Justice Info

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del periódico incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de septiembre de 2006.

Nota informativa: Justice Info es un sitio web independiente que cubre las iniciativas en materia de justicia en países que se enfrentan a graves situaciones de violencia. Es un medio de comunicación de la Fondation Hirondelle, con sede en Lausana (Suiza), financiado por sus lectores y por donantes públicos y privados. Todos sus contenidos son de acceso libre aunque se puede apoyar su trabajo con donaciones.

A UNITAD team during exhumations at a mass grave site in 2023. Photo: © UN photo / Unitad

MundoOriente Próximo,

In 2017, following a request from Iraq, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed the Resolution 2379 establishing the Investigative team to promote accountability for crimes committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) to support domestic efforts to hold the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) accountable. Headquartered in Baghdad, with guaranteed freedom of movement and unhindered access to places, materials and people considered necessary for the fulfillment of its mandate, UNITAD was a very special team among the UN investigative bodies and had an excellent starting point.

UNITAD operated for seven years with an annual budget of 22 million US dollars. However, its mandate ended prematurely as, in September 2023, Iraq, without consulting the survivors nor the civil society, requested from UNSC to renew UNITAD’s mandate for one year without the possibility of extension.…  Seguir leyendo »

People search for human remains at a trench believed to be used as a mass grave on the outskirts of Damascus on December 16, 2024. Photo: © Aris Messinis / AFP

MundoOriente Próximo,

The unexpected fall of the Assad regime on December 8, 2024, in Syria has created a new situation in the country. One of the challenges ahead will be to determine what happened to the thousands of disappeared and dead left by the Assad dictatorship since the attempt to start an "Arab Spring" in 2011.

Syria is not the first country to be confronted to such challenge. Several countries, such as Argentina, Colombia, Guatemala or Peru (in Latin America), South Africa (in Africa), Bosnia-Herzegovina (in Europe) or Iraq (Middle East) have previously faced similar dilemmas: How to investigate what happened in a country with a recent past of violence?…  Seguir leyendo »

Statue of former Liberian rebel Prince Y. Johnson, who became an evangelical preacher and died on 28 November 2024. Adulated by some in his home county of Nimba, he has been cited by the Truth Commission of Liberia as a perpetrator of serious crimes committed during the civil war. Photo: © D.R.

MundoÁfricaReflexionesTestimonios

On 28 November 2024, Liberians woke up to the news of the death of senator Prince Y. Johnson, one of Liberia’s most feared and charismatic warlords. His passing away at the age of 72 in a hospital in a suburb of Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, may signal an end to warlord politics, but his wartime legacy looms large, even in death. Until now, the prewar generation has been traumatised by his wartime exploits, while the post-war generation has been often mesmerised by his seductive post-war politics. Altogether, Johnson has earned himself a controversial spot in the collective memory. To some, he’s viewed as a hero and an ethno-nationalist, while to others he was a sadistic perpetrator of casual violence, a war criminal and the search for civil war era accountability would have been incomplete without his culpability.…  Seguir leyendo »

Lavvo - traditional dwellings of the Sami people - set up in front of the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament, in October 2023, to protest against windfarms installed on herding areas for their reindeer. Photo: © Gorm Kallestad / NTB / AFP

Europa,

In Oslo, on Eidsvoll square outside of the Norwegian Storting, the Parliament of Norway, a Lavvo – a traditional temporary Sami dwelling – was put up on November 12, 2024. An unusual gesture by the Storting, which signified an opening to dialogue. During the day, the space was visited by indigenous and minority representatives, members of the Storting, and people passing by.

Meanwhile inside the Storting, parliamentarians were debating how to follow up on the report and recommendations for reconciliation delivered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on June 1, 2023. And it was in conclusion of this debate that the Storting issued a formal apology to the Sámi, Kven, Norwegian Finns and Forrest Finns:

“With this the Storting apologizes for the active role that previous Stortings have taken in the Norwegianization politics, and recognizes its responsibility for the consequences which these policies have had for groups as well as individuals”, Svein Harberg (Høyre/The Conservative Party) said on behalf of the Storting.…  Seguir leyendo »

