Latest news
3 May 2012
The Human Rights Committee found that Libya has violated the rights of a Bulgarian doctor of Palestinian origin under the ICCPR. Ashraf el Hagog was at the centre of the Libyan AIDS scandal, in which he and five Bulgarian nurses were accused of deliberately infecting 426 babies with HIV. The HRC found violations of Articles 7, 9 and 14 ICCPR. It considered that Libya had to provide Al Hagog with an effective remedy, including providing him with appropriate reparation, including compensation, and initiating criminal prosecution against those responsible for the treatment.
Only a few weeks earlier a Dutch court had awarded compensation claims against the individual authors of the acts (see: SHARES News | Dutch court awards claim against 12 former Libyan government officials for torture).
Source: Human Right Committee, Communication No 1755/2008, Views adopted by the Committee at its 104th session, 12 to 30 March 2012 (CCPR/C/104/D/1755/2008) [pdf]
3 May 2012
On 16 April 2012, a Dutch Court in Rotterdam found that the Netherlands was jointly responsible with Turkey for the infiltration of Turkish nationals in an investigation in Turkey (LJN: BW3203). The case concerned a heroin transport from Turkey to the Netherlands in 2005. (more…)
Source: LJN: BW3203, Rechtbank Rotterdam, 10/602018-05 (in Dutch)
3 May 2012
The Danish Government has decided to appoint a Commission of Inquiry on the Danish involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Commission also has to examine the practice of detention and transfers of prisoners in Afghanistan by Danish forces.
Source: EJIL:Talk! | Denmark Establishes a Commission of Inquiry into the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
23 April 2012
On April 14th, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2042(2012) which authorized 30 unarmed military observers to support a mission that will monitor the ceasefire brokered by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in Syria. On Saturday April 21, resolution 2043(2012) was passed allowing for an additional 300 observers to join the mission.
Reports of assaults and killings have continued since the deadline for the ceasefire passed, although on a decreased level. A representative of Russia, which vetoed two earlier resolutions addressing the conflict in Syria, expressed hope that the observer mission will have a further stabilizing effect.
Source: Security Council | Security Council Establishes UN Supervision Mission in Syria, with 300 Observers to Monitor Cessation of Violence, Implementation of Special Envoy’s Plan
19 April 2012
On April 18 the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the family of an American citizen killed during a visit to the West Bank may not sue the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act.
The case was brought by the family of Azzam Rahim, a naturalized American citizen. According to their lawsuit, Mr. Rahim was arrested by intelligence officers of the Palestinian Authority during a 1995 visit to the West Bank. The officers took him to a prison in Jericho, where he was tortured and killed.
Justice Sotomayor recognized that it is sometimes hard to identify those who torture and kill on behalf of organizations, much less to find them, sue them and collect damages. However, she wrote that the limits in the law were a product of deliberate choices by Congress.
Source: New York Times | Justices Limit Suits Under Law on Torture