News archive: February 2013
12 February 2013
The recently published book Global Justice, State Duties: The Extraterritorial Scope of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in International Law (CUP 2013) contains several chapters dealing with questions of shared responsibility. The book is edited by Malcolm Langford, Wouter Vandenhole, Martin Scheinin and Willem van Genugten.
This book asks the question if states possess extraterritorial obligations under existing international human rights law to respect and ensure economic, social and cultural rights and how far those duties extend. Issues that are addressed in the book include jurisdiction, causation, division of responsibility, remedies and accountability.
11 February 2013
Former Congolese militia boss Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, who was acquitted of war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) late last year, has applied for asylum in the Netherlands, his lawyer said on Saturday 9 February 2013. After being freed from the ICC’s detention centre, he was immediately arrested by Dutch police because he did not have papers allowing him to remain in the Netherlands. He is currently being held in a Dutch detention centre for asylum seekers.
Source: NRC | Vrijgesproken rebellenleider Congo vraagt asiel aan in Nederland (in Dutch only)
11 February 2013
A New York Times report reveals that the United States (US) carries out strikes in Yemen from a drone base in Saudi Arabia since 2011. Military strikes are carried out with the consent of the government of Yemen, but the CIA can carry out a drone strike without the permission of the government of Yemen. The CIA has been given the mission of killing leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who the Obama administration have determined to pose a direct threat to the US.
The fact that the Joint Special Operations Command must get Yemen’s government’s approval before launching a drone strike is said to be in place, because the military’s drone campaign is closely tied to counterterrorism operations that are conducted by Yemeni special operations troops.
Source: The New York Times | Drone Strikes’ Risks to Get Rare Moment in the Public Eye
8 February 2013
The Open Society Justice Initiative published a report according to which at least 54 states co-operated with the CIA in its rendition programme. Cooperation varied from holding interrogations to hosting CIA prisons. The report states that the exact number of the co-operating states is still unknown.
Source: The Guardian | CIA rendition: more than a quarter of countries 'offered covert support'
Source: Open Society Justice Initiative | Globalizing Torture - CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition
7 February 2013
French Foreign Minister said on Wednesday that France wanted a United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali by April, incorporating troops offered by West African nations. At the UN, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hervé Ladsous confirmed that a UN-led mission looks increasingly likely rather than an African-led force. The UN force would need the approval of the Malian government, which has expressed doubts.
Source: France 24 | France calls for Mali handover to UN troops
Source: UN News Centre | UN peacekeeping mission in Mali increasingly possible, says top official