Russia: Katyn Probe Can't Be Reopened
Associated Press dispatch on Yahoo! News, May 31, 2010
"There is no legal basis for reopening an investigation into the Katyn massacre, when thousands of Polish officers were killed by Soviet secret police, a top Russian official said Monday. Interest in reopening the investigation into the 1940 killings has grown amid a recent Russia-Poland rapprochement. The Soviet Union acknowledged responsibility for the killings in 1990, but a criminal investigation was ended in 2004 after officials said the killings were not genocide. President Dmitry Medvedev this month turned over scores of volumes from the investigation to his Polish counterpart. Chief military prosecutor Sergei Fridinsky said 'by law, it cannot be restarted, given the expiration of the statute of limitations period,' Russian news agencies reported. International law generally considers that genocide has no statue of limitations.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Rwanda / Genocide Denial
US Lawyer Retracts Rwanda "Genocide Denial" Remarks
By Hereward Holland
Reuters dispatch on AlertNet.org, June 2, 2010
"A US lawyer arrested in Rwanda for alleged genocide denial has retracted all statements which could have violated the country's anti-genocide laws, Rwanda's chief prosecutor and a legal source said on Wednesday. Chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga accuses Peter Erlinder, who is lead defence lawyer at the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, of genocide denial which he said threatened state security. Ngoga declined to give details of what Erlinder is accused of saying, other than that the statements were made outside Rwanda. However, the legal source said they concerned remarks made about President Paul Kagame, who has led Rwanda since the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people died. ... Ngoga would not say whether the retraction was enough for him to drop his case.
By Hereward Holland
Reuters dispatch on AlertNet.org, June 2, 2010
"A US lawyer arrested in Rwanda for alleged genocide denial has retracted all statements which could have violated the country's anti-genocide laws, Rwanda's chief prosecutor and a legal source said on Wednesday. Chief prosecutor Martin Ngoga accuses Peter Erlinder, who is lead defence lawyer at the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, of genocide denial which he said threatened state security. Ngoga declined to give details of what Erlinder is accused of saying, other than that the statements were made outside Rwanda. However, the legal source said they concerned remarks made about President Paul Kagame, who has led Rwanda since the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people died. ... Ngoga would not say whether the retraction was enough for him to drop his case.
Canada / Indigenous Peoples
By Gale Courey Toensing
Indian Country Today, June 2, 2010
Photo: Quebec Native Women
"Canada's Indian Act has had more than 20 major changes, but First Nations leaders say it's still an instrument of gender discrimination and, ultimately, bureaucratic genocide. With a proposed new amendment to the 1876 act -- Bill C-3 -- a group of Native women are on a month-long, 300-mile protest march to tell the federal government that the latest fix to the Victorian-era legislation will not end Canada's institutionalized discrimination against First Nations people, especially women. The Amun March -- 'amun' means 'a large gathering' -- began May 4 on the reservation in Wendake, the territorial lands of the Huron-Wendat First Nation near Quebec City, and was scheduled to end June 1 in front of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. Through the Indian Act, Canada’s federal government made First Nations people wards of the state and took control of all aspects of their lives and communities.
Israel / Palestine
We Are All Gazans Now
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times Online, June 2, 2010
"Just imagine if these were Iranian commandos attacking a multinational, six-boat aid flotilla in international waters. The United States, the European Union and Israel would instantly make sure to shock and awe Iran to kingdom come. Instead, it was Israeli commandos who perpetrated this bit of gunboat diplomacy -- or 'self-defense' -- in the dark hours of the early morning, in international waters, some 130 kilometers off the coast of Gaza. And what if they were Somali pirates? Oh no, these are Israeli pirates fighting shady, 'terrorist' Muslims ... It doesn't matter that Arab, Turkish, European, developing-world public opinion and governments are fuming. So what? Israel always gets away with -- as Turkey is stressing -- 'murder' (or 'state terrorism,' according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan). ... No one excels in post-Orwellian, war-is-peace newspeak as Israel. Not only the Israeli commandos are being spun as the victims; the world is being subjected to a complete Israeli-orchestrated news blackout. ...
