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.