribution to the growing study of emergent forms of authority, coordination and power developing in response to the challenges presented by some of the key contemporary governance issues in the first half of the twenty-first century.

Source: Juris Diversitas

Podemos erradicar la pobreza – 2015 – Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio

Se ha logrado ya un enorme progreso hacia los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio. La pobreza sigue disminuyendo en todo el mundo, la cantidad de niños que asisten a la escuela primaria es mayor que nunca, hubo un descenso espectacular en la mortalidad infantil, se ha ampliado en gran medida el acceso al agua potable, y las inversiones dedicadas a combatir el paludismo, el SIDA y la tuberculosis han salvado millones de vidas.

Los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio están logrando una real diferencia en la vida de las personas y, con un firme liderazgo y una fuerte responsabilidad, este progreso puede ampliarse en la mayoría de los países del mundo para la fecha fijada como meta, 2015.

Los negocios contra la corrupción: implementación del 10mo. principio del Pacto Global de la ONU contra la corrupción

Existen diversas razones por las cuales la eliminación de la corrupción se está convirtiendo en una prioridad máxima dentro de la comunidad empresarial. En los últimos años, en general, la confianza entre inversores, clientes, empleados y el público ha sido socavada por una ola de escándalos éticos empresariales. Además, se están investigando o procesando varios casos de soborno importantes. Las empresas no prestaron suficiente atención o prefirieron ignorar las prácticas del personal y de los representantes exteriores, ahora se están dando cuenta cada vez más cuál es su responsabilidad por las acciones del personal, las empresas asociadas, socios y agentes.

El rápido desarrollo de normas de administración corporativa en todo el mundo también está llevando a las empresas a centrar su atención en medidas anticorrupción como parte de su mecanismo para proteger su reputación y los intereses de sus accionistas. Cada vez aumentan más sus controles internos teniendo en cuenta la ética y la integridad y un número cada vez mayor de gerentes de inversión buscan que estos controles prueben que las empresas están bien manejadas y que existe una buena práctica de los negocios.

Ginebra acoge reunión anual de Comités de la Convención Sobre Porhibición Minas Antipersonal

21 de mayo, 2012 - Más de 36 países impulsan programas de desminado con el objetivo de terminar con la amenaza que suponen esos artefactos y dar un mejor uso a las tierras afectadas.

Los avances de esos programas serán presentados en la reunión anual de los Comités Permanentes de la Convención Sobre la Prohibición de Minas Antipersonal, o Convención de Ottawa, que se celebra en Ginebra del 21 al 25 de mayo. Participan en el encuentro 400 delegados de 100 países.

UN declaration on rights of indigenous peoples inspired changes - Al-Nasser

17 May 2012 – The President of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, today hailed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted five years ago, as a landmark document that has inspired positive changes in the protection of the rights of indigenous communities.

“In some countries, we have seen the creation of specialized institutions, the amendment of legislation and constitutions, the implementation of new policies and programmes, judgments delivered by tribunals based on the Declaration, and training on indigenous peoples’ rights,” Mr. Al-Nasser said in an address to a high-level event to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration, at UN Headquarters in New York.

La Comisión de Derecho Internacional en su 64° período de sesiones

Del  7 de mayo al 1 de junio y del 2 de julio al 3 de agosto de 2012, la Comisión de Derecho Internacional se reúne en Ginebra por su 64° período de sesiones.

La Comisión trabaja sobre los siguientes temas:
-    Expulsión de extranjeros
-    La obligación de extraditar o juzgar (aut dedere aut judicare)
-    Protección de las personas en casos de desastres
-    Inmunidad de jurisdicción penal extranjera de los funcionarios del Estado
-    Los tratados en el tiempo
-    La cláusula de la nación más favorecida

Gender Justice and the Charles Taylor Judgement

At 11 a.m. on Apr. 26, the long-awaited trial judgment in the case of Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, was announced at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Taylor faced an 11-count indictment with charges covering a wide variety of atrocities: murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity, and the war crimes of committing acts of terror, murder, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, pillage, and conscripting or using child soldiers. Taylor was convicted on all counts in a unanimous judgment.