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times Online, June 2, 2010
"Just imagine if these were Iranian commandos attacking a multinational, six-boat aid flotilla in international waters. The United States, the European Union and Israel would instantly make sure to shock and awe Iran to kingdom come. Instead, it was Israeli commandos who perpetrated this bit of gunboat diplomacy -- or 'self-defense' -- in the dark hours of the early morning, in international waters, some 130 kilometers off the coast of Gaza. And what if they were Somali pirates? Oh no, these are Israeli pirates fighting shady, 'terrorist' Muslims ... It doesn't matter that Arab, Turkish, European, developing-world public opinion and governments are fuming. So what? Israel always gets away with -- as Turkey is stressing -- 'murder' (or 'state terrorism,' according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan). ... No one excels in post-Orwellian, war-is-peace newspeak as Israel. Not only the Israeli commandos are being spun as the victims; the world is being subjected to a complete Israeli-orchestrated news blackout. ...
Rwanda / Genocide Denial
US Lawyer is Jailed in Rwanda as Genocide Denier
Austin American-Statesman (from the Chicago Tribune), May 30, 2010
"A US attorney has been arrested in Rwanda for allegedly denying genocide, and his family is working with lawmakers stateside and abroad to secure his release. Peter Erlinder, 62, a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., traveled to Rwanda on May 23 to help defend opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire against charges of promoting genocidal ideology, his daughter, Sarah Erlinder said. About 800,000 people were killed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Ingabire aims to unseat Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the Aug. 9 elections. Erlinder was arrested Friday at his hotel in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, his daughter said. She said she hasn't been able to speak to her father.
Austin American-Statesman (from the Chicago Tribune), May 30, 2010
"A US attorney has been arrested in Rwanda for allegedly denying genocide, and his family is working with lawmakers stateside and abroad to secure his release. Peter Erlinder, 62, a law professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., traveled to Rwanda on May 23 to help defend opposition presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire against charges of promoting genocidal ideology, his daughter, Sarah Erlinder said. About 800,000 people were killed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Ingabire aims to unseat Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the Aug. 9 elections. Erlinder was arrested Friday at his hotel in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, his daughter said. She said she hasn't been able to speak to her father.
International Criminal Court / Crime of Aggression
International Court May Define Aggression as Crime
By Marlise Simons
The New York Times, May 30, 2010
"More than 100 nations, contingents of human-rights groups and lawyers from around the globe, will begin a meeting on Monday in Kampala, Uganda, tackling issues that could fundamentally expand the power of international law. The thorniest question on the agenda, one certain to dominate the conference, is a proposal to give the International Criminal Court in The Hague the power to prosecute the crime of aggression. If approved, it could open the door to criminal accusations against powerful political and military leaders for attacks the court deems unlawful. Those could range from full-scale invasions to pre-emptive strikes. The court, the world's first permanent criminal court, already has a mandate to prosecute three groups of grave crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Adding aggression to this list 'would be a game-changer in international diplomacy,' said Noah Weisbord, a member of the expert group that has drafted a definition of the crime for the meeting. ...
By Marlise Simons
The New York Times, May 30, 2010
"More than 100 nations, contingents of human-rights groups and lawyers from around the globe, will begin a meeting on Monday in Kampala, Uganda, tackling issues that could fundamentally expand the power of international law. The thorniest question on the agenda, one certain to dominate the conference, is a proposal to give the International Criminal Court in The Hague the power to prosecute the crime of aggression. If approved, it could open the door to criminal accusations against powerful political and military leaders for attacks the court deems unlawful. Those could range from full-scale invasions to pre-emptive strikes. The court, the world's first permanent criminal court, already has a mandate to prosecute three groups of grave crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Adding aggression to this list 'would be a game-changer in international diplomacy,' said Noah Weisbord, a member of the expert group that has drafted a definition of the crime for the meeting. ...
Sudan / Darfur
INTERVIEW - Violence, Abductions Could Impact Darfur Crisis - UN
By Opheera McDoom
Reuters dispatch in The Star, May 30, 2010
"Darfur's humanitarian crisis could spiral if the fighting and kidnappings of foreigners that are restricting the world's largest aid operation are not halted, the UN aid chief John Holmes said on Sunday. Holmes told Reuters during a visit to Sudan that insecurity caused by ongoing fighting between rebels and government, tribal clahes and abductions targeting foreign workers had forced some aid agencies to scale down operations and others to withdraw. 'Unless we can somehow get a grip on the insecurity and the kidnapping, we may see a steady erosion of the number of people prepared to work here,' Holmes said in Nyala, South Darfur. He said the International Committee of the Red Cross, after a number of kidnappings of its staff, had suspended much of its operations and others had pulled out completely. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir expelled 13 aid agencies last year after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant accusing him of war crimes and this left a limited number of groups willing or able to plug the gaps. 'There's a real problem if that process continues because then we might find ourselves in a downward spiral. If the organisations continue to leave who is going to pick up the slack?' he said. [...]"