Guerrilla fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are preparing to be demobilized in December 2016, just after the signing of a peace agreement that guarantees that the vast majority of them will not be tried before the special tribunal set up by the peace accord, in exchange for their contribution to truth and reparations. Photo: © Raul Arboleda / STR / AFP

MundoAméricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional, , ,

The 2016 Peace Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the FARC guerrilla recognized previous institutional developments, including the multiple transitional justice mechanisms. An example of this is that the transitional justice system that was agreed upon is based on lessons learned from the past that led to the adoption of a model that, through the joint action of different entities, sought to better satisfy the rights of victims. This also took into account that the massive nature of human rights violations required not only judicial, but also extrajudicial and administrative measures in order to maximize the response to the victims.…  Seguir leyendo »

UNITAD has unearthed 68 mass graves and recovered the bodies of over 900 victims of the Islamic State organization in Iraq, but the UN team has only contributed to 15 indictments. Photo: © UN Photos / Unitad

MundoOriente PróximoInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional, ,

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged in June 2014 from the ashes of unsolved political, religious and sectarian conflicts in the Middle East, conflicts which motivated many extremists around the globe to join their actions, notably by using their self-interpretation of Quran. It began by invading considerable territories in Iraq and Syria and was singled out by human rights organisations as a group which was committing most international crimes, including the crime of genocide against Yazidi community, war crimes, crimes against humanity, including sexual and gender-based violence, abduction, extrajudicial killings, torture, recruitment of children, attacks against religious and ethnic groups, and displacing civilian people.…  Seguir leyendo »

A member of the MS-13 gang in Chalatenango prison, 84 km north of San Salvador (Salvador), on March 29, 2019. Photo: © Marvin Recinos / AFP

Internacional

Gangs and gangsters fascinate. What’s particular about them is not the violence, which can be found in all quarters of our societies, but the way in which they represent it most vividly and, somehow, honestly. The GANGS project, directed by Dennis Rodgers, offers a series of life stories that provide worldwide insights, in places where transitional justice does very little so far. Following on from our world map, yesterday's Opinion, we are republishing here five of these fascinating stories.

Gaz: the Sierra Leonian gangster who gave up violence and drugs for poetry

Kieran Mitton tells us about the life of Gaz, a former Sierra Leonean gang member who became a poet and then a farmer.…  Seguir leyendo »

A group of young people from Marseille's northern suburbs take part in a sports event organised to say no to drugs and violence in April 2008. Research shows that these same residents believe that pollution, poverty, housing conditions and health are even more problematic for them. Photo: © Anne-Christine Poujoulat / AFP

Internacional

The social embeddedness of gangs, and the systematicity of violence in what are often referred to as “ganglands”, makes it clear that we need to rethink the ways in which we intervene, which mainly revolve around violent repression, and develop policies that recognise that they are fundamentally linked to the urban social fabric and that their violence intersects with other forms of brutality that are characteristic of these urban environments. Indeed, very often gangs are a reaction to the latter.

Gangs are one of a small number of global social phenomena, present across time and space in societies all over the world.…  Seguir leyendo »

King Charles III walks past a performance by the Aboriginal song and dance group Mui Mui, in Sydney, October 22, 2024. Australia's indigenous peoples are demanding reparations from the British Crown for the theft of their lands and the “genocide” perpetrated against them. Photo: © Lisa Maree Williams / Pool / AFP

MundoOceanía, ,

That the recent visit of King Charles to Australia – his first as the country’s sovereign – attracted protests will have come as a surprise to very few people.

The right-wing press in the UK anticipated some kind of snub to Charles from republican, “woke leftist” Australians. The palace had prepared the ground for the visit in a letter to the non-partisan independence group the Australian Republican Movement which repeated its longstanding position that, as with any of the other Commonwealth realms, the question of whether the country became a republic was “a matter for the Australian public to decide”.

