ICTJ | World Report August 2015 – Transitional Justice News and Analysis

In Focus
Youth Working for Justice: Key Agents of ChangeYouth Working for Justice: Key Agents of ChangeOn International Youth Day, ICTJ reaffirms the importance of engaging youth in efforts to reckon with the past in societies grappling with repressive and violent histories.Read More…

World Report

AFRICADespite the post-war boom in Côte d’Ivoire, justice remains elusive, but the country’s presidential election on October 25 is seen as a first important step toward overcoming the past. In Senegal, the unprecedented trial of former Chadian dictator, Hissène Habré – who is accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture – began on July 20, but was adjourned the next day until September 7 so court-appointed lawyers could prepare his defense. Peace talks have resumed in South Sudan, as the warring sides have come under immense international pressure to reach a deal by August 17 or suffer sanctions. Delegates from Namibia traveled to Germany this summer hoping to present President Joachim Gauck with a petition signed by 2,000 German public figures, which calls on the government to accept responsibility for the genocide committed in the African nation at the turn of the nineteenth century. Despite the short delay, those who have been seeking justice for 25 years still feelconfident that justice is at hand. At a conference on Zimbabwe, there was a push for reparations program and talkof adopting new transitional justice principles. This all comes at a time the government is about to operationalize the Peace and National Healing Commission.

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AMERICASAt the ongoing peace talks in Cuba between the Colombian government and FARC rebels, top negotiators contend that the rebel group must first agree to submit to transitional justice and its disarmament before the government can agree to a bilateral ceasefire. Meanwhile back in the country, Colombian authorities have begun exhuming a mass grave at the La Escombrera landfill, which will hopefully provide families with closure and an end to impunity. In Peru, government soldiers rescuedaround 40 men, women and children who had been kept prisoner in “production camps” for three decades by the Shining Path, the country’s Communist rebel group. In Chile, thirteen soldiers connected on the 1988 attack on democracy activists, Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana, were arrested. One of the conscripts, who identified those involved, revealed that there was indeed a “pact of silence” in the army to keep truth from the public. There are two exhibits on display in Canadathis summer related to the history of residential schools and missionaries to Indigenous communities, one is a large “witness blanket” and the other is a collection of artifacts. In addition, a petition with 1,200+ signatures as of late July calls on the government to make the Truth and Reconciliation Commission an election issue.

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ASIAIn Nepal, victims and civil society organizations are not happy with the recent draft regulations framed by the two truth-seeking bodies, the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), because they don’t adhere to the verdicts of Supreme Court.. The TRC, meanwhile, is preparing to set up a women-only private hearing facilities, in order to encourage rape and sexual assault victims to speak out. The Myanmargovernment pardoned 6,966 prisoners in July, among those released where 210 foreigners and some military intelligence officers.In Indonesia, victims of an armed conflict in the Indonesian province, Aceh, have demanded the country’s authorities set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, promised to them in a peace agreement signed in Helsinki ten years ago. Meanwhile in Bangladesh, two Razakars a part of the armed militia group during the 1971 Liberation War were found guilty of genocide and war crimes. The beginning of August marked the 70th anniversary of the days nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the survivors continue to tell their stories to the new generation. In other news, Sri Lanka pledged to act on a UN war crimes report that will be released within the following weeks, detailing Sri Lanka treatment of Tamils during the country’s guerrilla war.

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EUROPESerbian Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, will officially propose a Remembrance Day, commemorating all the victims of the 1990s war, to leaders of leaders of former Yugoslav countries at the end of August. This proposal has already been rejected by Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and Kosovo Foreign Minister Hashim Thac. In Croatia, thousands celebrated the 20th anniversary of ‘Operation Storm,’ an operation in which Zagreb’s forces defeated rebel Serbs and regained control over 18 per cent of the country’s territory. Days before the anniversary, three NGOs launched an interactive site called the ‘Storm of the Hauge,’ which presents the findings of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY. In Kosovo, the country’s parliament voted to change the constitution and create a special war crimes court. However, opposition parties have argued that the establishment of the special war crimes court violate Kosovo’s sovereignty. Spain’s University of Barcelona has set up the projectThe DNA of memory: the UB DNA Bank of Spanish Civil War victims with the hopes of being able to identity victims of the Spanish Civil War.

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MENAIn Tunisia, the draft national reconciliation bill on economic and financial offences submitted to parliament in mid-July continues to be the subject of intense debate, drawing criticism from human rights organizations and supporters of transitional justice. In Lybia, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Col Muammar Gaddafi, and eight others were sentenced to death over war crimes connected to the 2011 revolution. But these verdicts illustrate revenge rather than justice and the expediency of the justice system rather than its effectiveness. In Syria, the UN special envoy invited Syrians to participate in discussions on how to restart peace talks.