By Opheera McDoom
Reuters dispatch in The Star, May 30, 2010
"Darfur's humanitarian crisis could spiral if the fighting and kidnappings of foreigners that are restricting the world's largest aid operation are not halted, the UN aid chief John Holmes said on Sunday. Holmes told Reuters during a visit to Sudan that insecurity caused by ongoing fighting between rebels and government, tribal clahes and abductions targeting foreign workers had forced some aid agencies to scale down operations and others to withdraw. 'Unless we can somehow get a grip on the insecurity and the kidnapping, we may see a steady erosion of the number of people prepared to work here,' Holmes said in Nyala, South Darfur. He said the International Committee of the Red Cross, after a number of kidnappings of its staff, had suspended much of its operations and others had pulled out completely. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir expelled 13 aid agencies last year after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant accusing him of war crimes and this left a limited number of groups willing or able to plug the gaps. 'There's a real problem if that process continues because then we might find ourselves in a downward spiral. If the organisations continue to leave who is going to pick up the slack?' he said. [...]"
Thursday, May 27, 2010
International Justice
Amnesty's Report Condemns "Politicisation of Justice"
By Caroline Hawley
BBC Online, May 27, 2010
"Amnesty International has criticised the 'politicisation of international justice' in its annual report, which documents torture in 111 countries. The human rights group accuses powerful governments of subordinating justice to political self-interest and of shielding allies from scrutiny. It expresses particular concern over possible war crimes committed during fighting in Sri Lanka last year. The report also criticises the UN for its failure to intervene. Thousands of people were killed during the war, and a UN spokesman described the situation in northern Sri Lanka at the time as a 'bloodbath.' But Amnesty says that 'power plays' at the UN Human Rights Council led to member states approving a resolution drafted by the Sri Lankan government, complimenting itself on its success against the Tamil Tigers. 'By the end of the year, despite further evidence of war crimes and other abuses, no-one had been brought to justice,' Amnesty's Secretary General Claudio Cordone says. 'One would be hard pressed to imagine a more complete failure to hold to account those who abuse human rights.' In its report, Amnesty also cites the United States and European Union for using their position with the UN Security Council 'to continue to shield Israel from strong measures of accountability for its actions in Gaza.' But it says that there have been positive developments over the past year as well. [...]"
By Caroline Hawley
BBC Online, May 27, 2010
"Amnesty International has criticised the 'politicisation of international justice' in its annual report, which documents torture in 111 countries. The human rights group accuses powerful governments of subordinating justice to political self-interest and of shielding allies from scrutiny. It expresses particular concern over possible war crimes committed during fighting in Sri Lanka last year. The report also criticises the UN for its failure to intervene. Thousands of people were killed during the war, and a UN spokesman described the situation in northern Sri Lanka at the time as a 'bloodbath.' But Amnesty says that 'power plays' at the UN Human Rights Council led to member states approving a resolution drafted by the Sri Lankan government, complimenting itself on its success against the Tamil Tigers. 'By the end of the year, despite further evidence of war crimes and other abuses, no-one had been brought to justice,' Amnesty's Secretary General Claudio Cordone says. 'One would be hard pressed to imagine a more complete failure to hold to account those who abuse human rights.' In its report, Amnesty also cites the United States and European Union for using their position with the UN Security Council 'to continue to shield Israel from strong measures of accountability for its actions in Gaza.' But it says that there have been positive developments over the past year as well. [...]"
Ukraine / Russia / Stalinism
By Timothy Snyder
New York Review of Books, May 26, 2010
Photo: "People attending the unveiling of a new Joseph Stalin monument, Zaporizhia, Ukraine, May 5, 2010" (Sergei Supinsky/Getty).
"Three and a half months after a Ukrainian court convicted Stalin of genocide against the Ukrainian nation during the famine of 1932–1933, a new monument in honor of the Soviet dictator has been erected in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia. Separating the two events was this year's Ukrainian presidential election, in which Viktor Yushchenko, who had pursued a radically anti-Stalinist memory policy, was defeated and replaced by Viktor Yanukovych, who promised to avoid extremes and unite the nation. Though Yanukovych would prefer to steer clear of such ostentatious nostalgia for Stalin, he is responsible for a remarkable change in mood. ... Yanokovych told the Council of Europe in late April that the deliberate starvation of the three million inhabitants of Soviet Ukraine by the Stalinist regime was not genocide, but rather a 'common tragedy for all people who lived in the former Soviet Union.' His bland formulation blurs important truths.