But the message from the most prominent protester was, perhaps, less expected.…  Seguir leyendo »

With his promise of accountability for the crimes of the civil war, can President Joseph Boakai escape the power and influence struggles between Liberia's elites? Photo: © Seyllou / AFP

MundoÁfrica,

On August 15, 2024, Liberian President Joseph Boakai unexpectedly rescinded his decision appointing Jonathan Massaquoi as the head of the War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC) Office and called for its reconstitution. Before the August 15 Press Statement, an earlier statement was released reaffirming the President’s confidence in Massaquoi, despite opposition by civil society leaders, the Liberia National Bar Association and National Orator for Independence Day on July 26, 2024. The Coalition for Justice in Liberia pointed out in particular that Massaquoi represented the wife of convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor, which they argue prevents him from ethically representing the WECC Office.…  Seguir leyendo »

On 18 September 2024, in New York, the UN Member States adopted by a large majority a resolution demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within one year. The text is based on an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) describing the Israeli occupation since 1967 as “illegal”. Photo: © Bryan R. Smith / AFP

MundoOriente Próximo,

The world should have come to a halt by now. With children and adults alike suffering from war, genocide, political repression, starvation, poverty, environmental disasters, gender inequality and racism, one cannot be blamed for wanting the world to grind to a halt so that it may change its course.

More than 40,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in one year. The suffering is too enormous for most to comprehend, and it is too often too easy to generalize. The International Court of Justice’s characterization of what is unfolding in the Gaza Strip – a plausible case of genocide in the 21 st century – has failed to trigger the necessary action to stop and prevent the violence.…  Seguir leyendo »

The supply of expert evidence can be large, diverse and competitive in trials such as the one against the Chiquita banana company, but it is these experts who often shape the verdict of the courts. Photo: © Mike Mozart

MundoAmérica,

As explained in a previous article, the recent Chiquita trial has once again shed some light on the complexities of holding corporations accountable for their involvement in human rights abuses, particularly in conflict zones and transitional justice contexts. While the trial itself gained significant attention due to its landmark verdict, the issues it raises are part of a broader, global, and highly technical challenge: proving corporate complicity in contexts of armed conflict and rampant human rights violations through expert testimonies in legal proceedings. Such cases highlight the difficult task of establishing causal links between corporate actions and the atrocities committed, a challenge that resonates beyond the courtroom.…  Seguir leyendo »

Members of Colombian paramilitary organisations on patrol in Medellin in 2002, shortly before their demobilisation and the numerous revelations about their crimes. Photo : © Fernando Vergara / AFP

MundoAmérica,

On June 10, 2024, a jury in Florida, USA, delivered a landmark ruling in the fight for justice for the crimes committed during Colombia’s armed conflict, holding Chiquita Brands International liable for 38 million dollars in damages. The verdict found that Chiquita, the multinational and internationally renowned banana company, failed to act as “a reasonable business person” and provided substantial assistance to the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC, for its Spanish acronym), a paramilitary organization designated as a terrorist group by the United States. This financing, carried out for profit, contributed to a wave of crimes and human rights violations, including the murder of hundreds of civilians.…  Seguir leyendo »

Afghan women protest against the closure of beauty salons, in July 2023. The Taliban regime's restriction of women's fundamental rights has since worsened, notably covering the right to education and work, freedom of movement, the right to read or sing. Photo: © AFP

MundoOriente Próximo, , ,

With the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, following decades of international military intervention and peace negotiations, numerous draconian restrictions were imposed on women. These included bans on secondary and higher education, prohibitions on most forms of employment, and severe limitations on freedom of movement, often requiring women to be accompanied by male guardians when leaving their homes. Under the control of the Taliban, Afghan women have been deprived of their most basic human rights and freedoms. On August 21, a new law imposed additional restrictions, including on their right to sing, read poetry or read in public.

While boys and men have also faced oppression under Taliban rule for failing to conform to the official line, women continue to bear the brunt.…  Seguir leyendo »

Elderly Georgians stand next to their house burnt following Russia’s invasion, in the village of Avnevi, west of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), on 29 August 2008. Sixteen years on, many of them have died, and for those who are still alive the prospects of compensation remain slim. Photo: © Viktor Drachev / AFP

Europa, ,

This month of August marks 16 years since Russian ground forces breached Georgia’s sovereignty on August 8, 2008, crossing through Abkhazia and South Ossetia with aid from the Russian air force and Black Sea fleet. The invasion, accompanied by actions that amounted to war crimes, led to the displacement of 26,888 individuals (9,081 families) and the death of 228 Georgian civilians. The International Criminal Court (ICC) concluded its investigation into the war on December 16, 2022, issuing arrest warrants against officials related to the de facto South Ossetian administration, an ally effectively controlled by Russia.