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Publications

Squaring Colombia’s Circle: The Objectives of Punishment and the Pursuit of PeaceThis paper weighs the possible modes and competing policy objectives of punishing FARC members for serious crimes in the context of Colombia’s ongoing peace negotiations. It argues that punishment has to occur in a way that does not damage one of the underlying objectives of the peace process, transforming the FARC from an insurgent group into a political actor.

The Accountability Landscape in Eastern DRCThis report analyzes the response of Congolese judicial authorities to international crimes committed in the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2009 to 2014, with a particular focus on the war-torn East (North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri).

More Publications

Robert H. Jackson Center: Announcing the 9th Annual Law Dialogs
International Humanitarian Law Dialogs
The Wrongs We Seek
August 31st- September 1st
The Law Dialogs are a historic gathering of the current and former prosecutors at international war crimes tribunals and renowned academics and law experts. This unique two-day event allows participants and the public to engage in a meaningful dialogue about issues related to modern international criminal law.

Since the first Law Dialog on August 29, 2007, the conference continues to reach a wider audience allowing for meaningful discussions concerning contemporary international criminal law.  This year’s theme will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre (1995) and the 70th anniversary of the opening commencement of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremburg (1945).

Annually highlights the Law Dialogs include a keynote speaker, lecturers, roundtable discussions, updates from the current prosecutors, student sessions and break- out “porch sessions” on selected topics. The Law Dialogs continue to echo the sentiments of Justice Robert H. Jackson by recognizing international law as “one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.”
For more information on this annual conference and this year’s speakers please visit ourwebsite event page.
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 Thank you to our sponsors:
The American Bar Association; The American Red Cross; American Society of International Law; Case Western Reserve University School of Law; The Chautauqua Institution; Impunity Watch; International Peace and Security Institute; International Bar Association; intlawgrrls; NYU Center for Global Affairs; The Planethood Foundation; Public International Law and Policy Group ; The Robert H. Jackson Center; SUNY Buffalo Law School; Syracuse University College of Law; Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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2015 Summer Interns
This summer, the Robert H. Jackson Center welcomed six interns; Thomas Campion from Hobart College, Ryan Schutte from Dickinson College, Megan Feeney, Ashley Mulryan and Emily Rajakovich from Allegheny College and 2015 Jackson Fellow, Molly White from Syracuse University College of Law. Meet some our 2015 summer interns and Jackson Fellow as we introduce you to each student and share with you their personal reflection on Justice Jackson’s legacy.

Molly White Portage MI, a rising third year law student at Syracuse University College of Law, was the Jackson Law Fellow this summer.  She worked on organizing and writing descriptions for the International Humanitarian Law Dialogs. As well, she worked on a paper cataloging the relationship between the United States and the International Criminal Court.  Additionally she expanded upon a paper concerning Forum Non Conveniens and whether a U.S. person can sue a company incorporated in the U.S. for a tort committed abroad while aiding or abetting a party in a foreign civil war.  The paper used the Syrian conflict as a case study.

Molly’s reflection: Having read Justice Jackson’s concurrence in Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer in the majority of my classes during my first two years at Syracuse, I cannot help but have an affinity for that opinion.  Jackson’s division of the President’s powers into three categories, specifically the zone of twilight where the President acts in absence of a congressional grant or denial of authority, established a framework for analyzing foreign relations, national security powers, and personal liberties issues.
305 E. Fourth Street, Jamestown NY 14701 | info@roberthjackson.org
 (716) 483-6646| www.roberthjackson.org
The mission of the Robert H. Jackson Center is to advance public awareness and appreciation of the principles of justice and the rule of law as embodied in the achievements and legacy of Robert H. Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice and Chief US Prosecutor at Nuremberg.

Three Men Arrested for Role in Bangladesh Blogger Murders

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

DHAKA, Bangladesh –

Three men believed to be involved in the murders of secular bloggers in Bangladesh were arrested during a raid in Dhaka on Monday.

Four secular bloggers have been killed this year, including Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Dash, who wrote for a website called Free Mind. Mr. Roy spoke out against religious extremism and formed a network of atheist bloggers in Bangladesh and abroad. Both Mr. Roy and Mr. Dash were hacked to death by machete.

The four secular bloggers who have been killed this year in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of the Guardian)

Commander Mufti Mahmud Khan, spokesman for Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion, a police unit, stated that the three suspects are believed to be members of the Islamic organization Ansarullah Bangla Team, which has been banned in Bangladesh. The group was banned in May after it was accused of threatening and killing bloggers and writers.

Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani is the leader of Ansarullah Bangla Team. He is currently in prison for his murder of another blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, in 2013. It is believed that one of the suspects arrested in Monday’s raid, Sadek Ali, visited Mr. Rahmani in prison to receive instructions for the bloggers’ murders.

Another of the accused men, Tawhidur Rahman, is a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin. He moved back to Bangladesh in 2012 and joined Ansarullah Bangla Team because he was inspired by Mr. Rahmani’s philosophy. Mr. Rahman is believed to have planned the killings of Mr. Roy and Mr. Dash.