United States / Genocide of Native Americans
MN Historian Calls Ft. Snelling "Site Of Genocide"
By Pat Kessler
WCCO (Minneapolis), May 26, 2010
"Fort Snelling is one of Minnesota's most popular tourist attractions, daily re-enacting Minnesota's 19th century frontier life. However, critics say a darker part of the Fort's history hasn't been told. They say Fort Snelling wasn't just a frontier outpost; it was a concentration camp for Dakota. Waziyatawin, of Granite Falls, holds a doctorate in history from Cornell. She says Fort Snelling needs an extreme makeover. She wants it torn down. 'It feels like a constant assault on our Dakota humanity,' said Waziyatawin. Waziyatawin's ancestors were among those caught up in Minnesota's bloody Dakota War in 1862. That winter, 1,700 Dakota, mostly women and children, were imprisoned outside the Fort. Hundreds died from disease, exposure and murder before their forced removal from Minnesota. Thirty-eight were hung at Mankato, still the largest mass execution in US history.
By Pat Kessler
WCCO (Minneapolis), May 26, 2010
"Fort Snelling is one of Minnesota's most popular tourist attractions, daily re-enacting Minnesota's 19th century frontier life. However, critics say a darker part of the Fort's history hasn't been told. They say Fort Snelling wasn't just a frontier outpost; it was a concentration camp for Dakota. Waziyatawin, of Granite Falls, holds a doctorate in history from Cornell. She says Fort Snelling needs an extreme makeover. She wants it torn down. 'It feels like a constant assault on our Dakota humanity,' said Waziyatawin. Waziyatawin's ancestors were among those caught up in Minnesota's bloody Dakota War in 1862. That winter, 1,700 Dakota, mostly women and children, were imprisoned outside the Fort. Hundreds died from disease, exposure and murder before their forced removal from Minnesota. Thirty-eight were hung at Mankato, still the largest mass execution in US history.
Jamaica / Gendercide
By James Bone
The Times, May 27, 2010
"Residents of a besieged Jamaican slum have accused the army of shooting indiscriminately and burning victims' bodies in a rampage through their neighbourhood hunting for an alleged drug baron. Officials said that most of those killed in the search for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who is wanted by the United States, were young men near barricades or entrances to buildings who were fighting to prevent police from executing an arrest warrant issued last week. ... Annette Marshall ... who sells jewellery at a local market, said that soldiers shot dead her neighbour when he opened his back door to see what was happening. When his elderly mother went out to help him, she was also shot and wounded, she said. ... Ms. Marshall made claims -- echoed by other Tivoli Gardens residents in calls to local radio stations -- that soldiers were hauling young men out of homes and shooting them. She also said that she had seen security forces burning bodies near the abandoned Public Works Department building near her home. 'They shoot them in the head, throw them on the fire and light the fire.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Totalitarianism / Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt Considered Today: Totalitarianism, Genocide and the Need for Thought
By Cynthia Haven
Stanford Report, May 25, 2010
"The 20th century world of philosophy did not, as a rule, create superstars. Hannah Arendt was an exception -- almost from the time she coined the phrase that has become a cliché, 'banality of evil,' to describe the 1961 trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in a series of articles for The New Yorker. She acquired a cult status that her mentors, philosophers Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger, could hardly imagine. Thirty-five years after her death, the German-Jewish political theorist, author of Eichmann in Jerusalem, Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition and Life of the Mind, among other works, is an international industry, with new letters, commentaries and biographies published every year. But perhaps her message has been obscured by celebrity. A scholarly conference at Stanford attempted to redress the imbalance in its own way with a recent two-day workshop, 'Hannah Arendt and the Humanities: On the Relevance of Her Work Beyond the Realm of Politics,' sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Scholars from around the world discussed the life and thought of one of the most seminal and influential political philosophers of the last century. [...]"
