On February 20, 2014, the Court of Appeals of Port-au-Prince ruled (unofficial English translation) that former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier could be charged with crimes against humanity, reversing a 2012 lower court decision that Duvalier could not be charged because the statute of limitations on such crimes had run out. The Court of Appeals also stated that “there are serious indicia relating to the indirect participation and the criminal responsibility of the accused, Jean-Claude Duvalier, for failing to take all necessary and reasonable measures to prevent the commission of crimes...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
On February 20, 2014, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia dismissed Goran Hadžić’s motion for acquittal on specific charges contained within counts 2 through 9 of his indictment in the Prosecutor v.Goran Hadžić case. According to the press release, the Trial Chamber delivered its ruling orally and pursuant to Rule 98 bis of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence, which states that “[a]t the close of the Prosecutor’s case, the Trial Chamber shall, by oral decision and after hearing the oral submissions of the parties,...
On February 19, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the Court) allowed four asylum seekers’ appeals in R (on the application of EM (Eritrea)) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department. The Court remitted the cases of the appellants, three Eritreans and one Iranian national who alleged that they faced a risk of suffering inhuman and degrading treatment if they were returned to Italy, for reconsideration in the first-instance court on the facts. Italy, the state in which the appellants first claimed asylum, is considered the “responsible” state for processing the...
On February 19, 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights presented a report (Spanish only) entitled, “The Right of Boys and Girls to a Family: Alternative Care. Ending Institutionalization in the Americas.” According to the press release, the report addresses the issue of “children who, for various reasons, do not receive proper care at home and require measures on the part of the State to ensure their well-being and overall development.” The report also addresses the human rights concerns raised when children are institutionalized, given that “the way many residential...
On February 18, 2014, the High Regional Court of Frankfurt sentenced Onesphore Rwabukombe, a mayor in Northern Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, to fourteen years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He had been living as a political refugee in Germany since 2002. According to news reports, “[t]he presiding judge at the court in Frankfurt said in his verdict that while Rwabukombe did not kill anyone, he oversaw and assisted in the murder of at least 450 men, women and children at the Kiziguro church compound in east Rwanda.” The court heard from over 100 witnesses in over...
On February 17, 2014, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report of the commission of inquiry on human rights and a report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. According to the press release, the report of the detailed findings of the commission of the inquiry on human rights finds that “a wide array of crimes against humanity, arising from ‘policies established at the highest level of State,’ have been committed and continue to take place in the Democratic People’s...
The European Council, by decision and implementing regulation, suspended the restrictive measures that were in place against Zimbabwe on February 17, 2014. In a subsequent declaration by High Representative Catherine Ashton, she announced that the Council decided “to suspend the remaining restrictive measures with the exception of the arms embargo and those targeting two individuals – the Head of State and his spouse and one entity – Zimbabwe Defence Industries.” The current measures will expire on November 1, 2014, “[p]rovided there is no serious deterioration in the governance and human...
On February 13, 2014, the Eighth Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) issued an order in Merck Canada Inc v. Accord Healthcare Ltd, holding that a Portuguese arbitral tribunal could refer questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling. According to the press release, the Court ruled that “a conventional arbitral tribunal is not to be considered a court or tribunal of a Member State, since the contracting parties are under no obligation, in law or in fact, to refer their disputes to arbitration and the public authorities of the relevant...
On February 1, 2014, the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Persons of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights became fully operational. According to the press release, the Rapporteurship was created in November 2013 with the purpose of “addressing issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and body diversity.” On January 31, 2014, the IACHR designated Commissioner Tracy Robinson as the first Rapporteur. The Rapporteurship continues the work of the Unit for the Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex...
On February 10, 2014, prosecutors for the military commission trials at Guantanamo Bay added a charge of conspiracy against Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi, an alleged high-level emissary with al-Queda. He is already charged with various terrorism-related charges. According to the news story, this new charge sets up “a test of whether Congress has the power to make a conspiracy a prosecutable offense in a war-crimes tribunal, despite the offense not being recognized as an international war crime.” The conspiracy charge arose from a situation in which al-Iraqi was a member of al-Qaeda’s ruling Shura...