The Taylor judgment made headlines all over the world. Taylor was the first former head of state to be convicted by an international criminal tribunal since the post-Second World War Nuremberg trials. As well, he was convicted for crimes committed in Sierra Leone from 1996-2002, despite not having set foot in the country during that time. The judges found that he had aided and abetted the infamous Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) rebels while across the border in Liberia. He was also convicted of planning attacks with rebel leader Sam Bockarie (who was also indicted by the Special Court, but died in unclear circumstances in Liberia in 2003).

Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) - Conclusion of the public hearings

Court to begin its deliberation
THE HAGUE, 9 May 2012. The public hearings in the case concerning the Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia) were concluded on Friday 4 May. The Court will now begin its deliberation.

During the hearings, which opened on Monday 23 April 2012 at the Peace Palace, seat of the Court, the delegation of the Republic of Nicaragua was led by H.E. Mr. Carlos José Argüello Gómez, Ambassador of the Republic of Nicaragua to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as Agent and Counsel; and the delegation of the Republic of Colombia was led by H.E. Mr. Julio Londoño Paredes, Professor of International Relations, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, as Agent and Counsel.

The Court’s Judgment will be rendered at a public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course.

von Bogdandy & Venzke: International Judicial Lawmaking: On Public Authority and Democratic Legitimation in Global Governance

Armin von Bogdandy (Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht) & Ingo Venzke (Univ. of Amsterdam - Law) have published International Judicial Lawmaking: On Public Authority and Democratic Legitimation in Global Governance (Springer 2012). Contents include:

SPEECH COMPETITION: The Rights and Responsibilities of Global Interdependence

There is a growing consensus concerning our global interdependence. What is less clear is what sort of a global civics is necessary and feasible for us to navigate our growing interdependence.

Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines everyone's right to an international order where inherent dignity and rights of all are fully realized. Brookings Institution and the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) invite university students from around the world to ponder these vital questions, and to imagine a speech that would be made by the Secretary-General to the opening of the next session of the General Assembly.

Guatemala: Holding the World Bank Accountable for Human Rights Violations

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) together with Rights Action and the International Human Rights Clinic at Western New England University School of Law has filed a Petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in an attempt to hold the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) accountable for human rights violations that occurred during the construction of the Chixoy hydroelectric dam in Guatemala.

In May 2012, the same organizations filed a Supplemental Brief to the Inter-American Commission that addressed various admissibility issues including jurisdiction over the Member States of the World Bank and IDB that have human rights obligations within the inter-American human rights system.

UN concerned over Venezuela’s possible withdrawal from human rights body

4 May 2012 – The United Nations today voiced concern over Venezuela’s announcement that it is establishing a committee to evaluate the possibility of withdrawing from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

“Regional human rights bodies play a very important role in the promotion and protection of human rights mechanisms and reinforce universal human rights standards and treaties,” stressed Rupert Colville, the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Coordinated global action crucial to defeat terrorism, Ban tells Security Council

4 May 2012 – Stressing the need for an integrated response to terrorism, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he hoped Member States will decide to create the position of a UN Counter-Terrorism Coordinator to promote better coordination, collaboration and cooperation among all players.

“By working together – from strengthening law enforcement to tackling the underlying drivers of extremism – we can greatly reduce this major threat to peace and security,” Mr. Ban told the Security Council, during its debate on threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

Work remains to realize rights of indigenous peoples, says deputy UN chief

7 May 2012 - Five years after the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted, a great deal remains to be done to realize the objectives contained in that landmark document, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today.

“We continue to hear stories of struggles and exploitation of indigenous peoples around the world. It is time for those stories to change,” Ms. Migiro said at the opening of the 11th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, at UN Headquarters in New York. “Let us instead move towards the day when indigenous peoples are heard, listened to and empowered.”

Indian judge elected to serve on UN International Court of Justice

Dalveer Bhandari of India was elected today, during simultaneous balloting in both the General Assembly and the Security Council, to a seat on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

Mr. Bhandari’s term at the ICJ, which is also known as the World Court and is based in The Hague in the Netherlands, begins immediately and runs through 5 February 2018.