By Cynthia Haven
Stanford Report, May 25, 2010
"The 20th century world of philosophy did not, as a rule, create superstars. Hannah Arendt was an exception -- almost from the time she coined the phrase that has become a cliché, 'banality of evil,' to describe the 1961 trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in a series of articles for The New Yorker. She acquired a cult status that her mentors, philosophers Karl Jaspers and Martin Heidegger, could hardly imagine. Thirty-five years after her death, the German-Jewish political theorist, author of Eichmann in Jerusalem, Origins of Totalitarianism, The Human Condition and Life of the Mind, among other works, is an international industry, with new letters, commentaries and biographies published every year. But perhaps her message has been obscured by celebrity. A scholarly conference at Stanford attempted to redress the imbalance in its own way with a recent two-day workshop, 'Hannah Arendt and the Humanities: On the Relevance of Her Work Beyond the Realm of Politics,' sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Scholars from around the world discussed the life and thought of one of the most seminal and influential political philosophers of the last century. [...]"
France / Rwandan Genocide
Agence France-Presse dispatch on Google News, May 26, 2010
Photo: AFP
"French police on Wednesday arrested a Rwandan doctor accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide, the latest suspect forced by Paris to answer allegations of atrocities. Eugene Rwamucyo, who last month was dismissed from his hospital post in northern France, is wanted by Kigali for allegedly planning and carrying out atrocities in the Butare region of southern Rwanda. The doctor, aged in his 50s, was on an Interpol watch list and wanted in Paris in connection with a complaint filed by the families of genocide victims for crimes against humanity. His arrest came nearly three months after police detained Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of Rwanda's assassinated ex-president, and one of the alleged masterminds of the genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. It also follows President Nicolas Sarkozy's landmark trip to Kigali in March during which he said France would do everything possible to ensure that 'all those responsible for the genocide are found and are punished.' Sarkozy is to welcome Rwandan President Paul Kagame to Nice next week as one of the forty-odd African leaders invited to a France-Africa summit. [...]"
Sudan / International Tribunals
Hague Court Tells UN Sudan Protecting Suspects
Reuters dispatch, May 26, 2010
"The Sudanese government is protecting suspects wanted for war crimes in Darfur instead of arresting them to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), judges told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. The formal notification by pre-trial judges at the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, is aimed at increasing pressure on Sudan and its president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, also charged with war crimes by the Hague-based court. Bashir is due to be inaugurated on Thursday after being declared the winner of Sudan's first open elections in 24 years last month. The UN's top two officials in Sudan will attend the ceremony despite calls by human rights groups for a boycott.
Reuters dispatch, May 26, 2010
"The Sudanese government is protecting suspects wanted for war crimes in Darfur instead of arresting them to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), judges told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. The formal notification by pre-trial judges at the ICC, the world's first permanent war crimes court, is aimed at increasing pressure on Sudan and its president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, also charged with war crimes by the Hague-based court. Bashir is due to be inaugurated on Thursday after being declared the winner of Sudan's first open elections in 24 years last month. The UN's top two officials in Sudan will attend the ceremony despite calls by human rights groups for a boycott.
Serbia / Srebrenica Massacre / International Tribunals
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
The Independent, May 26, 2010
Photo: AP
"The family of the Bosnian Serb war-time commander Ratko Mladic is seeking to bring the search for the genocide suspect to an end by having him declared legally dead. In a move that they said they hoped would draw a line under seven years of doubt, and which public officials dismissed as a mockery of state institutions, the family's legal team announced yesterday that they would put their demand to the Serbian authorities within days. Lawyer Milos Saljic told Belgrade B92 TV that the family wants this because of the 'freezing of his pension and property and harassment the family is exposed to.' Mladic is being hunted by the international war crimes tribunal for the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys after the fall of the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica. The crime, committed by the Bosnian Serb Army in July 1995, remains the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of the Second World War.
India / "Honour" Killings
Why Are Hindu Honor Killings Rising in India?
By Madhur Singh
Time.com, May 25, 2010
"[...] Though Western readers associate the term more with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than with 21st century India, honor killings are shockingly frequent in villages in the northern and northwestern parts of the country, where those daring to cross the barriers of caste are made to pay with their lives. Mostly, these cases are confined to the inside pages of newspapers, but the Nirupama case -- in urban, educated, middle-class India -- has hit the front pages. Activists say dozens of people, both women and men, are killed for 'honor' every year, falling victim to the deeply entrenched caste system, which dictates an individual's social standing based on the caste they are born into. The majority of these killings take place in the agrarian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where land ownership and caste go hand in hand and an honor culture thrives by maintaining caste and gender hierarchies. [...]"