The third suspect, Aminul Mollick, worked at a passport office and made fake passports so that members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team could leave the country if needed.

Bangladeshi authorities have been criticized for their failure to prevent the killings and for their slow place in their investigation of the killings. Imran H. Sarker, head of the Blogger and Online Activist Network in Bangladesh, has stated that many are wondering whether the government is supporting the criminals killing the bloggers. Bangladesh’s top police official has denied accusations that police officers sympathize with the killers and are purposely delaying their investigations of the murders.

About a decade ago, a group of mostly atheist Bangladeshi bloggers started speaking out against Islamic and other religious groups online. While the bloggers became popular with secular Bangladeshis, their online posts drew the anger of the Muslim population in Bangladesh.

While most Bangladeshis are Muslims, Bangladesh is ruled by laws based on British common law. Religion-based political parties in Bangladesh have sought the establishment of blasphemy laws to protect their faith, while bloggers have called for those parties to be banned.

In 2013, Hefajat-e-Islam, a body of Islamist groups, submitted a list of 84 atheist bloggers to the Bangladeshi government, demanding their arrest and trial under blasphemy laws. Hefajat-e-Islam also set in motion mass protests calling for the execution of those bloggers, and attacks against the bloggers began occurring.

In the past two and a half years, five atheist bloggers and five secular activists have been killed in similar machete attacks in Bangladesh.

 

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Bangladesh Arrests Suspects in Blogger Murders – 18 August 2015

The Guardian – Bangladesh Arrests Three Men Including Briton Over Murders of Secular Bloggers – 18 August 2015

The New York Times – Bangladesh Arrests 3 Men in Killings of Secular Bloggers – 18 August 2015

Voice of America – Bangladesh Blogger Killings Highlight Dangers of Speaking Out – 14 August 2015

 

Corruption and Economy Woes Threaten Rousseff’s Presidency

By Kaitlyn Degnan
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BRASALIA, Brazil – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is struggling to maintain support amidst calls for her resignation following the conviction of Petrobras officials for organizing bribes to members of the Brazilian government in exchange for Korean contracts, paid out in funds stolen from the indebted oil company. Both the senate and the lower house are being investigated in the wake of the kickback scandal.

Protesters march on Copacabana Beach. (Photo courtesy of the BBC)

Rousseff served as chairwoman of Petrobras’ board in 2010, before her election to president and at the height of the kickbacks. Although she has officially been exonerated, many insist that she had to have had knowledge of the scheme. She has also been accused of receiving illegal contributions for her campaign, and that her government has misused state money to cover budget gaps.

President Rousseff has insisted that she will not resign.

Brazilians in past days have taken to the streets in protests, with many calling for the impeachment of President Rousseff. Protests drew thousands in Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Copacabana beach in Rio. The latest numbers list nation-wide support for the President to be as low as single digits (about 8 percent). Two out of three Brazilians surveyed think that Rousseff should be impeached, and her approval rating is currently the lowest of any Brazilian president since the end of military rule.

Protesters calling for impeachment do so despite the almost guaranteed instability that would follow. Pedro Lopes Siqueira, a public servant from Rio participating in the protests told the New York Times: “Impeachment would be momentarily destabilizing, but it’s allowed in the Constitution, and it needs to happen.

Some have even declared that they would welcome a military intervention as opposed to what is perceived by some as a highly corrupt government. Brazil recently celebrated 30 years since the end of the military dictatorship in March of this year.

This comes at a time where the Brazilian economy is struggling due to uncertainty and political corruption. Moody’s Investors Service reported that the Brazilian economy will contract about 2 percent this year. Businesses from motor vehicle manufacturers to small businesses and family owned restaurants have felt the effects of the economic downturn.

Business owners around the country have expressed concern regarding the potential repercussions if Rousseff is impeached – which will likely include a period of economic instability. Although business leaders and Rousseff historically have a rocky relationship, many have come out as unlikely allies of the president. “An impeachment is a traumatic affair that affects the political and business arena at a time when Brazil is struggling to regain its credibility abroad,” according to Alencar Burti, president of the Sao Paulo state Federation of Chambers of Commerce. The group represents 200,000 business owners in the area. They would be more in favor of some sort of economic deal.

Industrial groups and the media have also called for a deal to ensure stability.

 

For more information, please see:

The New York Times – Protests Across Brazil raise Pressure on President Dilma Rousseff – 16 August 2015

BBC – Brazilian protesters call for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment – 17 August 2015

Bloomberg Business – Brazil’s Political Crisis Puts the Entire Economy on Hold – 17 August 2015

The Guardian UK – Former Petrobras executive sentenced over alleged congressional bribe – 17 August 2015

Reuters – RPT – Big business could help Brazilian president survive political storms – 18 August 2015