Sierra Leone: Landmark Conviction of Liberian Ex-President

(The Hague) – The conviction on April 26, 2012, of Charles Taylos, the former president of Liberia, for serious international crimes during Sierra Leone’s brutal armed conflict provides justice for victims and shows that no one is above the law, Human Rights Watch said today. Taylor was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity before the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on charges that stemmed from his support for rebel groups there.

No todo el Estatuto de Roma hace parte del bloque de constitucionalidad

La aplicación del Estatuto de Roma como parámetro de control de constitucionalidad no es absoluta, reiteró la Corte Constitucional. El alto tribunal explicó que el instrumento internacional se circunscribe a los crímenes de competencia de la Corte Penal Internacional.

El preámbulo del Estatuto y los artículos referidos a los crímenes de genocidio, lesa humanidad y de guerra; la relativización del principio de cosa juzgada y los relacionados con los derechos de las víctimas han sido tenidos en cuenta como parámetros para ejercer dicho control.

Índice Universal de Derechos Humanos

Esta base de datos ofrece fácil acceso a información sobre derechos humanos específica de cada país derivada de los mecanismos internacionales de derechos humanos del sistema de las Naciones Unidas: los Órganos de tratado, los Procedimientos Especiales y el Examen Periódico Universal (EPU).

El objetivo de esta herramienta es concienciar sobre las recomendaciones en materia de derechos humanos contempladas en esos mecanismos y prestar asistencia a los países, instituciones nacionales en el ámbito de los derechos humanos, organizaciones de la sociedad civil y socios de las Naciones Unidas en su aplicación. El Índice permite encontrar información sobre cuestiones de derechos humanos en todo el mundo y ver cómo ha evolucionado durante los últimos años la interpretación jurídica del Derecho internacional en materia de Derechos Humanos.

Enlace al Índice

Nicaragua insiste en soberanía de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina

Este miércoles (25 de abril) Colombia empieza su defensa ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia.
La delegación de Nicaragua continúo defendiendo la soberanía del archipiélago de San Andrés, Providencia y Santa Catalina en el pleito que sobre esos territorios en el mar Caribe mantiene Managua contra Colombia ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ).
El embajador de Nicaragua en Holanda, Carlos José Argüello Gómez, ha seguido trazando su argumentación y explicando mediante mapas y otros documentos gráficos cuál debe ser la delimitación marítima correcta según Managua y que otorgaría a su país la soberanía de los territorios en conflicto.
Nicaragua, que defendió este lunes durante su primer turno de palabra la nulidad del tratado de 1928 sobre el dominio colombiano de San Andrés, dado que el país se encontraba bajo ocupación de Estados Unidos, ha explicado que ese acuerdo no fijó límites marítimos claros.

ICC Prosecutor goes to Libya on Gaddafi son case

War crimes prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday (18 April) as part of an investigation into charges against Muammar Gaddafi's detained son, Saif al-Islam, sought for trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Hague-based court issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam last year, after prosecutors accused him and others of involvement in the killing of protesters during the revolt that eventually toppled his father.
Libya says he will be tried in his home country but it has been unable to prize him out of the hands of the militia fighters who caught him in the southern desert in November.

La Corte Penal Internacional dicta su primer fallo

Today, 14 March 2012, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided unanimously that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is guilty, as a co-perpetrator, of the war crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities from 1 September 2002 to 13 August 2003. It is the first verdict issued by an ICC Trial Chamber. At present, 14 other cases are before the Court, three of which are at the stage of trial.
The present war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities were committed in the context of an internal armed conflict that took place in the Ituri (the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and involved the Force patriotique pour la libération du Congo (Patriotic Force for the Liberation of the Congo) (FPLC), led by Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, against the Armée Populaire Congolaise and other militias, including the Force de résistance patriotique en Ituri. A common plan was agreed by Mr Lubanga Dyilo and his co-perpetrators to build an army for the purpose of establishing and maintaining political and military control over Ituri. This resulted in boys and girls under the age of 15 being conscripted and enlisted, and used to participate actively in hostilities.