On April 28, 2023, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that the Russian Federation must pay 130 million euros to Georgia for the August War, based on its January 21, 2021 judgment in an interstate case.…  Seguir leyendo »

In the judgment against Abdoulaziz Al Hassan, the judges of the International Criminal Court - from left to right, Tomoko Akane (Japan), Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Kimberly Prost (Canada) - agreed on almost nothing. Photo: © ICC-CPI

Internacional

On Wednesday 26 June 2024, a panel of three ICC judges – Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tomoko Akane (Japan), and Kimberly Prost (Canada) – handed down their verdict in the case of Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud. The case against ‘Mr. Al Hassan’ was protracted, complicated, and controversial. His alleged crimes were committed in 2012 and 2013. He surrendered to the court in 2018. Charges were first confirmed against him in 2019, before being amended in 2020. The trial itself lasted 3 years: 2020–2023. With a judgement originally scheduled for January 2024, an illness affecting Presiding Judge Mindua caused an unforeseen and unspecified delay.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian assets have been frozen since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The European Commission first blocked the redistribution of their interests to their shareholders, then went further, earmarking these profits to support Ukraine. Image: © Justice Info

Europa, , ,

On Sunday June 9, on the sidelines of his trip to France, US President Joe Biden said he had reached an agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron on the use of interest from Russian assets frozen since the start of the Ukraine war. This is an important issue, as the sums involved are estimated at 260 billion euros. It was hardly surprising, therefore, that the subject would feature explicitly on the agenda of the G7 summit held from June 13 to 15 in Borgo Egnazia, Italy.

In May 2024, the countries of the European Union (EU) agreed to allocate the windfall profits from Russian public assets frozen in the books of International Central Securities Depositories (ICSDs) to Ukraine’s defence effort and economic recovery.…  Seguir leyendo »

A photo of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hanging from a window in the Hamidiya market in Damascus, on September 2023. Syria, accused on 8 June 2023 before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating the Convention on Torture, continues to refuse to respond to the UN Court’s orders. Photo: © Louai Beshara / AFP

MundoOriente Próximo,

It has been one year since the Netherlands and Canada initiated proceedings against the Syrian Arab Republic, and more than six months since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague has ordered “provisional measures”, but the Syrian regime continues to extensively use torture, with thousands of lives still at stake in government detention centres. So far, in addition to the ongoing lack of compliance by Damas, the case has been negatively affected by the ICJ’s falling short in reflecting the gravity of the violations.

In its November 16th 2023 order, the Court first asked Syria to take all measures within its power “to prevent” acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to ensure that its officials, as well as organizations or people who may be subject to their control, direction or influence, do not commit acts of torture.…  Seguir leyendo »

More than twenty years after the end of the civil war in Liberia, new President Joseph Boakai paved the way on May 2 for the possible creation of a war crimes tribunal. Photo (video snapshot) : © LNTV / AFP

MundoÁfrica,

On May 2nd 2024, Liberians in the diaspora and those at home took to social media to talk about one thing: the Executive Order NO.131 creating the Office to establish the War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia. Liberians on X (Twitter), Facebook and LinkedIn praised President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for the political will to reckon with Liberia’s past. To say the action was popular would be an understatement. In Liberia’s transitional justice history, May 2nd 2024 may go down as one of the most consequential milestones, perhaps a date that deserves to be memorialised.

The date marked an end to the politics of silence, legislative manoeuvring on matters of transitional justice and weak political will to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report.…  Seguir leyendo »

Palestinians receive food rations at a donation point in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 2, 2024, as fighting continues between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group. Photo: © Said Khatib / AFP

MundoOriente Próximo,

“You have to hear this to believe this. The International Criminal Court in the Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials, as war criminals. ” On 30 April 2024, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a four-minute video statement addressing mounting speculation among international and Israeli media that senior Israeli officials could soon be subject to arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC). It is speculated that they will be accused, among other things, of deliberately depriving Gazans of food. On 3 May 2024, the Office of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan put out a statement condemning any attempt to retaliate against the court for its investigations.…  Seguir leyendo »