By Madhur Singh
Time.com, May 25, 2010
"[...] Though Western readers associate the term more with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than with 21st century India, honor killings are shockingly frequent in villages in the northern and northwestern parts of the country, where those daring to cross the barriers of caste are made to pay with their lives. Mostly, these cases are confined to the inside pages of newspapers, but the Nirupama case -- in urban, educated, middle-class India -- has hit the front pages. Activists say dozens of people, both women and men, are killed for 'honor' every year, falling victim to the deeply entrenched caste system, which dictates an individual's social standing based on the caste they are born into. The majority of these killings take place in the agrarian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where land ownership and caste go hand in hand and an honor culture thrives by maintaining caste and gender hierarchies. [...]"
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Spain / Universal Jurisdiction
International Legal and Human Rights Groups Petition UN to Support Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón and Independence of Judiciary
Center for Constitutional Rights (press release), May 24, 2010
"Invoking the fundamental principle of the right to an independent and impartial judiciary, Spanish Judge Balthasar Garzón has received strong support from ten international organizations of jurists and human rights advocates. Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the Asian Legal Resource Centre, Lawyers Without Borders Canada, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, the National Lawyers Guild, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and Asociación Española por el Derecho Humano a la Paz (AEDIDH) have joined in submitting a formal request for action by the United Nations on his behalf.
Center for Constitutional Rights (press release), May 24, 2010
"Invoking the fundamental principle of the right to an independent and impartial judiciary, Spanish Judge Balthasar Garzón has received strong support from ten international organizations of jurists and human rights advocates. Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the Asian Legal Resource Centre, Lawyers Without Borders Canada, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, the National Lawyers Guild, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and Asociación Española por el Derecho Humano a la Paz (AEDIDH) have joined in submitting a formal request for action by the United Nations on his behalf.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Guatemala / Dos Erres Massacre
By David T. Rowlands
Green Left Weekly, May 23, 2010
Photo: Image of Guatemala's most brutal president, Efrain Rios Montt, with words from a poem by Chilean Pablo Neruda: 'For the one who gave the order of agony, I ask for punishment' (Dimensionmazmorra.wordpress.com).
"Recently declassified documents from US archives have shed further light on the extent of US complicity in Guatemalan human rights crimes, one of Latin America's most brutal examples of population control. The hard-working farmers of Dos Erres, in Peten department, had never asked for much -- just a few acres of recently-cleared land from which to scratch a meagre living in a country racked by violence. When armed guerrillas cut across their land six months prior to December 7, 1982, community leaders had done everything possible to placate the national army, even inviting the soldiers in for inspections. They had nothing to hide, they said. But a psychopathic military killing machine had already condemned them to death on the grounds that they were the soil in which the seed of resistance grows.
Cambodian Genocide / Cham and Vietnamese Minorities
Irinnews.org, May 24, 2010
Photo: "Cham Muslims in Cambodia reviewing material on the ECCC" (Brendan Brady/IRIN).
"As judges at Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal decide whether to include genocide as a charge in the closing order, advocates say prosecuting the crime would represent a milestone for official recognition of the rights of the country's Vietnamese and Muslim minorities. 'There is still discrimination against the Cham, so this sends an important message that Muslims in Cambodia are part of the country,' Lor Chunty, a lawyer representing more than 200 Cham Muslim civil parties in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), told IRIN. Estimates suggest there are more than 300,000 Cham Muslims living in Cambodia and put the number of ethnic Vietnamese much higher than the government figure of 100,000 -- although the vast majority of Cambodia's 14.7 million people are Buddhist ethnic Khmers.
Genocide in Art and Literature
The Armenian Reporter, May 24, 2010
"April was Genocide Prevention Month. Not only does the anniversary of the first modern genocide of the 20th century, the Armenian Genocide, fall within April, but it is also the month in which the Holocaust, the Rwandan, Bosnian and Cambodian genocides are remembered. Even though the month has passed, simple actions can be taken each month to ensure these genocides are remembered appropriately. This month consider contributing a genocide-related book to your local university, public or high school library. One book to consider as a donation to a local library is Evoking Genocide: Scholars and Activists Describe the Works that Shaped their Lives. This new anthology was published last fall and includes several essays from scholars affiliated with The Genocide Education Project. The collection was edited by Adam Jones, Ph.D., and published by Key Publishing House. These personal essays chronicle how art and media influenced the authors' decisions to become genocide scholars and genocide prevention activists.
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