Exequible la LEY 1449 DE 2011, aprobatoria del “Acuerdo para la Promoción y Protección de Inversiones entre la República de Colombia y la República de la India”.

A continuación transcribimos algunos apartes de la sentencia de la Corte Constitucional colombiana:

"El Acuerdo que se aprueba mediante la citada ley, hace parte del proyecto gubernamental trazado para atraer inversión extranjera directa, con lo cual se pretende, entre varios propósitos, generar empleo y lograr beneficios de la transferencia de tecnología. De manera más precisa, este Acuerdo busca establecer un marco jurídico favorable a la protección de las inversiones de los nacionales colombianos o de la India en el territorio del otro Estado bajo un ambiente de equidad y transparencia. Colombia ha suscrito Acuerdos similares con el Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Cuba, Chile, España, Suiza y Perú. Los acuerdos fundados en la promoción y protección de las inversiones son herramientas usuales de integración internacional a las que acuden los Estados para estrechar lazos comerciales. En el caso específico de la India, el Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo señala que es el segundo país de mayor población en el mundo y líder e desarrollo y prestación de servicios globales. A lo anterior se agrega que el pacífico asiático se ha convertido en uno de los polos más dinámicos de la economía mundial, núcleo de desarrollo y crecimiento económico, epicentro de comercio e inversión, líder en avances tecnológicos y escenario importante de integración y cooperación económica.

Audiencia en el Parlamento Europeo sobre el Sistema Interamericano

El pasado miércoles 25 de enero de 2012, la Subcomisión de Derechos Humanos del Parlamento Europeo llevó a cabo una audiencia sobre el Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos. A continuación transcribo la descripción oficial del evento y las ponencias que se presentaron:

“The Inter-American human rights mechanism is a well established regional system of human rights protection that coexists with the UN-level universal mechanisms. However, it does face real challenges in terms of resources and sometimes also with regard to real political backing from its Member States. The concerns of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have increased in recent years due to the increase in the number of cases that the Inter-American Commission has been able to submit to the Tribunal. Consequently, there has been a marked increase in the number of cases on stage of monitoring compliance with the Court's judgements – thus requiring appropriate follow-up. The European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights has from time to time raised cases that have been adjudicated by the Inter-American System. Most recently this was the case in the joint hearing with FEMM Committee on feminicide. With a view to the proposed new EIDHR regulation due to be presented in this same meeting 25/1, the question of further EU support to and cooperation with the Inter-American Court and the Commission is also very timely to consider.*

*¨tomado de: http://corteidhblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/audiencia-en-el-parlamento-europeo.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CorteIdhBlog+%28Corte+IDH+Blog%29

Conferencia UNCTAD-UAM: Responsible Sovereign Financing

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released in 2011 a set of “Principles on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing”. The purpose of these Principles is to fill in a crucial gap in international sovereign financing - the non-existence of a set of essential principles, for all types of sovereign debt contracting, that is globally agreed on. The Principles are conceptualized in a holistic way and are thus meant to be applied to sovereign borrowers, developed or developing countries alike, as well as their lenders.

In the context of the Campus of Excellence status awarded to the UAM-CSIC, UNCTAD and the University Autónoma of Madrid (UAM), through its schools of Law and Economics, are organizing the Conference "Responsible Sovereign Borrowing and Lending: The Search for Common Principles”.*

*http://www.uam.es/otros/unctad-uam/

Tribunal ecuatoriano ratifica millonario fallo contra Chevron

Una corte de apelaciones en Ecuador ratificó una sentencia que ordena a la compañía petrolera estadounidense Chevron pagar una suma que podría llegar a más de US$18.000 millones como indemnización a las personas que la acusan de causar daños ambientales en la Amazonía y afectar su salud*.

Más información sobre algunos hechos del caso aquí

Facts About Chevron and Texaco in Ecuador

* Fuente: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/ultimas_noticias/2012/01/120103_ultnot_ecuador_fallo_chevron.shtml